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One of Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ biggest new features is Island Designer, an app for the in-game NookPhone that lets you terraform your island to your liking. This includes pathmaking, building water features, and building cliffs–or destroying those things, if you want. Using each of these abilities, you can rebuild your island’s rivers, build waterfalls, create roads and plazas, and more. It’s all up to you and your creative vision!

Below, we’ve outlined how to unlock Island Designer as well as each part of the app, how to work each of its features, our best terraforming tips, and everything else you need to know. We have tons of other Animal Crossing guides, so be sure to check out our New Horizons guide roundup for all the latest.

How To Get Terraforming: Unlocking The Island Designer App

Island Designer is a later-game feature, so there are a few steps you’ll need to take over at least two weeks of playtime in order to unlock it. You need to have unlocked the Resident Services building and begun Tom Nook’s Project K assignment, which requires you to:

• Build the campsite
• Invite the first camper to live on your island
• Build three housing plots (following his instructions)
• Get three villagers to move into those houses (one per day)
• Get your island to a three-star rating

Project K will take quite a few days to complete, plus the time and effort it takes to decorate your island and improve your rating. Luckily, as long as you plant flowers and trees and put some furniture here and there, you should be able to get to three stars pretty easily once you’ve improved your population numbers.

The day after you’ve reached three stars, Tom Nook will give you the Island Designer app on your NookPhone. At first, you’ll only have access to the path tool and two types of paths (grass and dirt), but you can unlock more path options, the waterscaping tool, and the cliff construction tool with Nook Miles.

Path Types And Unlock Cost

Each additional path type costs 2,000 Nook Miles with the exception of the Custom Design path, which costs 2,300. This will let you use any Custom Design as a path. You can unlock each of the additional path styles at the Nook Stop machine in Resident Services.

• Grass (free)
• Dirt path (free)
• Stone path
• Brick path
• Dark dirt path
• Arched tile path
• Sand path
• Terra-cotta tiles
• Wooden path
• Custom Design path

Unlocking The Waterscaping And Cliff-Construction Permits

You can unlock the ability to waterscape and, separately, the ability to build cliffs at any time after you’ve received the Island Designer app. Each permit costs 6,000 Nook Miles and can be redeemed at the Nook Stop machine in Resident Services.

How To Terraform Using Island Designer

Before you really get going with Island Designer, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with all the tools. The app itself includes a manual that will walk you through the basics; each tool is operated with A, and you can use the + button to switch between permits and path types. We outline specific use cases and our best tips below.

Pathmaking

When you’re using the path tool, pressing A on a plain grassy area will build a path, and then pressing A again will remove it. You can also use the grass tool to remove paths if you prefer. You can use different path types next to each other, but they won’t be flush with one another; there will be a gap between them.

If you have a few of the same path “tiles” adjacent to each other, pressing A on them will first round the path, and you’ll have to press A again to remove it fully. You can use this to create rounded edges and various shapes.

For example, to make circles on the ground, put four path tiles next to each other in a square, then hit A on each of them again to round them out. For hearts, do a bigger 3×3 square with one corner missing, then round out the sides nearest that empty corner.

Special Cases

Not all the path types were made equal. You can only dig into dirt, dark dirt, and sand paths; you can plant flowers and trees on these paths as well. All other paths are more solid, but you can still place items on top of them like you would grass, dirt, or sand. Keep in mind that fossils will only appear on grass, so it’s not recommended that you totally cover your island in paths.

Using Custom Designs

You can also use Custom Designs you’ve either made or downloaded as paths if you’ve unlocked the ability to do so (it costs 2,300 Nook Miles at the Nook Stop machine). This is far easier and more efficient than placing the designs on the ground one by one like in previous games.

Regular Custom Designs mostly work like any other path, but unlike regular paths, you can remove them at any time using Y (which is likely to be an accident and can be frustrating). Also, Custom Designs do lay flush with one another even if they’re different. Because of this, you can make a more complex path using several different designs; if your design has multiple pieces, use + to switch between them (like when making corners or edges to a road, for example).

