Lord Justice posted:

The N64 controller does actually make sense if you consider the design. I don't have any sources, but the basic deal with it is that it was a hedged bet. Nintendo didn't know if the whole 3D thing was actually going to work and take off, plus they wanted old style support for games that would use a D-Pad. Basically, the controller supports two modes: holding the middle for stick controls and 3D movement, and the left for using the D-Pad. That's why the Z-Button is underneath the middle part, it's meant to be a replacement for the L button on the left. I might be misremembering, but I don't think any N64 games use the D-Pad and the stick at the same time, because they're meant to be mutually exclusive control methods.