NFGworld! News http://nfgworld.com/mb/ Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:14:01 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) ASCII Playstation 2 Optical Joysticks http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/620
Enter the ASCII line of sticks featuring near-silent optical stick mechs.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-Sticks-Silent.jpg]

The family of sticks using this mech include the ASCII Stick Justice (matching Capcom's Rival Schools / Project Justice game), and the ASCII Stick Zero (matching Capcom's Street Fighter Zero 3), several Dreamcast sticks, and the one shown below, the ASCII Stick 3 Ultimate. 

The Ultimate featured here is heavily modified, so is nearly the same as the other two sticks.  The original Ultimate was programmable, with a large LCD screen and memory card slot.  This review will focus on the primary features: the stick, the buttons, and the base.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickUltra-2.jpg]

These sticks featured a delicious octagonal gate, and all eight playstation buttons.  The Ultimate has two additional buttons, used for activating special moves.  The Zero 3 has a vibration feature, the other two do not.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickZero3.jpg]

All three of these sticks feel good when you first lay hands on 'em.  They're very well constructed, with a thick metal top and bottom plate.  The curved front can dig into your legs if you play with 'em on your lap, but you quickly learn to accomodate.  The slot in the top is for instruction cards: the Justice and Zero 3 shipped with move cards for Street Fighter and Rival Schools which could be slotted in for quick reference.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickJustice.jpg]

And that's it for the good news.

In use, the cheap ASCII buttons do not offer much response, and feel a bit mushy.  Sadly, they tend to bind, sticking all too easily in the heat of play. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickUltra-1.jpg]

The optical sensor is unique: instead of a spring-loaded microswitch on each compass point, the mechanism features four infra-red LEDs and receivers.  When the stick is moved, it interrupts the light between each LED/receiver pair, and this activates the direction pressed.  The upshot is that this mechanism is nearly silent: except for a quiet thud as the stick hits the gate, it makes no noise at all.

The joystick though is a letdown.  The sticks themselves use a very thick shaft, which makes the knob feel larger than usual (it's 40mm, the same size as most sticks).  They seem to also have a larger amount of throw.  The feel of a stick is of ultimate importance, and despite having a super-smooth feel, the lack of microswitch seems to diminish the power of the return spring, and the stick feels heavy and slow.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickUltra-3.jpg]

For some games this is not a problem: Fighter and shooters rarely ask the player to release the stick, but in a tap-tap game like Magical Drop, the tap/release motion takes a split second longer to return to center, and it's very aggravating.

Bottom Line: Unless you're after the optical mech, there's nothing here that's done any better than most other joysticks.  The buttons are the worst offenders, the rest of the stick is reliable and will probably last longer than you.

Buying Advice:
If it's cheap or if you need an optical mech, go ahead and pick one up.  The worst you're likely to face is the buttons: the older they are, the more they stick, and no amount of lube or cleaning seems to help.  The sticks basically never wear out, though you might have to clean 'em.  There's a plastic cover on the stick shaft which can be easily removed, but the metal shaft can rust beneath this sleeve, making it look a bit ugly.  It won't affect operation.

For a short time (c. 2003) in Japan programmable sticks were very much the rage, and prices for this unit (And a comparable Hori stick) went from about $30 to well over $400.  Two months later, it was back to normal pricing, and today this stick can be found for $20-50 in Japan.

Technical
I have used several of these mechs for other projects.  Two of them are in a modified Virtual On base, and they are fantastic for Robotron: the 8-way gate is just brilliant.  Sanwa, who manufactured the mechs for ASCII, no longer sells them, so these sticks are your only source. 

The buttons are mounted to a PCB internally, which will need to be removed before you can replace the buttons with ones that actually work.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickUltra-Inside.jpg]
This particular stick has been modified heavily.  The green lump is a USB chip.

The mechanisms are drop-in compatible with other Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y mechs, but any other mechanism will require a lot of work.  They're top-mounted, which means the top panel needs to come out to replace them, and that means removing the entire button PCB as well.  A stick replacement would require a button replacement as well, or a lot of rewiring instead.

If you want to re-use one of these optical mechs in a standard 5-Volt joystick, simply throw a 100-Ohm resistor between Vcc and each LED, and it'll work fine.  I used a 75-Ohm part with no trouble.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-StickUltraInside-2.jpg]
This is how the stick looked before I abused it.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ASCII-UltraRobotron.jpg]
The inside of my Robotron stick.  I taped notes about wirecolours to the inside, for future reference.  It comes in handy a lot.
]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:08:46 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/620 SNK's NeoGeo Joystick http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/475 arcade perfect had arrived in the living room, one company stepped up to the plate and, against all odds, actually delivered the real arcade experience.  SNK, a small Japanese developer with a string of b-list hits but no real mainstream success, released the NeoGeo and it immediately became the ultimate game console. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Logo-Stick.png]

Even though it shared the same main and sub processors as the Genesis, it literally delivered the same games arcades did by building into the large flat-slab hardware the very same graphics chips as the arcade machines.  The cartridges were massive too, with two PCBs inside them, each larger than the largest cartridge for any other system.  It was as if the gods themselves had created a machine that brooked no compromise, and along with this beast SNK delivered the joystick.

