A new controller SECOND BATCH AVAILABLE

[Ignorama]

I got my controllers some days ago and I checked this Thread if there are any reviews... of course not. One single post mentioned he actually used the controllers, 95% of the posts are about the shipping/ordering and some few said "looks great, havnt tried it out" - sad to be honest, but business as usual.

 

I start with the first impression too: Box and inserts look awesome and high quality. It came very well packed. The controller itself looks a bit stiff, but that is quite normal for current 3D Printings.

 

Now to the actual product: All buttons work just fine. The Disc does support the "steering" mode in Pole Position, which was a pleasant surprise. The stiff look tranfers to the usage, the buttons and especially the Disc are not as smooth as the OG controller. This directly impacts the gameplay for some games. Especially games that need very quick and precise movement will suffer and are very hard to play with the controller. This doesnt matter for most players, but I think it would be impossible for me to get a highscore-run on games like Dragonfire. I would not recommend this controller for any "competitive" gameplay at all, cause it seems to be less responsive and doesnt allow smooth controlls. May this changes if the controller gets a bit worn down.

 

But as this isnt the selling point of a "long play" controller this isnt a huge dealbreaker. And long play seems to be possible, cause especially the "side-buttons" are way less stressing on the thumb than the original buttons of the Intellivision. On slower paced 4-way movement games, like TNT Cowboy, this controller should work pretty fine. The clicking of the buttons and disc is a bit loud, but I also think thats hard to avoid and acceptable.

 

So all in all its a good product and you see how much passion went into it. I would rate it with a B-, due to its limitations in usage. Its a solid and well made product.

 

 

Special thanks to Tanuki, cause he handled the communication very classy and professional. Its nice to see that some guys treat their customers even than with respect and helpful behavior, if they are not completely happy. His answers were patient, calm and polite the whole time. So even if the road had some bumps, I am satisfied with the deal in the end. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Ignorama

[+-^CrossBow^-]

6 hours ago, Ignorama said:

I got my controllers some days ago and I checked this Thread if there are any reviews... of course not. One single post mentioned he actually used the controllers, 95% of the posts are about the shipping/ordering and some few said "looks great, havnt tried it out" - sad to be honest, but business as usual.

 

I start with the first impression too: Box and inserts look awesome and high quality. It came very well packed. The controller itself looks a bit stiff, but that is quite normal for current 3D Printings.

 

Now to the actual product: All buttons work just fine. The Disc does support the "steering" mode in Pole Position, which was a pleasant surprise. The stiff look tranfers to the usage, the buttons and especially the Disc are not as smooth as the OG controller. This directly impacts the gameplay for some games. Especially games that need very quick and precise movement will suffer and are very hard to play with the controller. This doesnt matter for most players, but I think it would be impossible for me to get a highscore-run on games like Dragonfire. I would not recommend this controller for any "competitive" gameplay at all, cause it seems to be less responsive and doesnt allow smooth controlls. May this changes if the controller gets a bit worn down.

 

But as this isnt the selling point of a "long play" controller this isnt a huge dealbreaker. And long play seems to be possible, cause especially the "side-buttons" are way less stressing on the thumb than the original buttons of the Intellivision. On slower paced 4-way movement games, like TNT Cowboy, this controller should work pretty fine. The clicking of the buttons and disc is a bit loud, but I also think thats hard to avoid and acceptable.

 

So all in all its a good product and you see how much passion went into it. I would rate it with a B-, due to its limitations in usage. Its a solid and well made product.

 

 

Special thanks to Tanuki, cause he handled the communication very classy and professional. Its nice to see that some guys treat their customers even than with respect and helpful behavior, if they are not completely happy. His answers were patient, calm and polite the whole time. So even if the road had some bumps, I am satisfied with the deal in the end. 

For me on both of my controllers that I received, the standard disc pad doesn't register evenly all around requiring harder presses in some spots vs others to get them to read all directions. As such, I swapped out the discs with the dpads instead and those have worked quite well for the platform games I've been playing lately. But yeah even on a game like Diner, I still found I preferred to use the original controllers to control the character.

 

[Rickster8]

8 hours ago, Ignorama said:

I got my controllers some days ago and I checked this Thread if there are any reviews... of course not. One single post mentioned he actually used the controllers, 95% of the posts are about the shipping/ordering and some few said "looks great, havnt tried it out" - sad to be honest, but business as usual.

 

I start with the first impression too: Box and inserts look awesome and high quality. It came very well packed. The controller itself looks a bit stiff, but that is quite normal for current 3D Printings.

 

Now to the actual product: All buttons work just fine. The Disc does support the "steering" mode in Pole Position, which was a pleasant surprise. The stiff look tranfers to the usage, the buttons and especially the Disc are not as smooth as the OG controller. This directly impacts the gameplay for some games. Especially games that need very quick and precise movement will suffer and are very hard to play with the controller. This doesnt matter for most players, but I think it would be impossible for me to get a highscore-run on games like Dragonfire. I would not recommend this controller for any "competitive" gameplay at all, cause it seems to be less responsive and doesnt allow smooth controlls. May this changes if the controller gets a bit worn down.

