NES Advantage and Ms. Pacman

[Trinity]

So I've been playing Pacman and even more Ms.Pacman (Tengen) on my NES for the last year or so. But the D-pad sucks. Always go in the wrong direction in a pinch. Would a NES Advantage Joystick help with this problem? Or would I still end up going in the wrong direction when I want to make a corner? So frustrating!

[DragonGrafx-16]

Considering it's technically an 8 way joystick (I know electrically it's 4-way, but pretty much all 8-way joysticks are that way) so it might be worse than using a d-pad...

[Tanooki]

The NES d-pad is also technically an 8way joystick too as they're internally as far as function goes the same, 4 contact pads and 2 can be hit at one time.  I'd think the stick over d-pad would come down to comfort vs better performance.

[mr_me]

Maybe, with the advantage joystick, you can use your right hand.

[MrMaddog]

I've noticed when playing Pac-Man with the D-pad, your thumb rolls across the diagonals so you'll miss a corner at a split second. (Modern ports & emulators compensate for this along with analog thumbsticks)

 

With arcade joysticks though players snap the stick back at the center briefly.  So with the NES Advantage you should be ok...

 

[Tanooki]

17 hours ago, mr_me said:

Maybe, with the advantage joystick, you can use your right hand.

Good point, dual stick play, makes sense.

[Newsdee]

In the arcades the joystick has a restrictor gate i.e. you can't physically hit a diagonal. Those are still easily found today with e.g. Sanwa brane joystick components.

 

For a true arcade experience you would need to build your owm stick or find somebody that sells them. There used to be a sweet little 2 button atick made by ArcadeForge (for Atari/Amiga) but they stopped offering them.

[Trinity]

On 8/14/2019 at 10:28 AM, Newsdee said:

In the arcades the joystick has a restrictor gate i.e. you can't physically hit a diagonal. Those are still easily found today with e.g. Sanwa brane joystick components.

 

For a true arcade experience you would need to build your owm stick or find somebody that sells them. There used to be a sweet little 2 button atick made by ArcadeForge (for Atari/Amiga) but they stopped offering them.

Any better tips on how to build a true 4 way stick for the nes (or buy). Would it even help, with this game? It seems when button mashing starts you can't corner if two bottons are pressed on the d-pad at the same time and the game ignors the input.

[Newsdee]

22 hours ago, Trinity said:

Any better tips on how to build a true 4 way stick for the nes (or buy). Would it even help, with this game? It seems when button mashing starts you can't corner if two bottons are pressed on the d-pad at the same time and the game ignors the input.

How much DIY are you willing to do?

 

You can build one with arcade parts wired to a NES controller. 

 

The 4-way joystick is designed so that only one direction can be hit at the same time. So yes, it should fix your problem. Just FYI, most sticks are a regular 8 way with a different piece installed (the restrictor plate at the bottom). So if there is any NES controller using arcade parts they should do the trick.

 

This guy seems to have made one:

https://hackaday.com/2017/05/19/a-diy-nes-advantage-controller-for-the-nes-classic/

Edited August 21, 2019 by Newsdee

[BassGuitari]

The NES Advantage isn't actually that great for Ms. Pac-Man IMO. Although the stick has a nice, short throw, here's no real tactile directional response and it feels a little on the spongy side. It's responsive but hard to tell where you're moving the stick by feel alone. Think TI99/4a joystick but WAY better.

 

I think it's much better for platformers and beat-em-ups, personally. Most genres of games probably work pretty well with it, actually (or at least well enough), but Pac-Man style games...not so much. (IMO.)

[cvdh1983]

There is an official 4-way joystick for the NES. It's called the Capcom Power Stick Fighter. It's an arcade joystick for Super Famicom/SNES ( the American box has ugly Western Street Fighter II artwork ) and also Famicom/NES. I have the Japanese version which has two detachable cables, one for Famicom and one for Super Famicom. The joystick itself is arcade quality and it can be switched between 4-way and 8-way. I have tried 4-way on Pac-Man and Donkey Kong Jr. I'm having a harder time controlling Pac-Man this way than with a D-pad but maybe that's because I'm used to it. 

I also have a Jakks Plug and Play controller modded to work with the NES, however this adds a little lag since the signal from the switches doesn't directly go to the console. I'm wondering if there is a way around this. I have another exact same controller modded for Atari 2600/Master System with even a pause function on the controller's cute light-up coinslot ( consoles need to be modded themselves as well for this, in case of 2600 it's an RGB mod ). For these consoles there is no lag. It works wonders with Jr. Pac Man and also the homebrew Lady Bug. 

I have Ms. Pac-Man for NES which I play on my Famicom with a NES to Famicom cartridge adapter. My arcade stick plugs into the accessory controller port on the side of the Famicom, and this input is ignored when you play a NES game with an adapter. I've ordered a Famicom to NES controller adapter cable to circumvent this. I'm still waiting for it so I haven't play Ms. Pac-Man yet with this stick.