SNK's massive black game machine could not suffer anything so pedestrian as a joypad, as standard equipment.  Instead every NeoGeo came with one large black joystick (two if you bought the Gold system) featuring four buttons and a stick straight from the arcades.  When everyone else rocked up to a gaming get-together with a tiny little pad, no number of coloured buttons could match the effect of pulling one of these from your duffel bag:

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Stick-2.jpg]

SNK had developed some excellent hardware (the system's longevity proves that) but they weren't subtle, not by any stretch: the NeoGeo joystick was nearly as large as the system itself.  

In play, the NeoGeo stick was better than any other at the time, bettering even the Capcom Power Stick which was the mainstream king.  The stick mechanism was a perfectly balanced short-throw unit with a delightful click, and it was - as required by the fighting games that dominated the platform - totally accurate. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Stick-1.jpg]

SNK's engineers were a bit schizophrenic though, mixing every brilliant design choice with one that was just a little bit dodgy.  The joystick's translucent purple knob (ooer) would cracked more often than not, and even brand new sticks would be removed from the box with cracks already present.  It became a bit like ceramic glaze, as NeoGeo owners - rationalizing the extreme cost of the system - learned to deal with and later love these imperfections.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Stick-Knob.jpg]
This stick was used by SNK themselves.  The cracks are worse than normal.  I don't know if the two facts are related.

The stick's buttons were a little less awesome than the stick.  They were perfect examples of SNK's schizophrenic engineering, with every brilliant design choice matched by one of dubious merit.  These buttons, which looked great and felt good, used arcade switch mechanisms, but unlike arcade buttons they were not inside a sleeve.  Instead, they sat high on an internal mount, and had a great deal of horizontal movement.  They worked well enough, but the overall effect was a bit cheap, and they tended to rub against the stick's shell.  Right from new they tended to squeak and they were noisy and annoying to use, cheapening the whole experience.

There was also the angle of the buttons: their extremely steep inclination required some gruesome finger curling or a very nasty bending of the wrist, which quickly became exhausting and a definite enemy of players with carpal tunnel problems.  SNK revised both the angle and the squeak with their second generation sticks, released with the Neo CD.

Bottom Line:
A solid performer, though the passage of time has made it less impressive than it once was.  The stick is nice, and it stands up to a moderate level of abuse, but the buttons - while functional - are noisy and not very ergonomic.  Overall it's solid, though I'd take the CD stick over this one if given the choice. 


Buying Advice:
  • The purple knob tends to be cracked.  This is not a sign of abuse, and the knob can be replaced.
  • The cable stress relief tends to crack and fall off.  Doesn't affect performance, usually.
  • The connector housing is thin and tends to crack.
  • The logo is almost always faded on one side.
  • The buttons squeak. 

None of these things typically affect performance, only aesthetics.  If you're worried about the way it works, check the stick itself.  It should not hesitate at all, smoothly returning to centre from any direction.  If there's any sludge or degraded lube in the stick, it can be cleaned out easily.  Cable damage is likely the next thing to watch for. 

For the most part these sticks never break down, and you can expect a very long life from them.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Logo-Faded.jpg]
This logo is very faded on the right
.


Technical:
This mechanism itself was not unique to SNK, and in addition to their CD sticks, they can also be found in several sticks from other manufacturers (ASCII, Micomsoft).  It appears to be a Seimitsu part.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Stick-Inside-1.jpg]

The buttons were identical to the reset button on the console itself, with the same translucent purple colour and the same switch mechanism underneath.  These buttons looked really nice when illuminated from below with LEDs.

This stick is a very easy unit to mod, with no encoder to work around.  Every button and stick direction is represented by one wire to the console (D-button has two for reasons unknown), and the 15-pin connector is easy to purchase for your modding pleasure.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/NeoGeo-Stick-Inside-2.jpg]

Connector Pinout on the GameSX Wiki

Mechanism technical discussion


PostScript
SNK, or the company currently calling itself SNK, has re-released this stick for the Playstation 2 and Wii, with four extra buttons for the modern consoles.  It's basically identical to the old one, thought I don't know if the buttons still squeak. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:16:04 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/475 PC Engine / TurboGrafx 16 Pad http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/460
[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-1.jpg]

As is normal for controllers seeking to avoid Nintendo's d-pad patents the PC Engine pad used a round d-pad with a cross-shaped relief.  Unlike other attempts to replicate this mechanism (like Sega's execrable Master System pad) the PC Engine d-pad was comfortable, accurate and reliable.  It is no less player-friendly than the Nintendo d-pad.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-2.jpg]

If the ergonomics of the entire pad are taken into consideration it's very likely that this is, in fact, the very best 2-button controller ever made.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-3.jpg]

It was unique in at least one respect: it's the only major manufacturer's pack-in pad to include auto-fire.  Every single PC Engine pad, for every revision of the hardware (barring a rare standalone version of the PCE pad, shown below top-left), had 3-position autofire for both buttons.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-4.jpg]

The design is so solid that, for most of the PC Engine's lifespan (which was very long indeed, with game releases spanning more than a decade) only the very last hardware revision - the Duo RX - had a different pad packed with the system.  In fact, the PC Engine pad ranks at the top of the list for successive hardware revisions that used the same pad: more than ten revisions of the system were released worldwide, and each used the same controller.  To keep it from being entirely stale, each featured a different coloured plastic shell, a different label panel, or both.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-10-pads.jpg]

Of all the PCE hardware released, only the Duo RX and the PC Shuttle had pads that were different in shape or function.  The RX had a six-button arcade pad, and the Shuttle had a strange bat-winged pad that was functionally identical to the regular PCE pads.


