oldschool joysticks
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/oldschool joysticks
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| I am wondering if anyone knows where to get a joystick that is more similar to the old atari 2600 joysticks? By that I mean, not so huge as the sticks they have nowadays. The throw is too long. Also the base is so huge you can't really hold them in your hand/lap, so you have less control. Also, I don't really like joypads - i never understood controlling with your thumb, which is a clumsy digit. Even worse, your *left* thumb. Aren't most of us righties? You young whipper-snappers probably don't know what I'm talking about, but you old-timers might! Any idea where I can look? I tried amazon and they had very few with pictures, and those were all wrong. |
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| But weren't 2600 joysticks the most unresponsive, blister-inducing joysticks ever? But that aside, I can definitely relate to your problem... my hate-hate relationship with joypads started with the stupid little card that came with the Sega Master System; thinking "why oh why isn't this a proper stick?!?" - frankly I'm amazed that they've taken over like they have, I guess that's what 15 years of domination by Japanese consoles will get you. What I did once, and I know this isn't for everyone, but I got a genuine old 8-bit era joystick from a pawn shop and a cheap PC gamepad, pulled the guts out of the gamepad and wired it into the switches of the joystick... hey presto... Of course nothing beats a good solid arcade stick and buttons, mounted securely on a a big heavy thing of some sort. |
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| my favourite was the bug, not that I was ever lucky enough to own one: http://www.classgen.co.uk/itmidx39.htm |
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| I've got nearly all of those joysticks, but I'd have to say the bug was by far the worst. It broke so easily. I have about 5 of them as they were being sold at a quid each at one time. The best were Cruiser Green Model and Zipstick. My two Cruiser greens still work and have lasted for 7 years. The thing about joysticks is that they take away the functionality of one of your hands, one or two buttons are ok. I hated the Quickshot Cobra. Having to fire both buttons and move with the same hand. I like having them split on a joypad. Admittedly the Mastersystem square joypad had to be the worst ever made, NES wasn't that much better. How great they are now though. Joypads are much more efficient. Imagine trying to use a PSX pad (except with an arcade style stick) with a stick where the joypad is. It'd just be too hard to find the buttons. > Of course nothing beats a good solid arcade stick > and buttons, mounted securely on a a big heavy > thing of some sort. I agree. Mincing out those Street Fighter II fireballs was always so satisfying in an arcade cab. I always think I'm performing special moves when I change gear in my car :) |
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| Hey Ryan, long time no see??? lol I found this stuff: http://www2.burg-halle.de/~schwenke/parport.html http://mywebpages.comcast.net/asunnet/joystick.html http://random64.emuhq.com/doc1/Joy2600-PC_eng.shtml The third one looks neat but they all assume you can read electrical schematics. Also, there used to be this company called Champ Games that made old classics (Donkey Kong, Pac Man, etc) for DOS and they sold a cable that allowed you to connect any Atari joystick to the PC. But alas, they are long out of business. -cb |
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| My favourite joystick is the "SUZO -- Arcade", which you can use on 8/16 bit computers. It looks like an arcade stick, the stick is microswitched (click click click click!) and the button is not (I think microswitched fire buttons, which I saw in a review of a modern day joystick, are not a good idea in an action game?), and it is virtually indestructable. Anyway, a friend of mine used to own some kind of converter or game card so that he could attach these '8 bit joysticks' to his PC. (Edit: cbmeeks gave some links on this I see now.) Here's a link about the Arcade joystick and how to connect it to a PC: http://www.c64games.com/adv-emu.html |
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| Konix SpeedKing was THE joystick for HyperSports and Daley Thompsons Decathlon. I found one in the garage last weekend :) |
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| Hey, nice link Simon - I remember most of them and a fair few more besides. It's funny but at the time it seemed like there were as many different joysticks as there were stars in the sky but the same few keep coming up... Joysticks vs pads - it's true I guess, hand-held style joysticks don't do lots of buttons very well (although you could give it an ergonomic base with buttons distributed round it, for eg) - mind you I think modern gamepads have WAY too many buttons on them anyway. |
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| > mind you I think modern gamepads have WAY > too many buttons on them anyway. Really? I find they don't have enough. True, many games don't use that many buttons but you'll find that buttons that need pressing all the time will only be placed on the 3 or 4 buttons where you would normally find them. The PSX2 pad is the best with it having two similarly placed analogue sticks and a symettrically balanced pad. Shoulder buttons are always useful for toggling things on and off or for strafing. This makes playing first person shooters and obscure style games (such as smash tv style, one to move and one to shoot) a breeze. The gamecube and XBox are just crappy in comparison. |
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| Best joystick ever: ZIPSTICK Worst joystick ever: KONIX SPEEDKING - speshuly made for people with deformed hands. |
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