If your Custom Design has at least one transparent pixel, you can layer that design over the standard paths. This way, you can round out the edges of your custom designs like you would the regular paths–just lay down and shape a regular path first, then put your design over it. You can also place Custom Designs that utilize transparency on regular grass.

If you change a Custom Design in the NookPhone app, any path you’ve put down using that design will change with it. This can make it easy to update your paths without having to redo all of them, but make sure you’re editing the right ones!

Waterscaping

For waterscaping, pressing A on land will dig a trench for water. Pressing A again will fill up the trench; as with paths, if you have a few “tiles” of water next to each other, pressing A will first round out the edges and then, when pressed again, remove the water entirely.

Waterscaping is the most finicky of the Island Designer tools, and it definitely takes practice. For example, to round out a sharp corner, you’ll have to place your character a bit back from the edge. Be patient!

When building rivers, keep in mind that bridges span four water tiles. The edges of the river also have to be even for three or four tiles in order to support the bridge.

Your character can hop across any water feature that’s one or two tiles wide. With this in mind, you can create land bridges across rivers without fully dividing the river–you can fill in a piece of land in the middle of a river and jump across it. Keep in mind that villagers won’t be able to cross rivers without bridges.

Warning: Fishing

When waterscaping, make sure you leave enough river to fish in normally, if you care about fishing. You’ll want at least some river on a cliff section in order to catch clifftop-only fish, and you’ll want any river you hope to fish in to be a normal width (three or four tiles so you can get your bobber wherever you need it to go).

Cliff Construction

Cliffs are built and destroyed from the level below them, and like with everything else, you can round them if you have multiple cliff pieces next to each other. You can build up to three tiers of cliffs on top of one another, but you won’t be able to climb up the third tier, and you can’t build new tiers right up to the edge of the previous tier–meaning you can’t make big cliff walls.

Villagers won’t be able to go up cliffs without an incline, so keep this in mind when placing villager houses on cliffs.

Waterfalls

To build waterfalls, you need to be up on the cliff you’d like the waterfall to go down. You can then use the waterscaping tool to build the waterfall at the edge. You need to fill in the waterfall first before you can destroy the cliff it’s on.

Other Tips

When terraforming, it’s a good idea to have anything edible on hand–preferably your native fruit, since it’s the least profitable of the fruits. You can eat fruit to gain a kind of super-strength that allows you to dig up trees whole and destroy rocks. Using this fruit power, you can move trees in your way without cutting them down and having to grow them all over again. You can also destroy rocks that are in undesirable locations, as they will “grow” back in another spot the next day. You can keep destroying rocks until they end up in good locations.

Yesterday, Sony surprised everyone by revealing the DualSense, PlayStation 5’s new feature-rich controller. It’s two-toned, slightly futuristic… and looks a bit like Mario’s overalls if you can imagine it just right.

Naturally, we’ve rounded up some of the best reimaginings people across the Internet came up with for your viewing pleasure, from the beautiful to the hilarious.

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DualSense Redesigns

The DualSense design has a lot going for it — chief among them is its sort of “blank canvas” approach. While only a white model has been revealed, everyone with access to Photoshop seems to have put their twist on its look, and frankly, we want a lot of them to become a reality.

 

Elca Gaming’s retro-inspired DualSense has us hearing PS1’s startup sounds all over again.

All-black variations, like this one by Mucrush, quickly became a fan favorite, especially when paired with the classic PlayStation face button colors.

Reddit user u/badnewsco also tried their hand at some awesome classic PlayStation controller variations.

The DualSense is ripe for simple recoloring with its two-tone design, and Reddit user u/H4WK1NG’s bright designs don’t disappoint.

Fleshmonk had a whole lot of variations to share, from bold colors to neon Joy-Con to Knack. Just Knack.

