Before the Xbox 360 arrived in 2006, using a gamepad on PC was a pretty annoying experience. You'd have to manually configure buttons, games wouldn't detect the controller or show the correct icons, ...
When the PlayStation 4 launched in November 2013, I was shocked to find how much I liked its reworked DualShock 4 controller. Did I like it even more than the trusty Xbox pad I'd been using for years ...