U-Force

The U-Force is a game controller made by Brøderbund for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It employs a pair of perpendicular consumer IR sensor panels to translate the user's hand movements into controller signals.

From a print advertisement c. 1989:

Introducing U-FORCE, the revolutionary controller for your Nintendo Entertainment System. So hot, no one can touch it. Now you can feel the power without touching a thing. It's U-FORCE from Broderbund - the first and only video game controller that, without touching anything, electronically senses your every move, and reacts. There's nothing to hold, nothing to jump on, nothing to wear, U-FORCE creates a power field that responds to your every command--making you the controller. It's the most amazing accessory in video game history - and it will change the way you play video games forever. It's the challenge of the future. U-FORCE. Now nothing comes between you and the game.

Reception

The U-Force was ranked the eighth worst video game controller by IGN editor Craig Harris. MSN listed it as one of the top 10 worst game peripherals, writing "Second only to the Sega Activator in terms of all-out crappiness, the U-Force also used infrared sensors to create a truly nightmarish controller...'Don’t Touch' said the adverts for the device, in a rare example of an advertising campaign that got it spot on."

See also

• Freedom Stick and Supersonic the Joystick, contemporaneous joysticks for the NES that also used IR technology