Reddit user u/dormstreams made some Sony first-party mockups, including his takes on God of War, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, and Horizon Zero Dawn controllers. Maybe this is a glimpse at what limited edition DualSense controllers may end up like?

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DualSense Kinda Looks Like…

The DualSense is a marked departure from the DualShock line of PlayStation controllers that came before it, as its design is decidedly fuller, its grips seemingly bulkier, and it’s aesthetic Stormtrooper-adjacent. As expected, the Internet ran with these comparisons and went in some truly hilarious directions.

Jared Petty and Geoff Keighley both noted the aforementioned Stormtrooper comparison and, frankly, they’re spot on.

Mike Ryan had a similar Star Wars connection here…

God of War director Cory Barlog immediately noticed a similarity between the DualSense and Black Widow’s all-white look.

IGN’s Dan Stapleton saw the controller and thought – yeah, that’s EVE from WALL-E.

Our own Brian Altano also had some comparisons to make: one a lovely homage to Mario’s iconic overalls, the other a horrific depiction of Borat’s mega-thong. Very nice.

HONK! (2020) by u/Frocharocha. Art.

IGN’s Peer Schneider BMW comparison was accurate down to the blue accent.

Alanah Pearce — you right.

Everything PS5 DualSense

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For even more on the DualSense, check out our breakdown of the evolution of the PlayStation controller, and our comprehensive chart that compares the DualSense and the Xbox Series X controller.

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Colin Stevens is IGN’s Social Media Copy Coordinator. Follow him on Twitter.

In terms of sheer performance and capabilities, the best gaming mice will always lead the pack. But, when you’re trying to get some work done at your office, a co-working space, or a cafe, you might not want all the extra flair (like hyper RGB lighting effects) those gaming mice have. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent mice, gaming and non-gaming alike, that can get the job done.

We’ve picked out an assortment of mice that are perfect for general use, whether it’s basic browsing or serious work. There are many different styles to suit the needs of just about any user. We’ve got ergonomic and ambidextrous mice as well as a trackball and highly portable mice. Whatever your needs, you’ll find a great mouse among this bunch.

We’ve also ensured all of our picks have one of the best modern conveniences: wireless connectivity. Some use Bluetooth while others use USB receivers, and some can still connect over a wired USB connection, but all of them will let you use them without having a wire getting in the way.

TL;DR – These are the best mice:

• Logitech MX Master 3
• Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse
• Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed
• Logitech G604 Lightspeed
• Logitech MX Vertical
• SteelSeries Rival 650
• Microsoft Arc Mouse
• Logitech MX Ergo
• Logitech MX Anywhere 2S

1. Logitech MX Master 3

Best All-Around Mouse

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• See it on Logitech
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Logitech has the market for professional mice cornered, the MX Master 3 is its premier mouse. It’s designed with ergonomics in mind, so your hand will stay comfortable over a long day of work. But, comfort is only one aspect, as it’s also highly versatile.

The MX Master 3 features Logitech Darkfield Tracking to make it usable on most surfaces, so no worrying about it misbehaving on metal or glass. And, with both a USB receiver and Bluetooth, it can connect to a broad range of devices from Windows and Mac computers to iPads and Linux-powered machines. It also supports Flow, letting you seamlessly use this mouse with three devices at the same time. You’ll get up to 70 hours of runtime from the MX Master 3’s built-in battery, and if you’re ever low, you can get three hours of power back with just one minute of charging. Plus, you won’t find many scroll wheels as fancy as the MX Master 3’s MagSpeed Electromagnetic wheel, and there’s even a thumb wheel for horizontal scrolling.

2. Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse

Best Budget Mouse

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• See it on Newegg
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• See it on Microsoft

If you don’t need a mouse all the time, it might not be as appealing to buy a serious pointer that’s crammed full of features. The Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse offers a simple and affordable option that should be more than enough mouse for most. It has a simple, ambidextrous design, and runs on a single AA battery.

