PDA

View Full Version : What's the best dreamcast control pad?



Anthony1
02-22-2005, 12:13 AM
Look, I have all the freaking systems. 2600, NES, TG-16, Genny, SNES, Sega CD, 3DO, Jaguar, 32X, Saturn, PSX, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, XBOX, & GameCube.



Some of these systems have controllers I like, and some don't.


Dreamcast ranks right up there with some of the worst. I just don't like how it feels in my hands. It's awkward to me. And this is coming from somebody that used to love the jumbo XBOX controllers. Although now I prefer the Type S. Anyways, I just don't like the standard controller for the Dreamcast. I'm thinking there has to be something else out there that would feel perfect in your hands..........


Speaking of controllers, and those systems listed above, I will rate the best to the worst, in my opinion of course.


1. XBOX Type S - I just love the way this feels in my hands. A great controller, hands down.

2. PSX/PS2 Dualshock - The dualshock has a really good feel, good vibration, great for 3D games, I don't like the D-pad though.

3. SNES - Say what you will, but the SNES controller was a very solid controller. It did what it was suppoed to do well. It had a nice mix of buttons, first shoulder buttons, and the two different type of face buttons for the feel. D-Pad was pretty damn accurate. Damn good controller

4. Sega Saturn - The Saturn controller is a damn good controller. The top 3 buttons were a little too small, and the triggers are kinda flimsty feeling, but an absolutely outstanding D-pad. Very accurate D-pad.

5. NES - The standard NES controller was a work of genius, just a very simple, but very effective controller. D-pad was very accurate, and it had 2 simple buttons. Can't get more basic than that, but man how functional.

6. TG-16 - turbopad - The turbopad was almost as good as the NES controller. I liked the D pad of the NES controller better.

7. Sega Genesis/Sega CD/32X - 3 button original - I actually like the original 3 button Sega Genesis controller. Not so much because it's a great controller, but because I'm so used to it. The D-Pad was quite stiff, and sometimes you had to fight the D-pad, but the buttons were bigger and easier to hit during play. The 6 button controller was just too small for my tastes.

8. GameCube - The GameCube controller actually is pretty decent. But I think the way it put some of the buttons is kinda quircky. But overall, pretty damn confortable and good.

9. Atari 2600 - Joystick and Pads - These controllers were awesome. How freaking simple, but super effective. I don't understand why modern systems don't use paddle controllers just like the 2600 used, except much better? It's amazing!

10. N64 - The N64 controller was a dramatic difference between everything before it. First to have rumble, first with analog control. But overall, I think in the long run this controller bothers me somewhat. I mean, it worked really well for most of the games on the N64, but I didn't like the size of it and the ergonomics of it.

11. 3DO - The 3DO controller is pretty damn bad. Stiff as a rock. But if you take a super small screwdriver and fix those screws, you can loosen up the D-pad and get better response.

12. Dreamcast - The Dreamcast controller had the two analog controls, the rumble the vmu, etc, etc, but it felt rather flimsy to me, and it did'nt have the weight, and then it had the unusual size.

13. Jaguar - This controller is pretty damn horrible. No other way to call it. D-Pad is pretty weak, and the buttons are kinda goofy. And then you had all those other buttons that didn't work very good. Bad idea. Actually feels okay in your hands though.





So I guess, what I'm asking is, is there a decent gamepad type controller for the Dreamcast that feels good and has the rumble, etc,etc? What about the Jaguar? I don't remember there being any 3rd party controllers. With the 3DO, the best thing would be the SNES adapter. Unfortunately, they are hard to find. Does the N64 have any modern style controller that has been made for it?

Anthony1
02-22-2005, 12:26 AM
Man, what a total dumbass.


About 2 minutes after doing this post, I realized that I had a special adapter that allows you to use a PS2 controller on a Dreamcast. When I used it, I actually used it for the X-Arcade arcade gaming stick that I had. I had the PS2 adapter for the X-Arcade stick, and when using both adapters, I could use it on my Dreamcast.

I never actually tried a regular PS2 pad with it.


So I just whipped it out and tried it, and it's awesome. Feels great!

Even the Rumble works good.

Only one major problem......


NO VMU!

NO GAME SAVING!

damn!

it290
02-22-2005, 02:20 AM
Dude, just load a controller and a VMU into one of your unused ports and you'll be good to go. Some games want to load from A1 but you can usually tell them to save to a different port.

I never much cared for the regular dreamcast pad either, although I like the trigger buttons. The Ascii Pad FT is a damn nice pad, but good luck finding one. I have an adapter that does both Saturn->DC and PS->DC. I usually use the Saturn pad for Nester and shmupping, but a Dual Shock can be nice for some analog games.

jdc
02-22-2005, 07:06 AM
If you don't like the original DC controller then try the AstroPad, from Performance. It's practically a dead copy of a large XboX controller, but predated it by a few years. I use it for DC racers, since the trigger design doesn't dig into your fingers after a few hours of racing.

You can still get them brand new.