The biggest mystery in gaming isn't what Master Chief looks like behind his mask or the size of Lara Croft's ... shoes. Instead, for the last year, gamers have been most mystified by something more tangible: what shape the Nintendo Revolution controller will take.

While Microsoft and Sony bared their consoles at this year's E3 (see [article id="1502444"]"PlayStation 3 Will Let You See The Spit Fly Like Never Before"[/article]), Nintendo, the third-place company in the home-console wars, only revealed the base unit of the Revolution (see [article id="1502542"]"Nintendo Reaches Back With Revolution, Shrinks Game Boy"[/article]). The company announced that the console will be compatible with Nintendo's four previous consoles, but President Satoru Iwata declined to show the system's controller. That, he said, would be the most revolutionary aspect of the machine.

Nintendo has a reputation for creating innovative controllers, from the plus-shaped directional pad to the analog stick that has been the primary input device of every system in the last decade. Most recently, Nintendo made a design left turn when it introduced the two-screen, touch-screen-enabled Nintendo DS, showing that the company is still more than willing to think outside the (X)box.

That penchant for experimentation has proven contagious among Nintendo-loving gamers, who have been posting Photoshop mock-ups of the controller online. They collectively theorize about controllers that function as virtual-reality headsets, break into separate handles, or heat up and grow cold in accordance with in-game climates. Mixed in have been a few joke ideas: one mocking Iwata's professed desire to make gaming simpler by including just one controller button, marked "win"; one with a propeller; and one shaped like a sex toy.

"I've never seen this many mock-ups come up for anything else, including the Xbox 360," said Brian Crecente, editor of the gaming blog Kotaku.

"I've read so many off-the-wall theories that at this point I half expect the controller to dispense yummy peanut butter candies whenever I achieve a new high score," said Matt Green, who blogs about games at PressTheButtons.com. "I do not believe it will include a touch screen, helmet, 3-D display or buttons that deliver an electric shock. Yes, that theory is really floating around out there."

Nick Luckett, who blogs at 4ColorRebellion.com, said he started seeing mock-ups a year ago. He spotted about one a month, but when they started appearing daily, he decided to make a compendium, which he has since packed with almost 100 of the most work-safe designs (check them out at 4colorrebellion.com/revolution-controller-mockups). The page's popularity nearly exhausted Luckett's bandwidth, attracting, he claims, as many as 20,000 unique users per day.

What he says is the most elaborate mock-up is actually not featured among the stills on his site. In May, a gamer in Spain named Pablo Belmonte released to the Internet more than six minutes of professional-grade video promoting a hypothetical device called the Nintendo On, a version of the Revolution that was shaped like a helmet and sucked players into games via a special headset.

"It's amazing what some people have messed around with," Crecente said. "It's hard to figure out what the motivation is. Is it that they are trying to pull one over on the gaming world, or are they expressing their love for Nintendo?"

A 14-year-old gamer from Toronto who goes by the name Retro said he saw an opportunity to will his dreams to life. "I just always had this idea of a perfect controller," he said. "Since I was 8 I always had an interest in technology. Some of the stuff I guess [about] turns out to be true."

Retro's design (#32 on Luckett's site) uses special silicon buttons embedded in the system's handles, temperature emitters and a controller-based, touch-sensitive view screen. He posted his designs, which took eight hours to make, on the official Nintendo forums this spring, and has been encouraged to make a second set upon hearing rumors that Nintendo might reveal its secret as part of Iwata's keynote address at this year's Tokyo Game Show later this week.

Another gamer, who uses the alias "Tommy Gun," brainstormed a controller that would expand on the concept of the Revolution playing the games of old Nintendo systems. His design (#84) would allow gamers to plug old Nintendo controllers into a new wireless one, creating a way-station for plugging in nostalgia.

With the controller announcement possibly right around the corner, gamers are now trying to adjust their expectations accordingly. Tommy Gun invoked another popular tech mystery that ultimately underwhelmed. "Remember the Segway," he said. "It got super hyped up. And then it came out and people were like, 'It's a scooter.' "

That being the case, the anticipation -- and Nintendo's reputation for creativity -- has generated some hope for something new. "As much as I love my Xbox and my PlayStation 2 and PSP, they're all iterations of the same thing," Crecente said. "They all have joysticks, they all have buttons. My PSP is essentially a PlayStation 2 controller with features added in. They don't change how you play games. ... I hope the Revolution will change the way we play. We need it. I'm sick of playing first-person shooters."