How do people actually use the Gamepad? The answer is, they don't really use it that much at all! For popular games on campus like Super Smash Bros., players opt to use old Nintendo 64 controllers. Our Gamepad has been sitting underneath our television collecting dust, even though my living community plays Smash almost every day. Other living communities (like Wholesome House) opt to use the N64 controllers as well. Why?
Left: Gamepad; right: N64 controller
According to players, it has a lot to do with tactile feel of the Gamepad. The buttons are smaller and have a short press distance. The button presses have a less "click-y" feel, in that there's less of a springy restorative force and the click sound itself is quieter. The Gamepad also doesn't fit well in player's hands due to the wide square shape, at least not as well as the N64 controllers.
After asking users to try the Gamepad again they all remembered just how miserable of a user experience it offers. During gameplay, the user assigned to the Gamepad always performed worse and would exclaim things like "This is such trash!". One user said "I will never take the N64 controller for granted again." After playing with the Gamepad, the users realized that the buttons are not mapped intuitively at all. All of the buttons are the same size, same color, and laid out in a seemingly arbitrary symmetrical orientation! On the N64 controller, the most used button is the biggest and centered. The second most used button is slightly smaller and closer to the toggle. The buttons classically used for "jumping" are on top. Unlike the N64 controller, the Gamepad's form does not match its function!
Top: players using Gamepad; bottom: players using N64 controller
It seems like in the design of the private screen, Nintendo completely neglected design of the buttons. Interestingly, NONE of the players even used the private screen. While observing the players I also noticed that while using the N64 controller they used the toggles more (because they were in reach) and the clicking was more rapid, fervent.
One player in particular held the N64 controller in a special way. He laid his index finger across the x and y buttons, a technique often called the "Claw". The Gamepad button layout does not lend itself to the technique.
Finally, I used both the Gamepad and N64 controllers myself and got to experience firsthand what the users were talking about. They were spot on about the Gamepad's button mapping dilemma: I didn't really know which buttons to press and frequently found myself pressing the wrong buttons! With the N64 controller, my thumb sat on the buttons that are used most often. Additionally, it had a much better tactile feel and was overall more fun to play on!