As the name suggests, this mouse connects over Bluetooth and uses the Low Energy mode which helps it offer up to 12 months of battery life, so it should have a bit of charge ready whenever you might need it. One nice thing to see on a budget mouse is the inclusion of a clickable scroll wheel, making web browsing that little bit quicker.

3. Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed

Best Multipurpose Mouse

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• See it on Razer
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• See it on Best Buy

If you’re familiar with Razer, you might be a bit worried that its mice don’t have a home outside of gaming, but the Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed is wonderfully understated and can slip under that radar thanks to its omission of RGB lighting.

What you get from the Basilisk X HyperSpeed is a highly accurate mouse that can run for ages on a single AA battery. It offers superb tracking with a USB receiver, but it also supports Bluetooth connectivity. That makes it a handy 2-in-1 that you can use for gaming at home with the dongle and take to work using its Bluetooth connection. It’s all the more impressive that this mouse comes in at under $60.

4. Logitech G604 Lightspeed

Best Mouse for Macros

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• See it on Logitech
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The Logitech G604 is another one of those mice that shouldn’t be mistaken as only being at home in a gaming environment. The G604 has a comfortable design and a scroll wheel that mimics that of the MX Master 3 by having both a free-spinning and a ratchet mode. You also get the dual connectivity from a USB receiver and Bluetooth.

The Logitech G604 can run on a single AA battery for up to 5.5 months using Bluetooth or for 240 hours using the faster wireless connection. What helps the Logitech G604 shine outside of gaming is also what helps it shine in games: all the buttons. The G604 features 15 buttons in total, with six next to the thumb and an extra two near the left button. Paired with Logitech’s software, you can set up a whole host of macros to convince coworkers that you’re a spreadsheet wizard.

5. Logitech MX Vertical

Best Ergonomic Mouse

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• See it on Logitech
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If you’ve got your hand basically glued to your mouse all day, you may have run into a bit of pain in your arm. That can come from having your arm rotated inward for so long, and it can lead to RSI after some time. That’s something an ergonomic mouse aims to alleviate, and the Logitech MX Vertical is a compelling example of this.

At first glance, it might not even look like a mouse. It has the profile of a sailboat because of its high peak, but that gives you a grip that will keep your arm from twisting far inward. Beyond that comfortable grip, the mouse supports multiple connection modes over its USB receiver, Bluetooth, or a wired connection. It also supports Flow for use between multiple devices at once. If you forget to keep the four-month battery charged, you can get an extra three hours of power in just a minute of charging.

6. SteelSeries Rival 650

Best Gaming Mouse

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• See it on Newegg
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The best gaming mouse is actually the SteelSeries Rival 600 (read our review), but the Rival 650 (read our review) is its wireless twin, as it’s virtually identical in every other respect. You’ll get SteelSeries’ incredibly accurate TrueMove3+ sensor that combines a precise optical sensor with a depth sensor to fine-tune when the mouse detects lift off from a surface.

The Rival 650 offers both a wired and wireless connection, letting you continue to use it when the 24-hour battery is drained. You can customize the lighting as you like, and program the three thumb buttons for extra functionality.

7. Microsoft Arc Mouse

Best Portable Mouse

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• See it on Newegg
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If portability is one of your major concerns, a big, lumpy mouse might not be the best option for you. Microsoft has the answer with its Arc Mouse. The design follows from the earlier Arc Touch mouse, with a bendable body that forms a curve when in use and lies flat when powered down. In fact, it’s bending it flat that turns the mouse off.

The Microsoft Arc Mouse runs for up to 6 months on two AAA batteries and connects exclusively using Bluetooth. You won’t have to worry about losing or forgetting any USB receiver dongle. You won’t find any true buttons on the top of this mouse, as it instead registers touches for both left and rick click as well as vertical and horizontal scrolling. While that may take some time to get used to, that lack of moving parts is less to worry about if you throw this mouse into your backpack. Of course, because it folds flat, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a pocket to slide the Arc Mouse safely inside.

