Joysticks & Controllers

[The NZA]

^^starman is so pimp.

 

Got to talking with Losifer about this, as good joysticks are often not cheap. For some more info & tight custom work, you gotta check out this thread at NeoGAF.

 

The Hori arcade stick seems to be a default for many (bish just got a good xbox one), but Los pointed out that the clicking function it does when hitting corners might be more suited to 3D fighters like Tekken, Soul Calibur and such; for smooth 2D movements like a Hadouken, perhaps a more arcade-like stick would work better. I havent had enough hands-on comparison to say, but it did get me thinking.

 

That above GAF thread has a ton of going back & forth, though im a bit of a fan of Los' Arcade in a box stuff - shit looks like a block cut out of an arcade cabinet, like it could take a beating. Also, for the use of working on both systems (which is awesome), shit is very much not cheap, hence why im just looking for the time being. Still, its fun to look at & think about working on my SFII skills over these internets, as i know im not on a high tier but it might be fun to try.

 

thoughts? any experience/recommendations?

[The NZA]

alright, so...not so much love for joysticks 'round here, guess ill havta research them on my own.

 

meantime, let's talk controllers! we all know none're gonna beat the NES Advantage - the only controller used for ectoplasm-controlled liberty statues - but what's your favorite, and why? here's the breakdown of this gen:

 

 

ah, the PS3 dualshock 3. that's my boy right there; with rumble (and heft!) back, its pretty much the same controller layout we've used since the SNES days, and the exact one most of us bought Dualshock's for to play Metal Gear Solid with. Some knock the analog stick location, but i personally havent found myself minding that in any games. its funny, as that's not really a factor for me - the 360 layout works, too.

 

Big difference comes in two things:

1) the trigger buttons are indeed marshmallowy. there are games - some shooters, even - that dont lend themselves so well to this, then there are other genres that do.

2) the d-pad, to me, is superior. if you're gonna play, say, a fighting game with a standard controller, i think this is the one. its slightly more ergonomic but not a stretch from, again, the d-pad we've used since the nintendo days.

 

 

ill have that color controller one day, by god

There's gamers who think the adjusted analog stick (elevated onna left) is a dealbreaker. Again, if that works for you better, by all means. The controller's strength is in its triggers, which click down and react well to the system's many shooters. I personally gripe about how quick my elite's right trigger got squeaky on me, but eh, its still working. Also, the first shoulder button - or bumper - is spaced out a little more distinctly from the trigger, which can help. I know in Resistance, the dualshock's layout caused me to throw grenades (R1) a number of times when i just wanted to shoot (R2) till i got the hang of it.

 

Only real gripe is the d-pad outright sucks for any diagonal movements, meaning, Mega Man 9 will play great, i doubt hadoukens in SF II will be ideal. Better than doing them on, say, a Gamecube controller, but still.

 

 

You know, i was totally planning on going back to get a wavebird (my 4 GC controllers are mashed to shit after so many years of Smash Bros), but i finally got to mess with this one a bit, and its pretty solid. Light, and well spaced-out; nothing crazy-new but it works for what it does. And since im looking to emulate a lot with my Wii (woo hoo, Mother 3!), im seriously thinking about picking one of these up sometime, just curious how quickly it drains the wiimote its attached too.

 

 

so yeah, since no one's talking joysticks...thoughts? also, yes, im aware the genesis 6-button d-pad is considered by many to be the finest of its kind, sad we cant bring that thing back.

[Jables]

Not to sound fanboy, but the PS control indeed has a dog's balls layout for someone used to 360's analogue placement. I was playing ME at JB hifi today and couldn't move around for shit with the left analogue, mostly because of the placing but also it's such a large and unweildly knob of a thing. 360 analogues are small and tight, not to mention(and this is minor consideration since I haven't heard of anyone busting a dualshock since PS1 days) they'll last right through wearing a nigh-perfect thumb imprint into the stick like I did with my first. Having said that, I've just gotten around to putting my Halo control(see above) in for repair since the right bumber inexplicably died. The Gamecube control while not entirely finctional, felt like a fucking handgasm the first time I tried it, and I still swear by my wavebord(gotta find more).

[The NZA]

heads up, you crazy flight-sim fans...MadCatz (i know, right? first the SF IV controller, now this...when did they get good?) is dropping joysticks just for you.

 

for ps3/360:

 

 

for PC:

 

 

all 2 of you wing commander/ace combat fans around here should be quite pleased. that last one looks like a beast.

[Cortez the Killer]

 

 

 

 

[Jables]

Hey Nick I meant to tell you- you can have that coloured control but lord knows it irrepairable apparently.

[The NZA]

wait, your sexy halo green one? whats wrong with it, though?

[Jables]

RIght bumper is dead. They've tried so many different fixes it's not funny.

[The NZA]

trigger or bumper?

wait, did arnah actually send off the package with scud & the shane-smelling boxing shirt? if not, please please please send the dead controller. i will seance that bitch back to life in your name.

[Jables]

Bumper. It's not a dealbreaker and will prolly still play most games just fine. Will pack it in.

