Controller Collection

[deepthaw]

I’ve been picking up random controllers that look neat when I make the rounds to local used game shops and it’s slowly turning into an actual collection. It’s fun because it’s a view into the days before we had controls figured out and more importantly - it’s cheap. Since I primarily play on MiSTer I have adapters to use most original system controllers on it and try to actually give every one of them a try.

 

Anybody else do the same and want to share?

 

 

[phoenixdownita]

Just looked at your SpaceOrb controller … the first and only joyball/joysphere … it looks unwieldy.

[deepthaw]

16 minutes ago, phoenixdownita said:

Just looked at your SpaceOrb controller … the first and only joyball/joysphere … it looks unwieldy.

It’s interesting for sure. It doesn’t freely rotate or anything, you kind of twist it in the same directions you’d turn your head to turn that way. And you can physically push it in a direction to move that way.

 

Didn’t really work well at all for Quake or anything else like that but I’ve had legitimate fun using it in Descent. It’s basically the killer (and only) app for it. (And even then the pros just use dual sticks or m+kb I believe)

[BassGuitari]

I like collecting controllers as well! Mostly Atari 2600 ones, but I've collected quite a few for other systems as well. There was so much funky stuff that came out before we landed on gamepads that kind of have to be experienced first-hand (*taps mic*), both for better and worse. 😆

 

I like your Kraft Mazemaster; I've actually got an Archer (Radio Shack) version on its way to me as I write this! I already have the brown version, as well--great little joystick! I've been looking on-and-off for the 3DO version of that Capcom 6-button fighting pad. And the Rolkan Un-Roller Controller, incidentally!

 

Your Gravis PC Gamepad reminds me that I actually have an Amiga/Atari ST version of that controller (apparently quite rare?). I don't have either of those computers, but Amiga/ST controllers should work with the Atari 2600 or Commodore 64, and unfortunately mine won't do anything with those systems. 

 

On 5/27/2024 at 2:42 PM, phoenixdownita said:

Just looked at your SpaceOrb controller … the first and only joyball/joysphere … it looks unwieldy.

On 5/27/2024 at 3:01 PM, deepthaw said:

It’s interesting for sure. It doesn’t freely rotate or anything, you kind of twist it in the same directions you’d turn your head to turn that way. And you can physically push it in a direction to move that way.

 

Didn’t really work well at all for Quake or anything else like that but I’ve had legitimate fun using it in Descent. It’s basically the killer (and only) app for it. (And even then the pros just use dual sticks or m+kb I believe)

I have the PlayStation version of this controller, the Sphere 360. The only game I've really played with it is Descent, and I've found it works really well for that game. It seems like Descent might have the only game anybody really played with this thing. 😅 There are a few different programmable modes on it, and one of them actually is just "Descent Mode," so maybe that explains it. It came with a sheet with a list of games that work best with the different control modes (mine is long since lost, unfortunately). I haven't experimented enough with other games to comment on how well it works broadly, or how well it can be made to work, but the Sphere 360 seems like it could have been a cool analog(/ish) PSX controller solution for some games in the waning days just before the Dual Shock hit and became standard. I imagine it might work nicely with something like Colony Wars, Warhawk, or Tempest X. The Dual Analog controller was out already--the Sphere has a mode that emulates it--but I don't know if there was much else in the way of analog controllers for PSX besides the Analog Joystick (Sony's flight stick) or driving controllers (like NeGcon).

 

It was actually my brother who got it, when our old Software, Etc. (RIP, and the mall it was in) had it marked down enough to merit a "f*** it" purchase; they had one that sat on the shelf for at least a couple of years. Every time we'd go in, we'd see it, and we always thought it was interesting but we were either just looking (as kids with no money are wont to do) or buying higher-priority things. It came in the coolest-looking box--the whole thing just screamed 1998. 😄 But like most kids at the time, we sadly didn't have the foresight to keep the packaging (or appreciate its "1998" vibe).

 

Related controller story: around the same time, there was a lone Atari Jaguar controller at the local Walmart that had somehow evaded clearance/liquidation/disposal for years after the system was dropped. It was a running thing every time we went to Walmart to see if that Jaguar controller was still there. I'm pretty sure we were into the PlayStation 2 era by the time my brother--again--rescued it finally (he must have had a thing for orphaned controllers). The cashier needed a manager to ring it up because the tag was so old it wouldn't scan, or it wasn't in their POS system anymore, or something. 😆

[deepthaw]

1 hour ago, BassGuitari said:

I like collecting controllers as well! Mostly Atari 2600 ones, but I've collected quite a few for other systems as well. There was so much funky stuff that came out before we landed on gamepads that kind of have to be experienced first-hand (*taps mic*), both for better and worse. 😆

 

I like your Kraft Mazemaster; I've actually got an Archer (Radio Shack) version on its way to me as I write this! I already have the brown version, as well--great little joystick! I've been looking on-and-off for the 3DO version of that Capcom 6-button fighting pad. And the Rolkan Un-Roller Controller, incidentally!