 

But as this isnt the selling point of a "long play" controller this isnt a huge dealbreaker. And long play seems to be possible, cause especially the "side-buttons" are way less stressing on the thumb than the original buttons of the Intellivision. On slower paced 4-way movement games, like TNT Cowboy, this controller should work pretty fine. The clicking of the buttons and disc is a bit loud, but I also think thats hard to avoid and acceptable.

 

So all in all its a good product and you see how much passion went into it. I would rate it with a B-, due to its limitations in usage. Its a solid and well made product.

 

 

Special thanks to Tanuki, cause he handled the communication very classy and professional. Its nice to see that some guys treat their customers even than with respect and helpful behavior, if they are not completely happy. His answers were patient, calm and polite the whole time. So even if the road had some bumps, I am satisfied with the deal in the end. 

I have two lefty sided disc controllers and I'm a right thumb disc guy.. I cannot play it differently so these are already a problem for me.... I have also switched out both discs on the long play controllers. One has the dpad and the other has the thumb stick. They both work better than the disc, but they aren't great either. Game play with the disc is choppy and unreliable.. I agree completely, for competitive game play these LONG PLAY controllers are not the answer. I might feel differently if I can get my hands on the right sided disc controllers, but that has proven to be quite difficult.... 🤦‍♂️🙄

[tanuki]

Thanks for your feedback, and special thanks to Ignorama.

It's all very useful.

 

In fact, this controller is designed to provide general gaming comfort, but it won't be suitable for those looking for performance.

It's our first time in the business, and we'll probably be able to do better later, but that won't be for a long time.

 

For those who want a right-hand disc version, we have a few in stock.

[teknohed]

On 6/16/2023 at 9:13 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

For me on both of my controllers that I received, the standard disc pad doesn't register evenly all around requiring harder presses in some spots vs others to get them to read all directions. As such, I swapped out the discs with the dpads instead and those have worked quite well for the platform games I've been playing lately. But yeah even on a game like Diner, I still found I preferred to use the original controllers to control the character.

 

I think for me the game any new controller would have to work on would be burger time. even the OEM disc can miss some of the tight corners and direction changes required for that game.  I don’t have this controller, but if i did that would be my litmus test.

[larryvgs]

Received my controllers just a few days ago.  Mike's Gaming Gala did an excellent review of these controllers a few months back on YouTube, and I agree with most of his sentiments.  I did not think the disc was as responsive as the original despite having microswitches.  As Mike said in his video, if you use a sweeping motion on the disc as I do instead of a push in just one direction or another, you might not do as well, and there is not as much give on the disc as compared to the original.  The original disc on the original or Sears units (not the Intellivision II controllers) are still the best IMO.  But I mainly bought these controllers for their horizontal layout, the placement of the buttons, and because I don't care much for using a disc and like that it had two other options.

 

To change to the different disc options, taking the controller apart was simple with just taking out the four screws.  However, putting it back together after replacing the disc was another story entirely as getting the numbered pieces and buttons to stay in their slots while putting the controller back together with my butterfingers at my age was no easy chore.  On subsequent replacing the disc option attempts I found the best way to do it was to keep the yellow side down at all times, and after taking out the four screws, lift only the side of the controller where the disc was located just barely enough to replace it so the keypad buttons and round buttons did not come out of their respective slots in the rest of the controller.

 

Sadly, for me, the D-Pad was a disappointment.  If you keep your thumb in the middle of it, it works the best.  But the up, down, left and right edges of the cross can be hard on your thumb after awhile if that is the primary way you use it.  I thought going back to the disc might solve that problem, but for some reason the disc (maybe leverage since the D-Pad sits on top of the disc) was not as responsive as the D-Pad option was.  Now onto the good news...

 

The joystick option was great.  Leverage like the D-Pad but also with a rounded circular top much easier on the thumb.  Easily the best option of the three.  Still a bit hard on the thumb after extended sessions, but I found a fix.  Some time ago I bought some thumb stick covers on EBay for an old Xbox 360 controller I had with a worn thumbstick and it worked wonders.  I found the extra ones I had in a drawer, and while the fit over the joystick option was a bit tight, it stays on.  If you do a search on EBay for "silicone thumb stick cover" you can find two U.S. sellers currently that are selling eight of these thumb stick covers of various heights for about $3 total with free shipping.  With this addition it now feels close to what you would have on a modern XBox controller and it's no longer hard on the thumb.

 

At least for me this last option was a game changer.  I was never any good at Tron Deadly Disc, but it now makes some of those precise turns at Burgertime easy.  For anyone looking to use the joystick option, this would be an easy recommend for me.  And the D-pad option isn't bad either, but like I said, a bit hard on the thumb if you like to use the edges of the cross and not sit your thumb in the middle.  The keypad and regular buttons are both responsive, and the horizontal layout and placement of the buttons on this controller also make it a game changer.  Overall, thanks to the joystick option, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by larryvgs

[tanuki]

Thanks for the long and informative comment. It's nice to see people taking the time to comment on our work, for better or worse.

