The first consumer games console which had analog joysticks was the Prinztronic/Acetronic/Interton series, launched in 1976. This system was widely cloned throughout Europe and available under several brand names. The 2 sticks each used a pair of potentiometers, but were not self-centering.
In 1982, Atari released their first controller with a potentiometer-based analog joystick for their Atari 5200 home console. However, its non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable, alienating many consumers at the time. During that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex, a vector graphics based system which used a self-centering analog stick, a precursor to the modern design. For many years, consoles ignored analog technology, instead using the digital d-pad. It was not until the emergence of 3D graphics, and the gameplay mechanics that came along with it, that the analog stick was brought back for widespread use.
In 1985, Sega's third-person rail shooter game Space Harrier, released for the arcades, introduced a true analog flight stick for movement. It could register movement in any direction as well as measure the degree of push, which could move the player character at different speeds depending on how far the joystick is pushed in a certain direction.[6]
On April 26, 1996,[7] Sony released a potentiometer-based analog joystick for use in Flight-Simulation games. The Sony Dual Analog FlightStick featured twin analog sticks and was used in games such as Descent to provide a much greater degree of freedom than the typical digital joysticks of the day.
The pack-in Nintendo 64 controller began the trend of analog controllers on the fifth-generation consoles
Initially announced for release on April 21, 1996, Nintendo released their Nintendo 64 controller on June 24, 1996.[8] The new controller included a thumb-operated control stick which, while a digital stick (the stick operated on the same principles as a mechanical computer mouse)