Caveats: I have not been and do not intend to become a hard-core gamer. I don’t own, and don’t plan to get, a dedicated game platform. I value my marriage too much to disappear into game after game for long periods; my habit is to buy a game, play the hell out of it over a short spell, and then not get another one for several months.
But I recently got a spiffy new laptop, and there’s a ton of fun stuff on the shelf, and the mouse/keyboard combo just plain doesn’t cut it any more. So I’d like to add a controller to make those occasional gaming experiences more enjoyable.
I described myself above as an infrequent gamer because, in my mind, that establishes two requirements:
I want a controller that will be flexible enough to use on multiple games; I have no desire to buy this joystick controller because it’s best for these games and that zillion-button pad because it’s ideal for those games and this other dedicated steering-wheel-and-pedals setup for the occasional title where that’s the best choice. I’m hoping to find one controller that will be adequate for most games, even if it leaves out a couple of exceptions.
I also don’t need to spend a thousand dollars on it, because I’m not planning to take my rig to a gaming den and network in for marathon competitions. In other words, I don’t need a military-grade keeps-on-ticking controller that will survive being run over by a truck. Obviously that means I could just go down to Best Buy and get the cheapest thing on the shelf, but I don’t want to be stuck with a piece of crap that falls apart in my hands the day after the warranty expires, either.
For reference: My current game of choice is Rockstar’s Midnight Club II. Fast, fun, and totally irresponsible arcade action (my wife rolled her eyes when I mentioned driving through the middle of Notre Dame cathedral). So whatever I get will need to work for that, but should be good for further titles as well.
And a last comment: Depending on price, this may end up being a Christmas wish-list item, rather than my own purchase. I’m going to be flexible.
http://www.lik-sang.com has converters that allow you to plug PS2, XBox or Gamecube controllers into your USB port. I would recommend one that either does PS2 or XBox. The Microsoft and Sony made controllers are generally higher quality and feel better than most joysticks made for PC.
The adapter would run you 15$ plus maybe 5$ shipping. You can pick up a used PS1 controller for 10$, a new PS2/XBox controller for 25$.
I suggest something from either Logitech or Microsoft. Everyone hates MS, but my Sidewinder PrecisionPro from 4 years ago is still a great joystick. I’d get a gamepad and just go in the store and see which one fits my hand the best.
I have a similar question. I would like to download NES and SNES emulators and ROMs to play those classic games on my computer. I was wondering if a standard SNES-style gamepad that is USB-compatible would work for the emulators, so I don’t have to play the games with random buttons on the keyboard.
These would be perfectly legal, just so ya know, since I actually own an old NES and SNES and several games, but they are in storage until I move out of my current address.
Well, ** Big Bad Voodu Lou ** most of the emulators I have seen work with various USB controllers, so go right ahead. And ** Cervaise ** I have this Axis gamepad I picked up at Walmart that works pretty well - it is nearly identical to the Playstation Dual-Shock controllers, and I have found it works wonderfully whenever I emulate PS1 games on my PC. (And yes, I own the CD’s - I just pop the disk in and the emulator plays off of them, perfectly legal.)
Or at least they claim to. My Gravis Eliminator Aftershock shows up in the menus of several emulators, but then when I try to define the keys, half of the buttons won’t register when I press them. I’m still trying to find a NES emulator that works with this thing. I found a Genesis one that works fine and lets me define all the same buttons the NES emulators (and the other Genesis emulators) wouldn’t. Maybe mine is an isolated incident; I haven’t really looked into it. It sure does suck, though.
Just out of curiousity, have you looked into other emulators? Development of Nesticle ceased five years ago. Many other emulators in active development are now better. Some were updated as recently as a month or two ago.
This one, however, is a fine choice. It’s also one of the few emulators that doesn’t hate my Gravis pad. I would have tried my old MS Sidewinder on it, but it doesn’t have enough buttons for the SNES.
I prefer my Sega Dreamcast for the NES games. You can buy them on ebay for about $20 now, burn a disc of your favorite games, and pop it in the Dreamcast and play. You don’t need a mod chip or anything like that. It’s possible to fit every NES game ever made (assuming you legally purchased every NES game :)) on one CD and the speed and sound are flawless. It also has built-in Game Genie support and you can download whole libraries of Game Genie codes to include on the disc and pick your cheats from a list in the game. You can also save state to the DC memory card and lots of other cool features.
Other DC emulators are of variable quality. Last I checked the SNES emu only ran at about 80% speed, but they’re supposedly still working on it. There’s a massive selection of DC emulators for other systems.
These games are low resolution anyway, so you aren’t gaining anything by viewing them on your monitor. Why not play them like they were meant to be played, on a TV with a decent-sized screen while relaxing on the couch?