[tanuki]

Speaking of controllers, the following people can order one if they haven't already done so, pour une expédition immédiate:

 

chris clifford

Paul Holbrook

Warren Wuschenny

stupus

imstarryeyed

Vincehood

IntvCasey

larryvgs

BladeJunker

robbievgb

jimblargh

CharonPDX

 

[AtariBrian]

I am still waiting on one of my two controllers and also an adaptor from the first run. I sent a pm weeks ago... with no reply. 

[AtariBrian]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:53 PM, AtariBrian said:

I am still waiting on one of my two controllers and also an adaptor from the first run. I sent a pm weeks ago... with no reply. 

And still no reply...

[tanuki]

Hello Brian, I sent you an e-mail directly from my personal mailbox a long time ago because your mailbox systematically rejects Côté Gamers' e-mails.

[Illtiger1]

I found that the thumb stick option is the best by far.  The disc option that is provided out of the box can be difficult for some games that require quick, precision movements (BurgerTime for example), however, after switching it out for the thumbstick I had a much better experience.  Overlays don't completely fit into the slot (the top of the overlay sticks out), but that's a minor quibble that does not affect the gameplay.

[larryvgs]

Updating my previous review, after experimenting with more games, I now have one controller with the thumbstick attachment and one with the D-pad.  I found the D-pad might actually be a bit better than the thumbstick for some games.  My cheap EBay thumbstick covers made of silicone that I mentioned in my earlier review kept coming off, so I invested in some Skull & Co. and the new KontrolFreek Universal thumbstick covers from Amazon.  Both are not that easy to put on (you need to turn both completely inside out first) and I even wound up breaking one of the thumbsticks attachments applying too much pressure (it super-glued back on fortunately, but be careful).  The Skull & Co. come in a pack of 6 (all black) with 2 high options and 4 lower options, while the KontrolFreek Universal, while slightly more expensive, come in a pack of 8 in 4 different colors.  The Kontrol Freek ones stretched a bit more after turning them inside out and went on easier.  They also stay on unlike the silicone covers I had.  Also, a better grip on the top than the Skull & Co. ones.  Anyway, something to consider if you prefer the thumbstick option on these controllers to make them even better.  BTW, I also have some Flashback controllers with adapters to use them with the original console, and for controllers that use the disk, I prefer them because of their superior side buttons.  However, I ultimately always find myself coming back to these controllers instead because of the side layout, the thumbstick and D-pad options and the top buttons.

[AtariBrian]

On 8/8/2023 at 8:12 AM, tanuki said:

Hello Brian, I sent you an e-mail directly from my personal mailbox a long time ago because your mailbox systematically rejects Côté Gamers' e-mails.

My pm box on here? Why did you not reply in our open conversation here? Can you send again because I don't see anything in my email...

[BuffySlayer]

Any chance of an updated list, so we can see where we are at? Thx

[1980gamer]

I did get one order... 1 left and 1 right controller.

Still waiting for 1 more of each and the Model 1 connector board add-on.

 

Thanks!

 

[+fdr4prez]

Their website shows that there are 77 units in stock.

 

If that is correct, does there need to be a list any more?

 

Why not close the list and simply let people freely order?

[tanuki]

Hello everyone, As you may have seen on the Norseman 2 topic, we can no longer ship the way we used to with the post office. We've spent a lot of time trying to remedy this by finding new, inexpensive carriers. We will therefore be contacting all buyers who have purchased something from us on Intellivision recently and have yet to receive their package. Most of the parcels recently dispatched have indeed returned to us (thanks to the post office, very good business practice!).

 

So don't worry if your parcels are still on hold, we'll do what's necessary as quickly as possible.

[tanuki]

On 8/26/2023 at 12:05 AM, AtariBrian said:

My pm box on here? Why did you not reply in our open conversation here? Can you send again because I don't see anything in my email...

We'll contact everyone this week. We hope that the delivery problems will be resolved once and for all by changing carriers.

[tanuki]

On 8/31/2023 at 6:12 PM, fdr4prez said:

Their website shows that there are 77 units in stock.

 

If that is correct, does there need to be a list any more?

 

Why not close the list and simply let people freely order?

No this number is not correct. The base figure still reads 100 and then decreases, but we have far fewer joysticks in stock, just 20 or so.

[Tominator]

If there are 20 on the website, if I order one how long before it ships?  Thanks!

[DiscoStu691969]

I hope the “list” is still being prioritized for ordering. I’ve been waiting for quite awhile for my turn to order. 

[4ever2600]

Yes can I please know when I can pay for my two controllers?  I've been on the list forever and now I hear there's some in stock for purchase??

[Bencowboy]

Hello, you can please exclude me from the list. I have already purchased one from a third party. Thanks

[BuffySlayer]

Yes, I've also been waiting for many many months and I don't even know where I am on the list. I've seen stock on the website but doing the right thing and not ordering until I'm told it's my turn.