8. Logitech MX Ergo

Best Trackball Mouse

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• See it on Logitech
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When desk space is tight, a trackball mouse can be a winning ally, and the Logitech MX Ergo has what it takes. This mouse features a large trackball paired with a button for enabling precision mode, so you can move your cursor right where you need it. It offers a total of eight buttons, including a tiltable scroll wheel.

If you’re wondering where the Ergo in the name comes from, it has to do with a feature in the stand. This mouse has an adjustable tilt, which can let you change the angle you hold it at. The MX Ergo offers up to four months of battery life and can get a full day of power in one minute of charging. It also supports Bluetooth connectivity and can sync across multiple devices using Flow.

9. Logitech MX Anywhere 2S

Best Small Mouse

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• See it on Logitech
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So, you want a bunch of the great features you’re hearing about but in a smaller mouse? Enter the MX Anywhere 2S, a mouse compact enough to fit in smaller hands but capable enough to keep up with the bigger competitors.

The MX Anywhere 2S supports Logitech’s Flow software for syncing across multiple devices at once, and it can pair using the USB wireless receiver or Bluetooth. You’ll get up to 40 days of battery life from the mouse and can recharge it for up to a full day’s worth of power in just three minutes. While the mouse is small enough to go just about anywhere, it also has Logitech’s Darkfield sensor for accurate tracking on just about any surface, so you can take it and use it anywhere.

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Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark

Misfits is currently streaming on Hulu.

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Imagine The Breakfast Club with superpowers. That’s basically the premise of Misfits, a British sci-fi dramedy that ran for five seasons (with only a total of 37 episodes) from 2009 to 2013 on British TV channel E4. The series follows a group of young offenders (the titular misfits) performing community service who gain supernatural powers during a freak electrical storm. If you binged the first seasons of Amazon’s The Boys, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, or DC Universe’s Doom Patrol, and need something to scratch the itch of dysfunctional superpowered people while waiting for those shows’ second seasons, Misfits will fill that hole in your heart.

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Unlike other superheroes who are defined by their powers, everyone in the Misfits’ world are given powers based on their personalities. It’s kind of like The Flash in that way… if The Flash were made on HBO and everyone said the first thing on their mind. Curtis Donovan (Nathan Stewart-Jarret), an Olympics-bound athlete dealing with the guilt of his crime, gets the ability to turn back time. Kelly Bailey (Lauren Socha), a “chav” (read: white trash) who is constantly judged and underestimated by others, can now read people’s minds. Simon Bellamy (Iwan Rheon), the quiet weirdo, can turn invisible. Nathan Young (Robert Sheehan), the most obnoxious one of them all, spends many of the episodes figuring out what his ability may be. Yet beyond the usual list of powers, someone like Alisha Daniels (Antonia Thomas), a promiscuous party girl, gains the ability to drive people into a lust-driven craze just by touch.

Taking a moment to focus on just the caliber of casting on Misfits, you can basically thank this show for some of the best British actors going on to some truly amazing projects. Of course, you have Iwan Rheon who moved on to play the awful Ramsey Bolton on Game of Thrones and starred in the short-lived Inhumans as Maximus. Robert Sheehan would later revisit this sort of smarmy, existentially-ruined man in The Umbrella Academy as Klaus/Number Four. Later seasons of Misfits feature the likes of Ruth Negga and Joe Gilgun, who both ended up on AMC’s Preacher. Jessica Brown Findlay started off as a conservative cult leader on this show and ended up upstairs on Downton Abbey. And the list goes on and on.

The series isn’t shy to explore every possible repercussion/response to these powers either. It’s refreshing to see a series answer those out-there “what if” questions the audience may have about these powers. Most times the situations are hilarious, such as Kelly hearing her dog admit that he just groomed himself before she let him lick her on her lips. Sometimes they answer the fundamental question of someone’s perversion, like if they could turn invisible as Simon watches Kelly and Alisha change. But the show’s strength lies in the ability to “go there,” even if it’s not the easiest thing to watch sometimes, especially with an ability as precarious as Alisha’s where lust can turn violent instantly. It’s a tricky line to walk, but Misfits does so with tact and wit, and without sacrificing its voice.

