Sub-Par Programmable Controllers

[Maj]

Not all video game peripherals are created equal. In fact, some are downright terrible. Kind of a long time ago, i made the mistake of buying a couple of these InterAct Quantum FigherPad 3rd party Sega Dreamcast controllers. The description on the box sounded interesting and they were on clearance for under $20 at some major electronics retailer so i figured i'd never see them again unless i picked them up. Not surprisingly, they sucked.

Well, to be fair, they were somewhat useful for testing random stuff in oldschool DC games lacking all the fancy CvS series Dummy Record features. But each controller held only 50 inputs total and they played back so slow that it was literally impossible to execute Akuma's Raging Demon or double halfcircle FB super. Gotta be around ten or more frames per input.

Although it had six buttons on the front, the Z and C buttons were empty by default. You could program them to duplicate any of the four face buttons but not either of the two shoulder trigger buttons. That's right, it was so poorly designed that the only way to program sequences involving Fierce and Roundhouse was to reassign those attacks via the game's button config menu. At the very least, you'd think a programmable controller would make it easier to select 3P/3K colors in CvS2. Nope. It's actually way harder cuz the trigger buttons on this thing could not have been manufactured any worse.

Funny that the most convenient thing about this useless controller is the fact that its tiny manual is available in PDF format on several websites, for whatever reason. I'm mirroring it here in case anyone ever ends up finding one at a garage sale:

InterAct Quantum FighterPad I-22-009 instruction manual

Even though i was almost always way better off conning any random friend or relative into helping me set up two-player situations, it definitely provided a good learning experience which helped prepare me to take advantage of quality ppads and emu tools when they finally became available.

[Magnetro]

Oh yeah? Well when Alpha 3 came out for the Playstation (1) I was programming me some combos using this amazing controller http://store.videogamecentral.com/ps1inbaco.html that was 2 times bigger than my hands at that age. I was doing cr.mk -> fireball 100% of the time when facing right. Here's another picture of this beast: http://i13.ebayimg.com/02/i/001/00/d8/7b98_1.JPG .

It made really cool beeps

[Vega Omega]

Here's my "ProgramPad6" for the Sega Genesis!

It has pre-programmed SFII combos, which is cool. Also you are able to program you own stuff, but i've only used it once, and couldn't figure it out.