Variations:

NEC did release three other pads for the PCE series: the Avenue-3 pad, with a third button (which was simply a duplicate of the Select or Run button) released along with Capcom's Forgotten Worlds, the Avenue-6 pad, which was an uncomfortably large six-button pad, and the Arcade-6, which was such a beautiful pad it was later re-used for the PC-FX console.


Technical:

The PCE pad uses the same chip (a 74157)as the MegaDrive / Genesis pad, though the two controllers are not compatible.  A second chip (a 74163) is used for autofire.  The schematic for the controller is very simple, as you can see.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-PCB-1.jpg]

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-PCB-2.jpg]

Interestingly NEC used some very unusual resistors for their PCE pads.  Rather than the usual components, these appear to be sprayed onto the PCB (below).

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PCE-pad-PCB-3.jpg]
]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:27:36 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/460 Sony Playstation Pad http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/452 Playstation.  At a show in 1991 Nintendo publically announces their new SNES CD system, in partnership with Philips.  Sony, quite surprised, throws the covers back over their Playstation prototypes, and gives Nintendo a very dirty glare.

Very much the jilted lover, Sony decided to release their own system.  The Playstation was a 3D marvel, small and powerful, and solidly designed inside and out.  The Playstation controller, however, was a basically a SNES pad with handles. 

Imagine a drunk Sony engineer, sitting in a pub and drinking away the sting of a Nintendo betrayal.  He's sketching ideas on a notepad.

Starting with a SNES pad, the first step is avoiding the Nintendo cross-shaped d-pad patent.  With only two strokes, the Playstation's iconic 4-part d-pad is created.  Moving on to the buttons, he crosses out ABXY and scribbles in some random geometric symbols, and because he heard his manager mention multimedia once, he draws a rectangle stop and triangle play button over Nintendo's start and select.  After knocking back another cup of sake, he writes assholes over the Nintendo logo.

That'll teach 'em he thinks to himself.  He looks at his drawing with smug satisfaction, but it's not enough.  It's the same controller, isn't it?  Inspiration strikes, and he throws in two more shoulder buttons.  Hah!  Now it's way more awesome than the SNES pad.  Still...

He draws a couple of bug antennae on the top, but erases them.  He draws two big ears on the sides, and erases them too.  Finally, he draws a couple of dangly bits on the bottom, and pachinko-victory alarm bells go off in his head - now it's the controller of the future.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS1-evolution2.jpg]

----

The Review
When I first tried the Playstation pad at CES in 1996, my first impressions were favourable.  It was, after all, sexy new hardware, and I was dazzled by the smooth framerates of Ridge Racer.  When it was finally released nine months  later it didn't take long for the pad to simply fade into the background.  With the first generation of Playstation games the controller was, essentially, invisible.  It was all about the games.

That's how it should be.

The Playstation pad was functional, comfortable, and reliable.  It just worked,  but being borne of the SNES pad you would expect exactly that.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS1-d-pad.jpg]

Some people complained about the d-pad: the separated buttons confused a lot of people who saw it in magazines.  Why does it have four buttons? they'd ask, before announcing with great fervour that it sucks.  For most people, when they actually played it, they either loved it or just didn't mind it too much.  It worked, and it worked better than many pads.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS1-d-pad-2.jpg]

For my money, it's pretty awesome.  Functionally there's no difference between this d-pad and any other.  It's actually one piece, despite its divided appearance, and with your eyes on the game you'd be unlikely to even notice it's not connected in the middle.  As far as I'm concerned anyone who strongly dislikes this pad either does so for completely ridiculous reasons or because they were unlucky enough to get an ALPS-made unit.

Everything else about the pad is, basically, excellent.  All the buttons are easily found, the shoulder buttons are comfortable, and Sony's drunken engineer should be commended for not screwing up what Nintendo put so much effort into.

The Dual Shock
When Nintendo and Sega brought out analogue controls, Sony followed suit (read more about this), adding two analogue sticks to the basic Playstation pad.  At first they added only the two sticks: the Dual Analogue pad was a slightly larger but otherwise identical Playstation pad with two concave-topped sticks crammed between the handles.  Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft put the analogue stick in the primary position, but Sony left the digital d-pad where it was, and I could never get used to it.  It always seemed as if I was reaching for the stick, and I found it difficult to be accurate with that awkward reach. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS2-pad.jpg]

Sony made the sticks clickable too - you could push straight down on them, giving players two additional buttons.  These buttons were incredibly annoying, and pushing down on the sticks invariably shifted the stick away from the position it was in.