Overall, Misfits is a funny, dark, and always entertaining romp. The characters are unforgettable and some plotlines are truly too insane to believe without seeing them. These powers are not blessings and Misfits fully explores that reality for these characters, no holds barred. While never truly forced or inspired to become “heroes” right off the bat, the stories these misfits follow have them deal with more nefarious things like getting away with murder, time travel, superpower black markets, zombies, and Satanism. You know, the other fun things you deal with when you have powers.

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• Secret Wars Is Marvel’s Answer to Dune and Game of Thrones
• Cowboy Bebop’s Still Worth the Trip Even After 20 Years
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Binge It! is IGN’s recommendation series. Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about — and why you should check it out.

As you play the early hours of Final Fantasy VII Remake, you’ll likely start to rack up a decent stock of Moogle Medals as you explore the streets and slums of Midgar. There are a whole lot of items that come your way in Final Fantasy VII, many of which are handy in a battle for curing status effects or damaging enemies–but you’ll spend a lot of time carrying Moogle Medals around without having any idea of what they do.

The thing is, Moogle Medals are good and you want to collect as many as you can. Eventually, you’ll be able to use Moogle Medals at a special vendor to buy some cool stuff. Here’s everything you need to know about this weird currency.

How To Get Moogle Medals

You’ll find Moogle Medals in a variety of places, but the vast majority of them will come from Shinra Crates. These are the boxes with Shinra logos on them that you can smash with your sword or other weapons. You’ll also occasionally find them in treasure chests, usually hidden around corners and off the beaten path.

You can also get them in Chapter 8 upon your visit to Sector 5. Head to the Kids’ Hideout, where you can participate in the Whack-A-Box mini-game. Every time you run a round of Whack-A-Box, you get a Moogle Medal, regardless of your performance.

Where To Use Moogle Medals

Moogle Medals will sit in your inventory for a good long while through the beginning of the game. Once you hit Chapter 8, however, you’ll finally find someone willing to take them off your hands. You’ll find a store called the Moogle Emporium located in the Kids’ Hideout area, which you’ll discover as you work through the chapter’s story and sidequests.

What Are Moogle Medals Good For?

You’ll get a lot of weapons and items from standard shops, but they’ll all generally have the same inventory, which will update periodically as you advance through the story. That’s not the case with the Moogle Emporium, which contains a number of unique items you can only obtain with Moogle Medals. The Moogle Emporium includes a few key items you’ll purchase to help you complete sidequests, as well as some unique weapons and accessories you can only get from the shop.

The Moogle Emporium also includes four separate books, one for each character, that will give your squad a quick infusion of Skill Points to upgrade their weapons. And if you don’t need any of that stuff, you can get some items like ethers and elixirs for relatively cheap, as compared to what you’ll spend in item shops.

Sony has revealed the PlayStation 5’s controller, officially called the DualSense, and fans around the world now know how they will be playing a brand new generation of games.

While we still don’t know when the DualSense will be in our hot little hands, we do know a bunch about PlayStation’s hardware history. From the original PlayStation controller with no analog sticks to the never-released “Boomerang” controller, Sony’s iterated on its designs in successful – and not so successful – ways. In the slideshow and article below, we take a deeper dive into the evolution of the PlayStation controller, including the brand-new DualSense.

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PlayStation Controller

The PlayStation controller was released alongside the original PlayStation in 1994 and was inspired by the controller of the Super Nintendo. Teiyu Goto, designer of the original PlayStation controller, respected the success of Nintendo’s latest console and didn’t want this new controller to be too much of a “radical departure.”

“The Super NES was a huge hit at the time, and naturally we wanted SNES gamers to upgrade to our system,” Goto said. “That’s why the management department didn’t want the controller to be a radical departure — they said it had to be a standard type of design, or gamers wouldn’t accept it.”

