#dsiware #imports #accessories #nintendo 3ds #art #chiptunes
Nintendo World Championships 1990 controller. The cartridges from Nintendo’s touring competitions are well-known collectibles, but did you know Nintendo had specially decorated controllers for the event as well? (I didn’t!)
Nintendo Age forum member vicviper573 was an NWC winner, and acquired this controller from the crew as they were packing up. He’s now deciding whether to sell it on eBay or to someone else on the forum.
I’m no eccentric billionaire, so rather than dropping cash for a spectacularly rare, but functionally ordinary, NES controller, I’m just going to gawk at it.
See also: More NES stuff, more auctions
[Via GameSniped]
tags / nintendo world championship / jc / nes / controller
Long before the Xbox 360’s controller-free Kinect, there was… U-Force! If you wonder exactly who was excited about the crazy hands-free controller, which resembles nothing more than half a Battleship game, here’s your answer: Boys’ Life magazine, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America.
Jeff Csatari wrote up a CES demo of the device for the May 1989 issue (read it here!), comparing it to wireless controllers by Acclaim and Beeshu that “still need to be held by hand.” Although, despite the excited tone of the piece, Csatari notes that the kid who demonstrated the controller completely failed to defeat Glass Joe in Punch-Out!!, a sign of the controller’s impending lameness.
Speaking of trade-show demos of questionable game technology, this is probably the last time I’ll get to write about random old junk before I fly off to E3 and see motion controls and 3D stuff nonstop, for Joystiq. Eric will be holding it down here, covering the stuff that freaking everyone else in the world isn’t talking about (and probably some that they will be!).
tags / u-force / broderbund / boys' life / jc / e3 / controller / nes
Rapid Shot Wii submachine gun controller by Innex. I know the “Mature gamers only” marketing for this thing is asinine, but it’s kind of a neat accessory, and not just because it’s modeled after a Heckler & Koch’s MP5.
If you look closely, you’ll see the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, and Wii Motion Plus are actually built into the controller — hopefully Innex made sure the button placement is intuitive. The speaker and rumble are built-in, too, and the detachable clip even holds the controller’s batteries!
This still isn’t as rad as Pega’s Shark zapper accessory, which has trigger that makes it look like you’re squeezing a Shark’s dick whenever you want to let off a shot.
[Note: If you desperately want a Rapid Shot so you can act out scenes from Die Hard in your living room but don’t have the patience to wait a couple weeks for Innex to debut it to the public, here are directions for creating your own MP5 Wii controller.]
See also: Rayman Raving Rabbids Wii Plunger Gun
tags / mp5 / rapid shot / innex / controller / zapper / ec
Optec’s SS Pro Commander for Saturn. What a magnificently awkward controller — like Bandai’s Super Controller II, but somehow less attractive. It has a screen and a set of buttons used for programming button combinations, and a seventh gameplay button that, I believe, can be set to launch specific recordings. Also, it sticks out of the controller in an entertainingly slapdash manner. With as ergonomic and design-y as controllers are most of the time (look at the Wiimote, for example) I can’t help but love this thing.
NCSX is selling boxed SS Pro Commanders for $25.90, including the optional memory card. Yes, it has its own memory card.
See also: More accessories
tags / ss pro commander / ncsx / controller / jc / saturn / accessories
Dragon Quest Battle Road Victory controller mock-up. Hori intends to produce this massive and ridiculous controller just for the upcoming Wii adaptation of Japanese arcade game Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road II Legend. The design apparently mimics the control panel of the arcade control panel, right down to letting you push down the sword to execute a special finishing attack.
How rad would it be to use one of these for a two-player Smash Bros. match or just to play some Tetris on Virtual Console? If you get angry over your opponent repeatedly winning, you can grab the controller by the hilt, wield it as an awkward sword, smash your friend across the face with it, and be featured on dozens of gaming blogs after you’re arrested for assault and battery.
It’s an expensive plan, though — the tentative price for this unique controller is ¥12,800, or $137; that’s before what you’ll spend on shipping for this likely heavy thing.
Buy: Dragon Quest games (they’re good!)
See also: More strange controllers
[Via Vjump, Andriasang]
tags / dragon quest / controller / hori / battle road victory / imports / ec
If our post about Bandai’s Mega controller for the NES a year ago left you longing to have one of your own, you’re in luck! NCSX has the Japanese version of the pad, the Super Controller II for Famicom, available for sale and in original, unopened packaging for $22.90!
Of course, the pad will only work with the Famicom and not the NES, but how can you pass on these features?: turbo buttons, the ability to lock the A/B buttons and directional pad, an Arsenal mode for limiting the amount of times you can push a button, a timer to freeze the game, a memory function for storing password sequences, two built-in games played through the LED screen, and more.
How does NCSX keep finding new and factory-boxed versions of decades old accessories and controllers?
Perhaps the import shop employs a clandestine acquisition team that breaks into abandoned Japanese factories to retrieve these goods? Or maybe it pays hobos to walk up and down the California coast to see what junk washes in from freighters lost at sea. My guess is that NCSX’s CEO, while excavating an ancient Hori temple years ago, found a mystical arcade stick that allows him to go back in time and place orders for obscure controllers.
See also: More odd controllers
tags / bandai / controller / ncsx / imports / mega / famicom / super controller ii / ecMallet Legend controller for Genesis by Realtec. This nine-button controller was designed for the unlicensed game Mallet Legend’s Whac-a-Critter. The game is abundant enough on eBay, but the controller is decidedly not, which is why eBay seller cmskls is charging five hundred damn dollars for this one.
It kind of looks like both the princess and the hero on the box are embarrassed that he’s brought a mallet. “You couldn’t find a sword or something?” Or perhaps that his battle uniform consists of a polo shirt and shorts with a cape thrown on.
The bear is just sleepy.
[Via GameSniped]
tags / realtec / genesis / controller / mallet legend / whac-a-critter / jc
The Ultech 3 Meijin-kun for Famicom. This freaky controller shell goes over the Famicom pad, and adds a giant, retro-PC-style joystick on top of the D-pad. It also reroutes the A and B buttons to the top of the joystick, using what looks like pneumatic tubes. It makes the Famicom controller both less comfortable and more vaguely science-y looking!
The Meijin-kun also has some holes so you can use the vital player-2 controller mic.
NES Advantage photo by Ice Foxx. You can click the image for a much larger shot, and download a wallpaper-sized version here. The controller from a different angle:
As far as arcade sticks go, the NES Advantage was kind of crap, despite its Ghostbusters II cameo and other dope situations. It looks great in these photos, though!
But for playing a game, you’re better off with a Turbo Touch 360 or even Bandai’s Mega controller. Just sayin’!
See also: NES Advantage found in the woods north of Portland, Vintage Nintendo R.O.B. advert
tags / nes advantage / ice foxx / controller / ec
Dempa Micomsoft XPD-1LR, a dual-D-pad controller for the Sharp X68000, designed for Crazy Climber and Libble Rabble. I didn’t realize how embellished other controllers are — even stuff like the NES controller that we consider simple — until I saw just how plain this one is. It’s just a black rectangle with some buttons on it.
Compare that with the freaky-looking XE-1AP, an analog pad designed for the X68000/MSX/FM Towns Marty/Mega Drive [image via MSXNet]:
If you happen to have a better picture of this thing, please let me know!
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