Sony and most of their customers were so pleased with this Dual Shock that the design became unalterable.  Sony  essentially locked the pad down, and for the next decade they made very few changes to it.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS2-dualshock2-6.jpg]

When the Playstation 2 was released Sony added analogue buttons: the harder you pressed, the more the game would respond.  This was too annoying for most players: the lack of feedback meant you never knew how far you were pressing it, and the actual result was sore fingers from pushing as hard as you could all the time, and most games ignored the feature.  For the Playstation 3's release Sony finally caught up with 1996 and its analogue triggers, went fully wireless, and moving quickly to match Nintendo's Wii, included rudimentary motion-sensing abilities too.

The Bottom Line
The Playstation pad was brilliant, the Dual Shock no less so if used as a digital pad.  After many years of playing with it I don't hate the twin sticks as much as I once did, though I still believe that making both sticks secondary inputs was the wrong choice, and making them also buttons is a totally worthless feature.  Ultimately I think this is one of the greatest pads ever made.  If Sony had swapped the left-side digital and analogue controls I might love it more...  If they want to try that and send me a prototype, I'll happily let 'em know if I'm right or not.  =D


Technical
Interestingly, Sony sought other ways to avoid Nintendo's patent on the d-pad.  One of the criteria Nintendo mentioned in their patent application was the rounded bottom of the d-pad, which acted as a fulcrum.  Sony's design used a weird four-pointed plastic insert which had its own fulcrum.  Being disconnected from the main d-pad apparently kept the lawyers at bay.  What's weird though is that this device had three arms that were longer than the last.  It doesn't seem to matter how it's oriented in the pad, it's just shorter.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS1-pad-bit.jpg]

The Playstation was one of the first systems to use a complicated controller protocol for passing information between pad and console.  Unlike most previous systems, which used off-the-shelf generic chips, Sony's solution was very different.  When the system is started the controller and console have a little dialogue, and the controller details its ID, features, button count and other details.

The Playstation controller port had two pins for power: One 3.3 Volt line for the controller, and an unregulated 8 Volt line for peripherals requiring more power.  Many third party pads used cheap 5 Volt components, and drew their power from the 8 Volt line (it's easier to reduce the Voltage than increase it from the 3.3V line).  Since these controllers were unauthorized, they didn't realize the Playstation couldn't supply a lot of current via the 8V line, and many third party pads would fry fuses inside the Playstation.  At my store in Canada we made many players happy by replacing these fuses for less than Sony charged.


The Whinge
I feel compelled to complain a little about Sony's low-risk method of controller innovation.  For more than thirteen years the pad has remained basically the same, and despite radical hardware decisions in the consoles themselves, Sony was very conservative with their controllers.  Too conservative, in my view: Nintendo had two shoulder buttons, Sony had four.  Nintendo and Sega had one analogue device, Sony had two.  Nintendo adds vibration, so does Sony.  Nintendo adds motion sensitivity, so does Sony.  Nintendo releases pads in multiple colours, so does Sony.  Sega and Microsoft have analogue triggers, finally (12 years later) so does Sony.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/PS1-blue.jpg]

No matter their success in the console war, they were always chasing the leaders of controller innovation.  Sony did manage to be first with only two features:  the sticks had integral buttons, and could be pushed downwards so they clicked, and in the Playstation 2, the face buttons were analogue.  Microsoft copied both of these features for the Xbox and 360, but neither feature is particularly useful to players.

I was very disappointed when the PS2 was released with the same old pad:  It hardly felt new and exciting when you came home with fantastically expensive new game hardware, unboxed it and hooked it all up, and then slapped the same old controller into your palms.  It's the same with the PS3.  Oh sure, maybe the buttons were analogue, maybe the controller had no cord, but it was basically the same, and after thirteen years, it's basically boring.  Probably just whinging for the sake of it though - the old pad is still a good pad. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:28:39 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/452 Nintendo's N64 Controller http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/439 Innovation
When Nintendo launched the N64, they made a few really interesting decisions: it was the last cartridge-based console, it had four controller ports, and it re-introduced the analogue stick to the world.  The Nintendo 64's power made better-than-rudimentary 3D games possible, and along with this new dimension came a need for a different controller.  Anyone who has played Mario 64 knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that digital controls simply would not suffice.  Imagine trying to walk a tightrope when you could only run in 8 directions, and had no speed control beyond stopped and full speed ahead!

So something new was needed, but it wouldn't be easy.  Significant challenges were faced when Nintendo designed the new controller, and the placement of nearly every feature was a reasoned response to necessity.  Nintendo's engineers must have been insane with the demands placed on them by the N64 software designers, you can just imagine them making more and more demands while the hardware guys overcame one obstacle after another.  The mother of all invention pushed Nintendo in several innovative new directions. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/N64-pad-1.jpg]

Nintendo seems to have started with a SNES-like foundation, with a d-pad on the left, A+B buttons on the right, and two shoulder buttons.  But then they got a little weird.