Even though Sony wanted to invoke the SNES controller, it did innovate in some areas, like the second pair of shoulder buttons that would help navigate 3D worlds. Since players had to shift their hands from the L1+R1 buttons to the L2+R2 buttons, Sony also decided to add the grip handles to the controller to make for a smoother transition.

The PlayStation controller’s buttons were supposed to represent what actions they stood for. According to Goto, the blue cross (or X?) and the red circle stood for “yes” and “no”, the triangle was for point of view, and square was similar to a piece of paper that would let players know that button was for menus.

This original PlayStation controller would return in the PlayStation Classic console.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Evan-Amos)

PlayStation Dual Analog Controller

PlayStation’s Dual Analog controller was a predecessor to the DualShock and introduced the twin analog sticks for the first time.

It was first released in Japan in 1997 alongside Tobal 2 and Bushido Blade and included a rumble feature that would be initially taken out of the North American and European versions.

“We evaluated all the features and decided, for manufacturing reasons, that what was most important to gamers was the analog feature,” A Sony spokesperson said in regards to its removal, which would not matter much as the DualShock would add it back and replace this controller the following year.

The Dual Analog controller’s twin sticks also had recessed grooves, while the DualShock would adopt textured rubber grips with a more outward-facing stick.

Lastly, the Dual Analog controller had a “Flightstick Mode” that would work with such games as MechWarrior 2, Ace Combat 2, and Colony Wars and was an alternative to the FlightStick Analog Joystick.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Bollinger)

DualShock

The DualShock replaced PlayStation’s Dual Analog controller in 1997 in Japan and in North America and elsewhere in 1998 and beyond.

The DualShock sported a rumble feature, and its name was derived from the two vibration motors that were housed inside the handles of the controller. In 1999, Ape Escape was the first game that required the use of the DualShock.

The PlayStation 2 would be released in 2000, and the original DualShock would be compatible with most games except for those that needed the DualShock 2’s analog buttons.

(Image courtesy of Amazon)

DualShock 2

The DualShock 2 was released alongside the PlayStation 2 in 2000 and was similar to the original DualShock bar a few cosmetic changes, a more square connector, and analog buttons that were pressure sensitive.

Those who didn’t love the standard black color of the DualShock 2 could also purchase various other colors like satin silver, ceramic white, slate grey, ocean blue, and more.

The DualShock 2 could be used on the original PlayStation and would work on the PlayStation 3 with third-party accessories, although certain games that used Sixaxis functionality would not always work with it properly.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Evan-Amos)

Honorable Mention: The Boomerang

While the PlayStation 3 “Boomerang” controller was never released, it took the world by storm with its radical design that looks like…well…a boomerang.

It was shown at E3 2005 during the reveal of the PlayStation 3, but curiously, wasn’t highlighted or focused on during the main presentation. It was simply sitting in display cases on the show floor.

The Sixaxis would go on to replace this wild design, but the Legend of the Boomerang would live on for many more years to come.

Sony did eventually comment on the controller, saying it was a design mock-up that it wanted to have ready for the PS3’s reveal. Following its first showing, the design team took to heart the feedback and decided to go with the much more familiar DualShock-style of controller.

Sixaxis

The Sixaxis was included with the PlayStation 3 when it launched in 2006 . It was Sony’s first official wireless controller, and was capable of detecting motion with “six degrees of freedom,” yet it did not have a rumble feature.

Games such as Warhawk and Lair were designed around the Sixaxis, which was a much lighter controller due to the lack of rumble.

The DualShock 3 was set to be released with the PlayStation 3, but a lawsuit in 2004 by Immersion caused Sony to remove the rumble capabilities while it was in the appeal process and go with this version for a short while.

