Looking for decent 3rd party controllers for DC and GC.

Talk about just about anything else that is non-gaming here, but keep it clean
Post Reply
Droid party
Next-Gen
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:23 pm
Location: Stuck in my childhood.

Looking for decent 3rd party controllers for DC and GC.

Post by Droid party »

Well this topic pretty much explains itself. I don't really like the original pads for these systems ( it's not that I think they are bad , they just don't fit my hands properly)
Now I want to try some 3rd party ones but my experience with them is mixed at best. I have bought a Madcatz dreampad for the DC ( just have to wait for it to come from the states) and would like some opinions on it and maybe some suggestions on it's quality and maybe some suggestions for the GC.

Google has been no help on this one. My biggest concern is comfort and decent analogue sticks.
JT wrote:Yeah, like vampire aliens invade and hit us all with a ray beam that paralyzes all of our arms. The only way to deactivate the ray beam and fight back the vampire alien threat is with a complicated series of foot patterns on the device's control board that looks remarkably like a DDR pad. We will all praise this man for saving our lives and buy him a mountain of stuffed animals.
Jubal
64-bit
Posts: 356
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:42 pm
Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Re: Looking for decent 3rd party controllers for DC and GC.

Post by Jubal »

what controllers do you consider a "good"? your best bet will probably be one of those controller converters
Droid party
Next-Gen
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:23 pm
Location: Stuck in my childhood.

Post by Droid party »

Well, the ps2 controller is probably my favourite controller and I do have a controller converter for the DC that lets me use playstation controllers on it. The trouble is I would like to stick to something that more closely resembles the original pad for each respective machine. The original xbox pad was good ( I mean the big one not the s, although I like that too) because it was made for big hands unlike the DC pad that feels a little too small for me .

Like I said before, I want something comfortable and with good analogue sticks.
JT wrote:Yeah, like vampire aliens invade and hit us all with a ray beam that paralyzes all of our arms. The only way to deactivate the ray beam and fight back the vampire alien threat is with a complicated series of foot patterns on the device's control board that looks remarkably like a DDR pad. We will all praise this man for saving our lives and buy him a mountain of stuffed animals.
User avatar
ubelaffe
64-bit
Posts: 499
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:51 pm
Location: sc, usa

Post by ubelaffe »

I've got one of the performance pads for the dc and it's a load of crap. The buttons do not depress properly. It's just plain cheap. It's barely worth keeping as a spare.
SiW
8-bit
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:56 pm

Post by SiW »

I have an Interact Quantum pad for the DC and I hate it, but it is larger than the original so might be more comfortable for you.
Droid party
Next-Gen
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:23 pm
Location: Stuck in my childhood.

Post by Droid party »

SiW wrote:I have an Interact Quantum pad for the DC and I hate it, but it is larger than the original so might be more comfortable for you.
Ok, that was one of the pads I was cosidering, lucky I didn't buy it. I liked its size and the idea of 6 buttons on the face of the controller for fighters but the fact that I knew nothing of the brand made think again.

Well, telling which to avoid is just as valuable as which to get so thanks and keep em coming.
JT wrote:Yeah, like vampire aliens invade and hit us all with a ray beam that paralyzes all of our arms. The only way to deactivate the ray beam and fight back the vampire alien threat is with a complicated series of foot patterns on the device's control board that looks remarkably like a DDR pad. We will all praise this man for saving our lives and buy him a mountain of stuffed animals.
cloudrat7
32-bit
Posts: 232
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:03 pm
Location: Brooklyn, New york city
Contact:

Post by cloudrat7 »

avoid this pad at all costs..

http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/gethwin ... -H-00300-A

It's a controller made of cheap light plastic and it's so big you can't wrap your hands around the thing.
On the upside, it's dirt cheap . i bought it for 3 bucks. but I just can't use it ..
http://www.artwanted.com/cloudrat7
Sega master system, Sega genesis, Sega saturn(mod), Dreamcast, Nes, Super nes, Turbografx-16, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Gamecube, X-box 360.
Niode
Next-Gen
Posts: 7831
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:34 pm
Location: UK

Post by Niode »

Think you're out of luck as far as Dreamcast pads go. However the Arcade stick for DC is fantastic. But no good for anything but shmups/puzzlers/fighters.

You could try the Wavebird for the GC as that is slightly larger than the standard controller and has the added bonus of being wireless however I don't think it's larger in the way you want it to be. Hori also made a similar arcade stick for the GC as well but again, it's only useful for shmups/puzzlers/fighters.

I think for what you want you're going to be stuck with just using converters as there was a distinct lack of decent third party controllers for the Dreamcast. Even the 3rd party niche accessories (ie fission fishing controller, mad catz lightgun) were quite poor when compared to their official alternatives.

If you like using the xbox duke pad then i'd use that but I'm not aware of a converter for Xbox - DC. However the DC's input bus is very similar to USB and the Xbox pads are USB. So with a bit of experimentation I'm sure you could get the controllers to talk to the DC.

After looking into it briefly it looks like it might not be possible?
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/19/t100 ... converter/

You could also consider daisy chaining converters? IE, convert from xbox to ps2 ( http://www.consoleplus.co.uk/product_in ... -converter , however thats out of stock - ebay perhaps?) then ps2 to dc (using the total control 2 which is available from play-asia.com). The success of this working though i've got no idea.
Marurun wrote:Don’t mind-shart your pants, guys
elph
32-bit
Posts: 208
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:35 pm

Post by elph »

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/BluFir ... 4202.phtml

I've heard this is a pretty good option, but ugly looking.
Droid party
Next-Gen
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:23 pm
Location: Stuck in my childhood.

Post by Droid party »

elph wrote:http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/BluFir ... 4202.phtml

I've heard this is a pretty good option, but ugly looking.
Yeah, I've seen them before. I don't really care what the controller looks like as long as it performs well, so it being ugly isn't really a problem. I may have to drop down to the local EB to see if they have em.
JT wrote:Yeah, like vampire aliens invade and hit us all with a ray beam that paralyzes all of our arms. The only way to deactivate the ray beam and fight back the vampire alien threat is with a complicated series of foot patterns on the device's control board that looks remarkably like a DDR pad. We will all praise this man for saving our lives and buy him a mountain of stuffed animals.
Post Reply