The first challenge was the fitment of both a 2D d-pad and 3D stick, and Nintendo's solution was a wild one: a striking, three-pronged design.  A player's right hand was always on the right prong, but the left was free to hold either the left (for 2D) or centre (for 3D) prong depending on the game's requirements.  Since the player could no longer reach the left trigger while holding the centre prong, a trigger button was added underneath the centre of the pad.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/N64-pad-2.jpg]

Sometimes, when blazing new ground, you make a decision that turns out to be less than ideal.  Nintendo realized they would need a way to control the camera in 3D games, so they created the C-button: a group of four yellow buttons.  They allowed the player to move the camera up, down left and right, and to Nintendo's credit, it worked.  It also allowed Nintendo to justify six face buttons, a feature only matched by Sega's Saturn and - somewhat abortively - Microsoft's Xbox.  Sony and Microsoft followed Nintendo's lead, but used a second analogue stick instead of the C-buttons.  Knowing a good thing when they saw it, Nintendo abandoned the C-button after the N64, using a second analogue stick for their GameCube too.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/N64-pad-side.jpg]

Nintendo's final innovation was a large slot underneath the front of the pad.  Each player could use their own memory card, vibrating rumble-pak or other device during play.

Nintendo also applied the multi-colour option that brought them success during the GameBoy era: N64 controllers were released in a multitude of colours.  Mario Kart had a black and white one (shown above), contest winners received gold ones, translucent consoles had matching translucent pads, and a changing variety of colours were sold throughout the system's life.  Nintendo once announced a feature that allowed games to detect the pad's colour, changing the player colour to match, but this was rarely (if ever) used.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/N64-pad-yellow.jpg]

In Use
The N64 pad was, for the most part, exactly what players needed: a comfortable, functional 2D and 3D pad.  It made a lot of compromises, but none that significantly detracted from the controller's worth.

Some people found it too large, a side effect of the three-prong design.  Even the d-pad was a little larger than the one found on the SNES pad. 

The analogue stick used an 8-way gate, just like Nintendo's later GameCube and Wii Classic Pad.  As long as the pad was relatively new, it was a joy to play with and use.

All six face buttons were within reach, but the arrangement of the two different sized buttons felt strange as a six-button pad.  Nintendo mitigated this somewhat by making the A and B buttons the primary buttons for all games, but it was still odd for 2D games, especially when all four yellow buttons were called C.

Quality-wise the controller was a mixed bag: the analogue stick tended to wear out quickly, but the whole pad was kind of creaky.  This was no doubt another side effect of the three pronged design, which offered enthusiastic players a lot of leverage.  It was perhaps the least robust of an Nintendo controller: most players who bashed their controllers found they'd break off internal bits, and many used controllers have an annoying rattle.

Considering the demands placed on this controller, it fared remarkably well, and many of the features it introduced, re-introduced or improved on found their way into future pads from all manufacturers.


Technical
The analogue stick was very poorly implemented.  While the encoding mechanism (a miniature pair of geared optical wheels attached to the stick and read like a trackball or mouse) was clever and functional, the stick itself was plastic, against a plastic fulcrum.  It only took a moderate amount of use to wear the fulcrum down so that the stick became increasingly sloppy, with a growing 'dead zone'.  After a few months of play most sticks could no long reach the left and right maximums, and players had to replace the entire pad.

Most third party pads used more traditional potentiometer-based analogue sticks, with metal components, offering more reliability than the Nintendo device.

N64 pads used only three wires to communicate with the console.


Other
Panasonic's unreleased 3DO M2 console used 3-prong controller mockup that was a shocking ripoff of the N64 pad.

Nintendo's Mario Party games required players to wiggle the analogue pad in quick circles, and many players injured their hands trying to go ever faster.  Nintendo ended up offering free gloves to any player injured in this fashion after several parents complained. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:42:59 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/439 Capcom's Fighting Pad Soldier http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/417
[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/Capcom-pad-SNES-1.jpg]

They all shared similar problems, with hardware that was far less powerful than the arcade, and cartridges that couldn't hold nearly enough data.  They also had one other similar problem: inadequate controllers.  None of these systems had six button controllers at launch, and it wasn't until Street Fighter was released for these systems that it became a serious limitation.

Several companies stepped up to fill the gap, but few so creatively as the Capcom Fighting Soldier pad.  Designed by ASCII and sold by Capcom, it was almost certainly the strangest pad ever released. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/Capcom-pad-SNES-2.jpg]

Looking at it for the first time, it seems to be completely and impossibly unwieldy.  The buttons are not on the same plane as the d-pad, being instead tilted forward on a separate platform.  It looks absolutely bizarre, but it actually works.

The d-pad half of the pad seems to be a descendant of ASCII's GRiP controller, and could almost be considered a one-handled precursor of the modern, Playstation-like pads.  Instead of a smooth handle however it has molded finger grooves that are comfortable even for my large hands.  Like the Playstation pad, the d-pad is within perfect thumb range and the START and SELECT buttons, despite appearances, are easily pressed.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/Capcom-pad-3DO.jpg]

The button platform totally defies expectations.  You might think by looking at it that they're in an awkward position, but they're not.  They're at the perfect angle for players who prefer to use their fingers instead of their thumb, but - thanks to the curve of the platform itself, it's also supremely comfortable for thumbs as well.

From a quality perspective this pad is top-notch.  It's well built, sturdy and it feels good in the hands.  Even during a frantic session the pad does not creak or twist.  The buttons have a nice response, the d-pad is perfectly punchy.  You'd be hard pressed to find any pad its equal, at the time or even now.