[bishopcruz]

Nick you were talking about working with Los to make an arcade stick. I've been looking into making a stick, but am seriously intimidated by the process of actually building the case. The wiring doesn't look all that bad. I suck at carpentry however, and it could be kinda fun to do these in a group, or some shit like that. Hey we can make a custom Hondo's stick.

[gunsmithx]

you are such a sissy :P

I told you I'd cut your damn wood...(wait a minute, that might not have come out right...)

[bishopcruz]

Here's a cool first timer's guide that I found. Probably the easiest breaking down of the process I have seen. Makes it seem more doable than earlier. Now I have to decide on parts. I think I may go HAPP (american style) probably because the looseness of Japanese sticks often has me overshooting my motions for special moves.

 

Here's the link: http://cutelittlegames.blogspot.com/2009/0...fstick-v10.html

[The NZA]

KOF 12 sticks!

 

 

Japanese peripheral maker Exar is releasing a six button fight stick with official KOF art as well as the very cool, very traditional four-button NEOGEO style stick. The King of Fighters was designed for a four button layout.

 

The six-button stick will retail for the equivalent of US$65, while the "NEOGEO Stick 2" will retail for the equivalent of $55. Less buttons, less money. See?

 

These are PS3 sticks and Japan only.

[IceManML]

in my experience (and highly biased opinion) The sega saturn controller has been the best controller I have ever used especially for fighting games since that was the best thing the saturn and dreamcast ever did rite... fighting.

 

There are usb saturn controllers that from what I hear are compatible and are still to this day in my opinion very comfortable. (no motion-cramps... mmmmmm)... If it interests you theyre pretty rare and not many made it here in the US so to ebay you go my friend.

 

I played both sfiv and tatsunoko via here at home finally... gotta say way stiffer feel... stiffer than capcom vs snk ..sfiv is alrite but tatsunoko is friken awesome wootwoot!!!

 

ps that flight stick for the pc looks waaaaayyyy over kill... is that a throttle on the side??? LOL!

Edited May 13, 2009 by IceManML

[The NZA]

got a fantastic deal on this bad boy, so Kertz jumped on it as an early birthday gift...should be here next week! it's PS3/PC so i should get some solid use out of it, i'm bound & determined to find genres past just my fighters to use it on (Pac-Man DX! shit, i prolly shouldve grabbed SSFIV when it was cheaper). Jumped on it at Los' say-so, looks like i can easily mod the stick itself to be that of a classic arcade point, and i'm hoping to use his Hondo's logo art as a part of the custom layout, possibly with a the logo for No More Heroes in the corner or something, still trying to figure it out...anyway, hype!

[the division of joy]

Not modded in layout, but I want.

 

[Thrizzle]

So I've been wanting a rapid fire controller for forever now. I do a lot of my gaming on the PC and I usually use a wired 360 controller. I would prefer to get one that worked on 360 and PC to get the most bang for my buck.

Of course, in order to get rapid fire these days you pretty much have to go 3rd party, and it's still something of an oddity. I guess because of the competitive online FPS gaming population now. It used to practically be standard that if you bought a controller that didn't come bundled with your console, you'd have a rapid fire switch.

 

So I looked about. Some controllers that were certainly similar to a 360 controller, but they always had something shitty and inferior I didn't like about them.

 

So I looked into modding one of my controllers. Shit, I can use a soldering iron. How hard can it be? Well, specifically for a wired controller, harder than I'm comfortable with.

 

So then I looked into buying an already modded 360 controller. Once I set foot into that community, it became abundantly clear why I was having problems finding something to help me play shmups. Capped, bolded terms like "UNDETECTABLE" and "OPTIMIZED FOR SEMI AUTO BLACK OPS" and "10 MODE NO SCOPE SNIPER".

It's a seedy market, and the target demographic are those guys raping the leaderboards and the kids who want an advantage. I'm just an old man whose battered, abused thumbs quickly grow weary, and I want to destroy every clump of grass with my sword, cuz there might be a rupee in there.

 

So I finally found a guy who offered a pretty substantial coupon code, worked on wired controllers, would give me a multi-mode rapid fire that I could tweak, which wasn't specifically optimized for stuff like Halo or Gears, and offered a D-Pad upgrade that looked good.

 

 

You lose the diagonal bits, but I don't miss them on the PS3 controller anyway.

 

Anywho, I put in my order. I get an email saying that he's out of the fancy D-pads, and he forgot to remove it from the page of the one wired controller he offers (probably because no one buys them). So no fancy D-Pad. He's really apologetic, and offers to refund me, give me a wireless controller for the same price, whatever I wanna do.

Damn good deal on that wireless, those are like twice as much. But I really WANT a wired controller.

So, at the end of the day, I just had him give me custom colored ABXY buttons, D-Pad, LED ring of lights and tighter analogs, and told him if he WANTED to paint it, it wouldn't break my heart. I was trying to milk everything I could, I admit it.

 

So here's hoping I get something cool. At the very least I'll finally have a rapid fire 360/PC controller that isn't a cheap hunk of shit.

[Thrizzle]

It's in the mail, but the dude just posted this on his FB.