Based on the basic button configuration established with Nintendo's Super NES Controller, the PlayStation controller added a second pair of shoulder buttons for the middle fingers. Intended to update the gamepad for navigating 3D environments such as the ones PlayStation was designed to generate, the concept behind featuring shoulder buttons for both the index and middle fingers was to implement two-way directional depth controls using the two sets of buttons. To compensate for the less stable grip from shifting the middle fingers' placement to the shoulders, grip handles were added to the controller. Using the simple geometric shapes of a green triangle, a red circle, a blue cross, and a pink square to label its action buttons rather than traditionally used letters or numbers, the PlayStation controller established a trademark which would be incorporated heavily into the PlayStation brand. In an interview with Teiyu Goto, designer of the original PlayStation controller, he explained what the symbols mean: the circle and cross represent "yes" and "no," respectively ; the triangle symbolizes a point of view and the square is equated to a sheet of paper there to be used to access menus. The North American model of the PlayStation controller is roughly 10% larger than the Japanese model, to account for the fact the average person in the region has significantly larger hands than the average Japanese person. The PlayStation 2 console is backward-compatible with the original PlayStation controller.
History
recounted the designing of the controller: Both Goto and Kutaragi recalled that Sony president Norio Ohga showed a special interest in the development of the controller, and strongly supported the final version. On April 2, 1996, Sony released a revised version of the PlayStation controller, which is 10% larger than the launch model and features a longer cord with a ferrite bead. This model was bundled with all subsequent PlayStation consoles including North American launch models. After briefly selling the Dual Analog Controller in 1997, Sony began phasing out the PlayStation controller later that year with the introduction of the DualShock controller, which would become the new standard controller for the PlayStation, although the first game to require its use, Ape Escape, would only be released two years later.
