What is a D-pad?

A D-pad (short for digital pad or directional pad; also known as a control pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, usually digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones.

What is a precursor to the D-pad?

A precursor to the D-pad was the four directional buttons used in arcade games such as UPL's Blockade (1976) and SNK's Vanguard (1981). A precursor to the standard D-pad on a video game console was used by the Intellivision, which was released by Mattel Electronics in 1980.

What is a directional pad?

A directional pad (D-pad) is a series of buttons placed in an arrow or cross design that provides commands for four directions – up-down-left-right or north-south-east-west. This type of physical interface control has been extremely popular in gaming equipment and other uses, such as television remote controls.

How many buttons does the D-pad have?

Even without an analog stick, some software uses the D-pad's eight-directional capabilities to act as eight discrete buttons, not related to direction or on-screen movement at all. Jam Sessions for the Nintendo DS, for example, uses the D-pad to select music chords during play.