Immersion sued both Sony and Microsoft for patent infringement regarding the rumble functionality. Microsoft ended up settling, but Sony decided to continue the fight in court. Sony ended up losing and the verdict would have Sony pay $90.7 million to Immersion and halt sales of the controllers in question. Sony immediately appealed, which meant it could continue to sell the controllers during the process, but lost. In 2007, Sony and Immersion agreed to end litigation and would work together to “explore the inclusion of Immersion technology in PlayStation format products.”

This would finally allow Sony to release the DualShock 3 as was originally intended in 2007.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Evan-Amos)

DualShock 3

In 2007, a year after the launch of the PlayStation 3 and the Sixaxis controller, Sony announced the DualShock 3 at the Tokyo Game Show. It would end up replacing the Sixaxis and would finally bring back the much-requested haptic feedback.

Besides that, the DualShock 3 was not much different than the Sixaxis, even though it did weigh about 40% more because of the new vibration motors.

The Sixaxis would be discontinued in 2008, making the DualShock 3 the standard controller for the PlayStation 3.

PlayStation Move

The PlayStation Move controllers were originally released in 2009 for use with the PlayStation 3 and were available during the motion renaissance that also featured the Nintendo Wii Remote and Microsoft Kinect.

The PlayStation Move controller (or wand) had inertial sensors that could detect motion and a big orb the top that could change colors and was used for tracking by the PlayStation Eye or PlayStation Camera.

In our review of the PlayStation Move, we said it had “the potential to be the best motion control system on the current crop of consoles; but unfortunately, the games offered at the moment just don’t do the technology justice.”

Following its launch, Move support was included in such big titles as Killzone 3, Dead Space: Extraction, Gran Turismo 5, and more. Many of these utilized various other accessories like the Navigation controller that would add another analog stick, the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter that was a gun controller with a slot for the Move, and the PlayStation Move Racing Wheel.

The PlayStation Move Wand would continue to work with the PlayStation 4, and it came back as a controller option for PlayStation VR.

DualShock 4

The DualShock 4 was released alongside the PlayStation 4 in 2013 and featured not only a capacitive front touchpad and motion detection but also a light bar on the top of the controller that could illuminate in many different colors.

The light bar, while it would flash red and blue when the cops were chasing you in GTA V or would mimic Alien Isolation’s motion tracker, was also designed with PlayStation VR in mind. This caused issues before launch of PlayStation’s VR headset because no one really understood why this light bar was needed and Sony wasn’t willing to reveal all its secrets quite yet.

“The tracking light… it was our department that said we need that on,” said SCEE senior designer Jed Ashforth. “It was for tracking for VR, and when all these things were coming out six months ago and everyone was going ‘it’s reflecting in my TV,’ we were going ‘oh no’ because we couldn’t tell anyone what it was for.”

The START and SELECT buttons seen in all previous PlayStation controllers were replaced by the OPTIONS and SHARE buttons, respectively. The SHARE button allows players to quickly upload screenshots, videos, and more.

The twin joysticks were adjusted and, like the Dual Analog controller, have recessed grooves. The L2 and R2 buttons were more curved and outward-facing than the Dualshock 3’s style.

Around the time the PlayStation 4 Pro was launched in 2016, Sony released an upgraded version of the DualShock 4 that allowed for play while connected to a USB cable (THANK you!) and the ability to see the light bar on the top of the touchpad.

DualSense

The PlayStation 5 controller has been revealed, and its called the DualSense. It is said to “bring a sense of touch to PS5 gameplay,” and will keep many of the DualShock 4 features while adding new functionality and a refined design.

The DualSense will have much more advanced haptic feedback and adaptive triggers for the L2 and R2 buttons.

The haptic feedback will add “a variety of powerful sensations you’ll feel when you play, such as the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud.” The Adaptive triggers, meanwhile, will help you “feel the tension of your actions, like when drawing a bow to shoot an arrow.”

Additionally, the SHARE button from the DualShock 4 will be replaced by the CREATE button, although Sony isn’t ready to fully detail what this change will mean.

The DualSense also features a two-toned design,  a departure from previous controllers. The light bar will also now be found on either side of the touchpad.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.