The SuperNES version had a cross-shaped d-pad, both the 3DO and Genesis/MegaDrive versions had a round d-pad with a raised cross.  Pretty much as you'd expect given Nintendo's d-pad patent.  All three versions had a different colour scheme, to match the system.  The MegaDrive version was orange and blue, 3DO was red and grey, and the SNES was grey and purple.  The latter being a little strange in Japan, as the colours matched the US SNES but not the more colourful Super Famicom.  The 3DO version had a little box near the console end of the cable, with an additional controller connector, allowing additional controllers to be chained together (a standard 3DO feature).

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/Capcom-pad-MD.jpg]
This image found on a Yahoo Japan auction

This pad gets my highest recommendation.  There's no reason to prefer this over a normal SNES pad, but there's every reason to pick one up if you get the chance.  It's better than nearly every other 3rd party pad available for all of these systems, and it's typically available at a very reasonable price. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:26:03 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/417 ALPS Interactive Gamepad http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/403 fairly large company.  They make Alpine audio gear, keyboards for Apple, touchpads for Sony's Vaio notebooks, etc.

Anyway, they made the controller for Sony, and for a very short time, they made their own pad too.  The ALPS Interactive Gamepad was their first and only pad.  It was designed to be smooth and ergonomic, and it felt amazing in the hands.  It was released in the standard blue, shown here, as well as a premium-priced limited-edition red version available only through Electronics Boutique stores (at least in Canada).  A smaller version was also released.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ALPS-pad-1.jpg]

Quote by Press Release:
"We designed the Alps Interactive Gamepad so players can concentrate on the game instead of the gamepad," said Ken Kajikawa, product manager for Alps Interactive. "Gamers can now enjoy longer, harder playing while playing with the best, instead of traditionally awkward and uncomfortable gamepads."

Read the rest of the press release.

The lower half of the handles were rubber for better grip.  Teardrop-shaped butons were smooth and close together for easy access.  The four shoulder buttons were similarly smooth.  Even the D-pad was super-smooth, with fantastic-feeling response.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ALPS-pad-2.jpg]
(they normally have a cord, this one was removed)

We brought some of these into my shop when it was first released, and based on our brief experiences with it, we hyped it up a lot.  We first realized something was wrong with the thing when a customer returned it complaining it didn't make his game any better.  "Even the best tools won't make you a winner if you're a natural loser" we told him (our customer service was legendary).  He agreed, we took his pad back, and he went home happy with a regular PS1 pad.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/ALPS-pad-pad.jpg]

The whole controller just sucked.  The face buttons were too close together, the pad was incredibly inaccurate, and the shoulder buttons felt way better than they responded.  In fact, that pretty much summed up the whole pad: sexy, comfortable, useless.  I've dated women like that, and the result is the same: some awesome sessions of sensual bliss followed by the realization that you've totally wasted your time and money.

Every part of this pad was created to be beautiful, but it was as if no one who actually enjoys games playtested it.  ALPS, quite sensibly, never tried again. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:32:58 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/403 Namco JogCon http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/382
Namco released it in 1998 along with Ridge Racer 4, and was sold both separately and as a bundle with the game.  Since its release only one other real force-feedback peripheral has been released for consoles: Logitech's series of racing wheels for Xbox and Playstation.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/JogCon-1.jpg]

Anyway, the JogCon.  No doubt Namco thought it would be a great idea to release this to make their acclaimed Ridge Racer 4 even better, but there's no chance they succeeded.  The JogCon is not a good controller, by any measure, and its place in history is guaranteed only by the half-assed feedback it offers.  None of its failures are particularly serious, but there are many of them, and the combined effect ruins any chance the controller had of being enjoyed.

The flaws start from the beginning: The Playstation does not offer a significant amount of power through the controller port.  This would prevent any right-minded people from pursuing force feedback, 'cause without power your feedback motors are weak, and the little handheld JogCon's motors are weak indeed.

Undaunted by this flawed initial premise, Namco compensated by putting the disc/wheel in the middle of the pad, making it awkward to reach and manipulate.  The upside of this contortionate arrangement is the player cannot exert enough force to overcome the weak motors.

As if that weren't enough, they built it to a budget.  It looks and feels cheap, with untextured flat surfaces and a steering disc/wheel that's sloppy to turn and wobbly on its axis. 

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/JogCon-2.jpg]

The wheel is really too flexible.  No doubt if it was made of magnesium alloy they could build it to withstand serious stresses, but no, it's entirely plastic, and the disc/wheel flexes quite a lot.  This means two things to the player:  It feels cheap, and it doesn't fucking work.  What little force the motor applies to the wheel makes it harder for the player to push, so the player pushes harder, and because the disc/wheel flexes so much, not even one lap can be played before the wheel has flexed against the controller and locked solid.  The motor doesn't matter anymore, the player's pushed hard enough (and that's not very hard!) that it won't turn at all.