On the off chance your Mazemaster ends up needing repairs, somebody on reddit tracked down the internal switches and they're still manufactured. Digikey part #PS1057ABLK. I ordered a dozen but haven't had a chance to put them in. And the Unroller is not worth paying more than pocket change. I don't care if it's rare, I don't care if it's novel... It's unbelievably awful and at least I talked the local shop owner down on it because I HAD TO HAVE IT BECAUSE IT LOOKED SO BAD. ahem.

 

1 hour ago, BassGuitari said:

I have the PlayStation version of this controller, the Sphere 360. The only game I've really played with it is Descent, and I've found it works really well for that game. It seems like Descent might have the only game anybody really played with this thing. 😅 There are a few different programmable modes on it, and one of them actually is just "Descent Mode," so maybe that explains it. It came with a sheet with a list of games that work best with the different control modes (mine is long since lost, unfortunately). I haven't experimented enough with other games to comment on how well it works broadly, or how well it can be made to work, but the Sphere 360 seems like it could have been a cool analog(/ish) PSX controller solution for some games in the waning days just before the Dual Shock hit and became standard. I imagine it might work nicely with something like Colony Wars, Warhawk, or Tempest X. The Dual Analog controller was out already--the Sphere has a mode that emulates it--but I don't know if there was much else in the way of analog controllers for PSX besides the Analog Joystick (Sony's flight stick) or driving controllers (like NeGcon).

It'd be interesting to see what else works with the Sphere on PSX. It's definitely a unique controller. The Orbotron 9000 goes in and out of production periodically (it's just a guy's hobby) but it lets you use a SpaceOrb 360 as a generic USB multi-axis joystick in Windows, and he even implemented chording so that you can hold the L/R buttons to assign extra functionality to the face buttons. It's insane. I need to find the time to sit down with a good Descent source port and try it out. Or maybe try it in Elite or X-Wing. That'd be ... a thing.

 

PSX also had a mouse, and at least one version of PSX Doom supported it. That's kinda analog.

[deepthaw]

On 5/27/2024 at 2:42 PM, phoenixdownita said:

Just looked at your SpaceOrb controller … the first and only joyball/joysphere … it looks unwieldy.

Clint at LGR did an Oddware on it. It's not as unwieldy to use as you might think, but that doesn't mean it works particularly well.

 

 

[BassGuitari]

2 minutes ago, deepthaw said:

And the Unroller is not worth paying more than pocket change. I don't care if it's rare, I don't care if it's novel...

The Roklan Unroller seems like the forerunner of the Quickshot/SVI "joyball" controller that came out for Atari/Commodore/MSX, Master System, and Nintendo. I have the Nintendo and Sega versions; they're...something. 😆 I'm trying to think of any games they might be well-suited to, but I'm drawing a blank. Maybe Track & Field or other NES running pad games, thanks to their gigantic leaf-switch buttons?

 

 

 

[Austin]

I've built up quite a lot of controllers over the years, many just out of curiosity, but have began downsizing a lot recently. A big part of it is that a lot of them just don't work well (like those QuickShot micro-switched NES peripherals), so I generally try to stick with first-party controllers. Even with culling the crap, with the amount of consoles I have and play, I still have way too many controllers for my own liking. Maybe I should start downsizing the whole collection in general. 😅

[phoenixdownita]

22 minutes ago, Austin said:

 Maybe I should start downsizing the whole collection in general. 😅

The idea is crossing my mind more and more frequently, usually I get paralyzed by fomo … what if that long lost secret technique to make a bare C64 look and sound like an 060 accelerated Amiga 4000 is rediscovered and the best ever C64 game of all times is home-brewed to life … or shit like that.

 

Note I don’t have a C64 but you get the gist.

Edited June 3 by phoenixdownita

[deepthaw]

20 hours ago, phoenixdownita said:

The idea is crossing my mind more and more frequently, usually I get paralyzed by fomo … what if that long lost secret technique to make a bare C64 look and sound like an 060 accelerated Amiga 4000 is rediscovered and the best ever C64 game of all times is home-brewed to life … or shit like that.

 

Note I don’t have a C64 but you get the gist.

I’ve already written up a list of friends who can help my wife distinguish what’s actually worth anything and what should just be pitched from my collections in the event of my passing.

[phoenixdownita]

2 minutes ago, deepthaw said:

I’ve already written up a list of friends who can help my wife distinguish what’s actually worth anything and what should just be pitched from my collections in the event of my passing.

I would be surprised if my collection gets any close to the 10K US$ … I have almost nothing CIB, most my consoles have no box at all, only a couple seems worth more than I paid for (a vectrex assuming it still works, jag+cd and a supergrafx maybe … the rest is all common or cheap or both) … given it took about 10y amassing the clunkers I don’t feel too bad even if it all goes to shit … it’s an avg of 85us$ per month  of active collecting … I am sure I wasted more in beer.

[jhd]

 

I acquired an original PlayStation in 2003, just as it was reaching the end of its commercial life.

 

For a few years thereafter, I picked-up odd controllers for it whenever I could find them cheap.

 

One example is the Commanding Player.   

Edited June 7 by jhd