The gamepad itself is just about perfect in design. It has a total of 13 buttons - an analog/digital switch, an A/B switch (for those who like to change things around) two shoulder, 6 regular, a "shift" button that gives every button another function, and the analog sticks both push in to act as buttons themselves. There are two analog sticks and a directional pad (or D-pad). For those who have used a Playstation/Playstation 2 controller, it's similar, only more comfortable.