Not only that, but the indent on the wheel itself, ostensibly designed for a thumb to settle in, has hard sharp edges, and it doesn't take long to really hurt yourself.  Perhaps this was the point: if it hurts to use, the player's not likely to push very hard, the motor won't be overridden and the disk won't flex and bind.  They might as well have glued several pirhanas to the controller if they really didn't want anyone to use it.

So you've got a dumb idea implemented cheaply and to no one's surprise it's fatally flawed and painful to use.  No doubt there are some who could exhibit the required restraint, and could play with the JogCon happily, but I've never met one of these double-jointed weak-but calloused thumb-sportin' sedated freaks, and I doubt many people have.

As a novelty it's worth maybe five bucks, but as a serious racing implement you're better off just slamming your thumb in the door before playing with your regular pad.


Compatibility:  It's not wheel-compatible, so unlike the NeGCon it can't be used for most Playstation racing games.  It does work with Ridge Racer 4 and the PS2's Ridge Racer V, but beyond that you'd best assume it doesn't work. 

Technical: The wheel is free-spinning, and is connected to the motor by a series of gears.  The slack in these plastic gears contributes to the overall cheap feel, as the disc rotates a bit before engaging.

The view inside is, at first, no different from any normal Playstation controller: A green PCB, some wires, etc.  It's the other side that is interesting...

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/JogCon-inside-1.jpg]

In the picture below, the wheel (top) is shown upside down.  When inverted and placed onto the gear assembly, the inside ring of teeth engage with the outermost white gear.  The notches along the wheel's perimeter pass through the little optical sensor on the right of the gear assembly, in the same way old mice, trackballs and old arcade spinners work.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/JogCon-inside-2.jpg]
]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:55:56 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/382 Nintendo Gamecube http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/381
They created the d-pad, invented shoulder buttons, miniaturized analogue sticks...  They're the people who keep Sony and Microsoft up at night, by constantly re-inventing their interfaces.  The Wii continues this tradition of innovation with perhaps the most radical departure from standard controllers since...  Well, since forever, but the GameCube represents Nintendo's most advanced traditional controller.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/GC-pad-2.png]

First impressions are very favourable: the controller sits nicely in the hand of adults and children alike thanks to the narrow handles - only two this time, a nod to the superior (and cheaper) 2-handle design pioneered by Atari and made popular by Sony - instead of the trident configuration used on the N64. 

Designed for 3D games, the primary left-thumb input is an analogue stick, with the secondary a d-pad.  This latter device is perhaps the single point of failure for the GameCube pad, but we'll come to that in a moment.  The analogue stick features something unique to Nintendo pads: an 8-point gate, making it easy to hit the compass points accurately.  It's really strange no other company does this, as it is superior to the round gates of other pads.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/GC-stickpad-1.png]

The buttons are very well implemented, and this is where Nintendo trumps the competition: they gave the most thought to what works, tradition be damned.  While it has only four face buttons (the new industry standard) each is unique in its shape, colour, size or orientation.  New users require very little time to work out what button on the pad corresponds to what's shown on screen, 'cause every button's a little different.  There's a giant, inviting green button, a smaller red button, and two cashew-nut grey buttons, one rotated 90 degrees from the other. 

The secondary analogue stick evolved from the N64's C-button, inheriting the yellow colour and - somewhat strangely - the name: it's still called the C-Button.  Unlike dual-analogue pads from Sony and Microsoft the GameCube's secondary stick is very obviously secondary: it lacks the mushroom-head top of the primary stick, making it sort of stubby.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/GC-buttons-1.png]

Finally the shoulder buttons: without doubt the best shoulder buttons ever made.  They're very large, and have deep grooves so your fingers find and settle into position without looking at them.  With only one shoulder button on each side there's no need to look at which one is under the fingers: you're either in position or not.  They have lots of travel for extra accuracy, and - uniquely - they also have a final 'click' as they reach the maximum position.  This tactile feedback lets the user know for sure they've pulled the trigger all the way, as well as signalling to the GameCube that the maximum position has been reached.  Oddly enough there's a bastard stepchild shoulder button as well: a tiny blue button, asymmetrically placed above the right shoulder, called simply Z.  It's not often used, serving as a kind of last-resort button for games that need it.

[Image: http://nfgcontrols.com/grafx/GCpad-1.png]

If there's anything wrong with this pad, it's the small d-pad: Many players find it uncomfortably small, even though it's no smaller than the GBA or DS.  For a console controller, it's definitely the smallest d-pad ever.  Luckily not many games require this as a primary input, and for those games that would most benefit from a real 2D pad, Hori released a SNES-alike pad for the GameCube which is absolutely sublime.

The GameCube pad is not a panacea, but no pad is.  Four face buttons mean six-button fighters can't easily be played, and even for four-button fighters (Tekken, Soul Calibur) they're not symmetrical, so players must adjust their reflexes, and the d-pad is too small for primary use.  In all other respects though, from design, accuracy and build-quality, the GameCube is top notch, and probably the best analogue controller ever made. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:52:53 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/381 Atari 7800 Proline Stick http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/380
Along with this new-and-antiquated system they released the ProLine joystick.  A definite improvement over the Atari 5200 floppy analogue abomination, the ProLine was comfortable and accurate.  Comfortable, that is, if you liked hand cramps.  The base of the stick is long and narrow, far too narrow for most adult hands, and after a few minutes of playing your hand will cramp up crab-claw style.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/grafx/_cache/Controls/_thumbnails/Atari-ProLine.jpg]

Despite this, it's very accurate, with a subtle tactile response and a very short throw.  It feels comfortable for both left- and right-handed players, though both will need time to become acclimated to the crab-claw grip.  It's a great joystick for retro gaming Pac Man and other maze games like Dig Dug and Mr. Do, as it's one of the very few sticks with which you can play at full speed and never feel like the stick is causing more failure than your own lack of skill.  It sucks  at tap-tap motions however, as required in games like Flip and Flop or Frogger: it's too stiff. 

