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Today I learned about the Jogcon controller for PS1 & PS2:
This was a dualshock where the analog sticks are replaced by a dial with force feedback, so players could play Ridge Racer and really FEEL the road as if the dial was a steering wheel. I have no clue if it was good (probably not), but I do miss a good weird controller.
This one. It's basically an upside down Mega Drive/Genesis controller for one of the Brazilian famiclones, with turbo buttons for A and B
This is a Nyko Air Flow controller. I had one for the original Xbox. It was supposed to keep you from sweating during long sessions of gameplay, because it was ventilated and had a fan on the back. To be honest, I don't remember it being excellent at keeping you cool. I think the fan was pretty lousy, but it was a great gimmick none the less.
I had a lot of weird controllers back then. Some good, some bad. Most of them Mad Catz.
Mad Catz and their controllers that seem like they were designed by two actual, mad, cats. They still make ridiculous stuff like their R.A.T. mouse with like a dozen different dials and sliders and removable parts for customization:
Of course, I think Mad Catz was absorbed by some other company at some point, so i'm not 100% on if it's even the same people anymore. But the spirit is alive and well, it would seem.
I guess this is "weird" in the sense of "unique".
The Steel Battalion Mech controls. The size of a table, it was an appropriate recreation of the control panel for a mech, requiring you to go through all the steps from firing it up to ejecting in case of danger. You had pedals, sticks, knobs, switches galore.
Holy shit I just looked this up and this article says there are forty buttons! Also apparently if you didn't eject in time, the game would erase your save file?!?
A rouge like of it's time!
The steam controller was (and still is) fantastic. I once got a comfortable binding for the original System Shock, which already has a pretty untenable control scheme with a keyboard and mouse. Also its haptic feedback can play music.
The SpaceOrb 360
It's a 6-axis controller I used for space flight sims (like Descent)
the orb! The Orb was the number one controller i had in mind when making this post. I never had one but i've watched so many videos about it. It's like a controller from an alternate timeline of what could have been, if we never moved to analog sticks or mouse look. Apparently the tech is still preferred in the 3D CAD space. After several acquisitions, the company is now a Logitech subsidiary called "3Dconnexion", and they make CAD tools like the SpaceMouse that use the same 6-axis tech that the SpaceOrb used:
It’s not exactly weird, but I loved the giant “duke” controller for the og xbox. A lot of people hated it but I think it’s one of the most comfortable controllers ever made.
it must be hard to be a gamer with big hands. it ain't me, but i feel for you. You know they made a special 20th anniversary re-release of the duke, right?