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.
