d-pad
nounEtymology Shortened from directional pad.
1
Video games A plus-shaped directional input pad on a video game controller that allows for eight degrees of movement, now largely superseded by the thumbstick.
- The strategy that has dominated recently for the last couple of years is to tap the d-pad as fast as humanly possible with one finger, known as hypertapping in the gaming community. In NES Tetris, this skill is crucial, since the speed increases when moving up levels, culminating in level 29, where the pieces usually drop to the bottom of the board in less than ⅓ of a second. However, hypertapping has several limitations.2021 June 16, Tzvi Kalb, “What is Old is New Again: NES Tetris”, in The Science Survey:
- Like the name implies, a hypertapping player simply presses left or right on the NES d-pad their desired number of times.2023 December 1, Evelynn Kersting, “GAMES AND TIME”, in University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, page 251, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2025:
- Synonyms
- control pad, directional pad