Peripheral Promises Unfulfilled
by alzabo
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008However, one must also mention the all-rounder of console peripherals, the arcade stick, unlike the previously mentioned devices they are almost never game specific and can be used for fighting games, SHMUPs and classic games like Pac-Man, Robotron 2084.
The topic of non-specific controllers & peripherals brings me to my most fondly remembered console accessory, the Sony Dual Analog.
The Dual Analog predates the Dual Shock in the American retail channel by roughly a year, and other than it's lack of rumble it is noticeably larger than any other 1st Party Playstation gamepad. I personally find it to be the most comfortable Playstation gamepad ever produced, the rubber nub-less concave analog sticks and beefy grips are extremely comfortable for marathon gaming sessions. I bought mine in 1997 because of early analog support Playstation games like Colony Wars and Bushido Blade.
When the Dual Shock was released in 1998 I was very disappointed that it was not the same size as the Dual Analog, so I continued to use my Dual Analog well into the PS2 era. I finally retired the Dual Analog in late 2001, figuring that the Dual Shock 2 was better suited for most PS2 titles.
While the Dual Analog is a fairly rare Playstation accessory today, it isn't worth that much even with the original box. I think one of the reasons that such an excellent controller isn't more fondly remembered or desired is because the Dual Analog was only useful for a handful of games before it was supplanted by the Dual Shock and a flood of analog+rumble supported games.
Oh well, I still enjoy using mine ever once in a while. The controller's "beefiness" just seems right when I'm playing Godhand.
Do you fondly remember a specific peripheral? Let us know in the comments. Article Permalink
Beating the hell out of your ‘stick.
by alzabo
Posted on Sunday, July 22, 2007
I love arcade games.
When I was younger and living in Japan I would spend an absurd amount of time in the game centers near my High School in Kobe playing vs. fighting and puzzle games. My obsession with arcade games only grew upon returning to Seattle. I bought arcade sticks for home and used them until they were as floppy as a dead dog’s dick and the buttons were less responsive than a Neo cab you’d find in a coin laundry. 100% accuracy is essential for playing well and I would often suffer from sudden flashes of internal rage when my combos would not come out on my busted ‘sticks or at an arcade. I wanted to buy a Japanese Arcade stick made by Hori, but they were expensive and hard to come by locally at that time, so I decided to build one myself. 5 years ago I created an awesome replica of a Sega Astro City control panel, it has Sanwa controls and a comfortable layout that allows for hours of combos and parries. It still works flawlessly today and has travelled to many tournaments with me.
It turns out that my decision of years ago to build my own arcade stick instead of buying a Japanese Hori ‘stick was an excellent decision. Today I attempted to repair my friend Tweak’s two ‘sticks, the first one was a Hori, a 6-button Soul Caliber 2 stick from 2003. It had an obvious patina of love, as the finish had been rubbed off a good portion of the controller and the cord was knotted internally from being wrapped around the controllers over 1000 times over the last 4+ years. The problem was an intermittent connection problem that was caused by a knotted cord that had partially exposed wiring. Once inside the controller, I was horrified. The PCB for the ‘stick was hard soldered to the buttons, making removal of parts or service of the controller physically impossible; despite having buttons and parts that were designed to be replaced by arcade operators in a matter of minutes . Unfortunately, the stick’s cord was even more poorly manufactured, upon vivisection of the cord I discovered that the individual wires were not bundles of 22 or 24 gauge wire, but 6 strands of hair thin copper wrapped around a central nylon strand. I wasted two hours of my life attempting to resurrect the stick, there simply wasn’t enough copper there to make a good contact with butt-end connectors and soldering was impossible because of the nylon. Fuck you Hori, I hope you all die in a fire. Hopefully that fire will be at your company. Maybe it’ll happen when you’re all in an all night meeting discussing what shitty design to put on your next derivative fighting game tie-in controller.
The other stick Tweak brought for repair was the Street Fighter Anniversary Stick. I have dumped on this ‘stick publicly before, decrying it’s lack of accuracy and crappy knock-off buttons (Happ Controls they are not). Tweak complained of not being able to “shoto-sweep”. So I opened the stick up expecting something even worse than what I’d seen inside the Hori, I girded myself for a sea of parts connected to a rats next of daisy chained wiring floating in epoxy or maybe an aborted human fetus. Instead, a sensible layout with connectors that were exactly the same as the inside of a JAMMA cabinet greeted me. There were clearly marked and exposed button’s that are replaceable with high quality brand name parts, buttons connected to PCB’s by 22 gauge wire and spade connectors instead of solder. It was exactly like the inside of my Neo Geo MVS cabinet! Fixing his broken roundhouse button was as easy as plugging in a spade connector that had worked itself loose over the last several years.
In the end, today’s experience humbled me. I permanently lost respect for Hori and gained a lot of respect for who ever made the SF anniversary stick (even if it’s buttons are crappy, they can be swapped by even the most spastic person). I need to get my hands on one, if only so I can use the cool tiny PCB for building a more visually impressive and accurate arcade stick.
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