Orphaned Computers & Game Systems

(Archive)
Vol. I, Issue 2    August 1994



High-Score Tournament Master
A BIG Joystick!

by Adam Trionfo

High Score Joystick

I didn't expect this!

Nope. No way did I think this joystick was going to be this big. Godzilla wouldn't have trouble playing a game with this joystick. He would just fit his huge claws around it, and set the switch for right-handed play (everyone knows he is a righty!). Sure, with this joystick, Godzilla would be scoring really high on the one true version of Galaga. (The version of which I speak is the 7800 conversion, of course!)

Actually, folks, this is a great joystick. Well, it is for some games, anyway. I must warn you, though, that it does take a while to get used to. The box states that it is a heavy joystick, and believe me, it is! But guess what? It still isn't heavy enough! I'm not joking. The joystick itself is very stiff indeed. (You can adjust it from underneath, but I'm used to it now.)

Here are some suggestions for your gameplay. First, I don't care what the instructions say, you cannot use this joystick on your lap. It is too difficult. However, if you set the joystick on the table and stand up to play a game, it gives the feel of a real arcade game. It really does. I found some games too difficult to play with this joystick, but it's perfect for shoot-'em-up games.

You may try to clamp this joystick to your table, too. You may be thinking that these are true extremes to go to for the use of a joystick, but this thing does give a real arcade feel to gameplay.

This joystick is unique in at least one way. It lets you select left- or right-handed play. This gives the joystick a universal appeal. Also, you are able to chose autofire, not anything new to me. What is new is that you can adjust how fast it sets the autofire rate at. This works well with some games, and not at all with others. Some games are not compatible with the autofire feature, for some reason I can't explain.

I have to say that this joystick doesn't give precise control on some games. I had some trouble using it on the 2600 game Surround (a personal favorite!). However, I could just imagine setting two of these controllers side by side and playing Robotron: 2084 on the Atari 7800! Woo...


Compatible with: Commodore, Atari 8-bit and ColecoVision (The latter requires that you plug your regular joystick into the side for keypad use).

     Availability: $29.95 from Video 61, 22735 Congo St. NE, Stacy, MN, 55079. (612) 462-2500. Please Note: There are a very limited number of these available, so order yours before they are all gone!