With the modern directional pad on the Famicom/NES, shoulder buttons on the SNES, a trigger button and rumble for the Nintendo 64, and motion controls with the Wiimote, Nintendo has tried to be a pioneer in game controller technology. But while Nintendo has had plenty of innovative successes already, an answer from a recent shareholder's Q&A suggests Nintendo is already making plans for its next-generation controller.

During its Q&A, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and others were asked how it planned to shift up expectations in the future, specifically related to how game players often set in front of a screen and use a controller to play a game. Miyamoto then noted that Nintendo is "proud to have created a variety of user interfaces that have no become industry standards, but wants to do more.

"I also believe we should graduate from the current controller. Our objective is to achieve an interface that surpasses the current controller, where what the player does is directly reflected on the screen, and the user can clearly feel the result."

At least partially, Miyamoto is describing motion controls. He notes how Nintendo's efforts in this regard have been strong, but that, "none seem to work for all people." Which is understandable, given Miyamoto is effectively describing 1:1 motion control, something still being perfected with VR motion controls.

Miyamoto's imagination, as befits the creator of Zelda, Mario, and others, can get ahead of reality, of course. His final clarification, that Nintendo's more grounded goal is to create a controller "that can be used with ease" and "that will become the standard for the next generation."

Based on current limitations, Nintendo's next controller likely won't allow the player to see what they do "directly reflected on the screen" or allow the player to "clearly feel the result." But if Miyamoto has anything to do with it, perhaps those controllers will do those things a little bit better than the controllers that came before.

Source: Nintendo Everything