The fire buttons are also garbage: they wobble in their socket, have very little movement when pressed, and have almost no tactile response.  You mash and you mash and your thumb gets sore and your hand starts to cramp and you start thinking "Fuck, why do I like this stick again?"  And then you play PacMan, and it all becomes clear.

They should have called it the Atari Maze Game Stick.

--  Technical

The second fire button uses the same connector pin as the first, but uses a resistor so the console can tell which is pressed.  This is ignored on other Atari systems, and it responds like a one-button controller on the 2600, 800-series and the ST.  It completely freaks out the MegaST however, which suffers all kinds of weird, intermittent keyboard failures.

The mechanism is surprisingly solid, and it suffers an incredible amount of abuse.  It uses a metal shaft, and a metal half-sphere fulcrum in a plastic cup.  Interestingly, it uses the same switch mechanisms as the Atari 2600 stick: little metal mushrooms taped to a PCB.  Also strangely, the mushrooms are upside down, on the bottom of the PCB when the stick is held normally.

-- Strengths and Weaknesses

It's durable, you can bash the shit out of it and never worry.  It's light and, most of the time, comfortable.  It's not expensive, not rare, and with no encoder, very moddable.

pinout ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:52:24 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/380 XBOX 360 Pad http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/379
What can't you do with this pad?  It has the world already, or you can add it later.  Fifteen buttons including the D-pad, six analogue axes, cordless RF as standard, battery operated with a plug-n-play corded option, a plug-in headset and even a tiny keyboard option.  It's got four lights, translucent buttons, knives, sharp sticks...  Sonic, electronic ball breakers!

[Image: http://nfggames.com/grafx/_cache/Controls/_thumbnails/360-pad%201.jpg]

But it's a flawed beauty.

It's like buying a car that's perfect in every way.  Reasonably priced, the perfect colour, fast, comfortable, but every time you turn left the steering wheel falls off.  That fatal flaw, the thing that will see you killed every damned time you use it, is the Xbox 360 D-pad.

That little circular thing, that four-button directional device that everyone else has been getting right for over fifteen years, that simple piece of plastic, is terrible. 

[Image: http://nfggames.com/grafx/_cache/Controls/_thumbnails/360-pad%202.jpg]

It's not as if Microsoft had to invent the damned thing on their own.  We've been using d-pads since Nintendo invented them for their Game & Watch portables in 1980.  No one misunderstands their use or their manufacture, and after 18 years of history, it's unforgivable that Microsoft got this one so wrong.  The failure is more egregious because the rest of the pad is so good.

The rest of the pad is a perfect culmination of some forty years of console gaming.  The d-pad is the worst pack-in controller since the 3DO, which was so bad people used to remove the screws halfway just to make it kind of playable.

The Xbox 360 d-pad is execrable.  It ruins everything.  It's not as if it's uncomfortable, it just plain doesn't work!  Try and play a game of PacMan CE with it, and you'll soon be re-plastering the Xbox 360 pad-shaped holes in your wall.

I've had four of these and they all sucked, it's just a shitty design: sloppy and inaccurate.  The first one I had, which I admit may have been defective (moreso, I mean), wouldn't go up if you pressed down first, or down if you pressed up first.  The rest of them have at least gotten this right, but you still can't accurately hit a compass point to save your life: There's no appreciable tactile difference between left, left and up, or left and down.  You're as likely to hit one as the other, and you can't tell the difference except that some smug-looking ghost has eaten your fucking Pac Man when you pressed ZIG and he fucking ZAGGED.

Fuck this thing, it's worthless for 2D gaming.  It's not even good for menus, and I can't imagine a less demanding thing in the world. If you try to move quickly through the Xbox 360 dash you never know where your cursor will go.

If you don't need the D-pad, the rest of the 360 pad is brilliant.  Fucking thumbs up.

[Image: http://nfggames.com/grafx/_cache/Controls/_thumbnails/360-buttons%201.jpg]

-- Technical

There's a hidden screw under the barcode sticker.  The cordless unit uses a security-torx screw, but the corded unit has regular Philips screws. 

While hacking the pad to skip around the d-pad problem I found that the cordless pad has a very moddable d-pad, with a single common for the whole pad.  The corded pad does not have this luxury.

The corded pad is a regular USB pad, mostly.  It's not HID compliant so Windows will want a special driver, but these are freely available.  There's a dongle to use the RF pads on the PC. ]]> no_email@example.com (NFGworld.com - NFG) Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:50:03 GMT http://nfgworld.com/mb/379