What is this Joystick?

[Radio F Software]

Hey everyone, I've had this particular joystick in my collection for years. When I was 5 or 6 (about 10-11 years ago) I found this cardboard box in my dad's workshop, and that was an Atari 2600 and 10 games. 2 days later my uncle Eric dropped off a box with an Atari 2600 and about 20 games. In the box was this odd joystick that I never really looked closely at until now.

 

Its got "Boss - Precision Engineering" engraved on the plastic just behind the stick. I've never seen something like this before, nor do I know who or when it was made.

 

So, anyone know of the origins of this and if it's rare or not?

[Radio F Software]

Oops, forgot image.

[bjk7382]

Not rare...

 

and you must not know about the vast selection of 3rd party joysticks for the 2600. Go to Gamerzuniverse and you will find many different kinds of joysticks, and other hardware.

[raindog]

Yeah, if I'm not mistaken that was also the stick I was able to use to play Menace on the Amiga, whacking the top firebutton with a plastic ruler stuck to a desk to get off 20-30 shots a second

[Ferris]

That's the joystick i grew up with... the Wico BOSS.

[bjk7382]

to get off 20-30 shots a second

 

I am not quite sure that would be possible. I am saying this because of a game in mario party 4 called "domination" where they give you 10 seconds to see how many times you can hit the button. I have had many friends try to beat my record of 111 and none have come close. And that is only 11.1 button presses per second. (and that is fast and difficult to do)

 

How would you get 20 or even 30 shots in one second with a plastic ruler helping you out?

[raindog]

I have no idea how many shots per second it actually was, just that it was a solid wall of shots (Menace was my favorite shoot-em-up because there was no limit to the number of shots you could have in play at once.)

 

How could I get off 20-30 shots a second using a ruler? Try this. Take a plastic ruler (not a flat floppy one, but one of the more sturdy ones) and put it half-on, half-off a desk, and flick the end. Listen to the hum that it makes. For reference, a cat's purr is about 25Hz. You should easily be able to make the ruler's hum much higher than that; I'd say 60-70Hz was typical if my memory of the sound is right.

 

I held the joystick under the ruler and steered by moving the base. One of my roommates would then whack the ruler with a drumstick or something, causing a ridiculous stream of shots to appear onscreen. One hit, 50 or 60 shots over a couple seconds. We would cackle loudly. The only bummer was that it made it hard to choose what powerup you could get, so we were most commonly stuck with plain old shots. Nonetheless, it was pathetically simple to finish the game as one or two hits was enough to take out any formation or any boss. If I did happen to get lasers, we'd hardly see enemy formations before they were all dead. I've never been able to finish Menace without the ruler method, and never found another game for which it worked because most game designers have a set number of shots you can have in play at any given time, or a maximum speed at which you can shoot.

 

I have considered trying to use the ruler method on some of the games in Mario Party 4 that need fast button pressing, but I don't think the Gamecube controller's buttons have nearly enough throw for that to work. What was good about the Wico Boss was that the top button was loose, had a lot of throw, and its spring had a tendency to "bounce". My MP4 button hitting method is the Track and Field "two fingers running" approach, and I'm lucky to hit 9 or 10 hits per second.

[Spud]

My MP4 button hitting method is the Track and Field "two fingers running" approach, and I'm lucky to hit 9 or 10 hits per second.

 

I used a slightly bent butter knife over my left middle finger with the other two finger on top to push it down on the left button, then hit the right button with my right hand, always had the high scores until others started doing the same thing.