digital "joy" pad... a dream comes true...

[Heaven/TQA]

you may call me stupid... but after several years of having a pc (before that i had amigas and atari sts... beneath my 8bit faves & consoles...) i bought today a cheap digital joypad for my game pc... and it's a dream... playing all lovely atari gems (and mame, c64, etc...) not with the cursor keys but with the pad... unbeleaveable good fealing... h.e.r.o playing is like byke riding...you never forget that...

 

now i would like to have my lovely competition pro atari stick back... not a pad... how is it playing with analog sticks?

 

hve

 

ps. you can't beat the real thing...

[Gunstar]

Yes, I agree, I picked up one myself a bit ago, even for my very limited PC game play, it does beat cursor keys and a mouse (for the PC games-Red Baron!). I'm used to controllers from being an avid console gamer and from 8-bits and most ST games, so the mouse keyboard combination may be prefered by some, but not I. I'll put up with it if I have too, and with a few ST games, but I'll take a joypad first anyday! Congrats!

 

If your refering to those big analog flight sticks, I have one I never use, don't like them, even with flight sims, they are too cumbersome to deal with, a analog thumb pad like on modern consoles may be acceptable though.

[Fres]

ed

[Fres]

Check out www.pccompetitor.com, if you don't already know about this. They sell a very well-made cable that plugs into your gameport and allows you to attach two unmodified Atari joystick controllers to your PC. It works perfectly for me.

 

I also use joy2key (a keyboard emulator) with it so I can use Atari joysticks with Atari 800, 2600, C64, Amiga emulators, MAME, etc. Joy2key is not required if you only use one stick, but there is a problem with XP seeing the 2nd joystick as a separate controller, and joy2key can translate input from both sticks into key commands -- great for emulators. As far as I know this is not an issue with Win98.

 

I also recently acquired a USB to gameport adapter from Radio Shack for a couple of dollars so now I am running two original unmodified Atari joysticks through one USB port. Works like a charm. The only drawback is that I haven't powered up my Atari 8-bit nearly as often as I used to since the emulation/controller combination is so good now. Also the PC Competitor adapter is a little expensive (about 40 bucks).

 

Just thought I would throw in one of my experiences!

[Shannon]

Although I do not care for the keyboard as a replacement for a stick. Here are my observations.

 

If your using the arrow keys on the right, your using your right hand to control joystick movement. Most gamepads have the digital pad on the left. So a little bit of reflex/co-ordination is lost as a result.

 

The analog pad on some games is ok. I usually try both to see which one is the most responsive. On a twitch game or 4 way directional game (up,down,left,right only) the digital pad is usually better.

 

But if you were lucky enough to get a pc pad with two analog sticks... LOOK OUT!.. you'll get hooked on something like robotron in a heartbeat.

 

Of course you'll never be able to replace the original atari paddles.

 

Bottom line... if you can get an adapter for the original stick. Go for it. I found that my co-ordination on my right hand is far more accurate then with my left.

 

Joy2key is nice. It would be nicer if it could switch keysets depending on what program is active. I couldn't find enough similarities between the emulators I use to have a one size fits all configuration.