bjwil1991 wrote:

I also fixed up the Duke controller as the wiring was exposed and only worked at a certain angle of the wiring. I shortened the wires and wrapped them around one by one using electrical tape.

Contrary to popular opinion, I find I actually prefer the Duke over the smaller controller. The Duke just feels better to use, imo.

When I got my Xbox a few months back, having never previously owned one, I got a Duke controller as a secondary controller just for curiosity. I always thought the Dreamcast controllers were some of the worst I'd used, but the Duke takes the award. 🤣

The Dreamcast controllers weren't bad either. Guess I'm just a sucker for the more unpopular controllers. 😵

bfcastello wrote:

Peter Swinkels wrote:

My retro activity? I was bored and cobbled a rudimentary Tetris clone together in Qbasic/Quick Basic (should also work in Visual […]
Show full quote

My retro activity? I was bored and cobbled a rudimentary Tetris clone together in Qbasic/Quick Basic (should also work in Visual Basic for DOS):

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1DEFINT A-Z
2
3DECLARE FUNCTION CanMove (Map$, XDirection, YDirection)
4DECLARE FUNCTION GetRotatedShapeMap$ (Shape, Angle)
5DECLARE FUNCTION GetShapeMap$ (Shape)
6DECLARE SUB CheckGameState ()
7DECLARE SUB CreateShape ()
8DECLARE SUB DisplayStatus ()
9DECLARE SUB DrawBlock (ColorO$, PitX, PitY)
10DECLARE SUB DrawPit ()
11DECLARE SUB DrawShape (EraseV)
12DECLARE SUB DropShape ()
13DECLARE SUB InitializeGame ()
14DECLARE SUB Main ()
15DECLARE SUB RemoveFullRows ()
16DECLARE SUB SettleActiveShape ()
17
18CONST BLOCKSCALE = 24
19CONST BLOCKSIDE = 4
20CONST PITHEIGHT = 16
21CONST PITLEFT = 8
22CONST PITTOP = 2
23CONST PITWIDTH = 10
24
25COMMON SHARED DropRate!, GameOver, Pit$, Score, Shape, ShapeAngle, ShapeMap$, ShapeX, ShapeY
26
27InitializeGame
28Main
29
30FUNCTION CanMove (Map$, XDirection, YDirection)
31FOR BlockY = 0 TO 3
32 FOR BlockX = 0 TO 3
33  IF NOT MID$(Map$, ((BLOCKSIDE * BlockY) + BlockX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN
34   PitX = (ShapeX + BlockX) + XDirection
35   PitY = (ShapeY + BlockY) + YDirection
36   IF PitX >= 0 AND PitX < PITWIDTH AND PitY >= 0 AND PitY < PITHEIGHT THEN
37    IF NOT MID$(Pit$, (((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1), 1) = "0" THEN
38     CanMove = 0
39     EXIT FUNCTION
40    END IF
41   ELSEIF PitX < 0 OR PitX >= PITWIDTH OR PitY >= PITHEIGHT THEN
42    CanMove = 0
43    EXIT FUNCTION
44   END IF
45  END IF
46 NEXT BlockX
47NEXT BlockY
48
49CanMove = -1
50END FUNCTION
51
52SUB CheckGameState
53GameOver = (ShapeY < 0)
54
55DrawPit
56DisplayStatus
57END SUB
58
59SUB CreateShape
60DropRate! = 1

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61Shape = INT(RND * 6)
62ShapeAngle = INT(RND * 4)
63ShapeMap$ = GetRotatedShapeMap$(Shape, ShapeAngle)
64ShapeX = 0
65ShapeY = -BLOCKSIDE
66
67IF INT(RND * 2) = 0 THEN Direction = -1 ELSE Direction = 1
68
69FOR Move = 0 TO INT(RND * PITWIDTH)
70 IF CanMove(ShapeMap$, Direction, 1) THEN
71  ShapeX = ShapeX + Direction
72 ELSE
73  EXIT FOR
74 END IF
75NEXT Move
76END SUB
77
78SUB DisplayStatus
79COLOR 4
80LOCATE INT((PITTOP * BLOCKSCALE) / 16), INT((PITLEFT * BLOCKSCALE) / 8) + 1
81IF GameOver THEN
82 PRINT "Game over - press Enter to play a new game."
83ELSE
84 PRINT "Score:" + STR$(Score)
85END IF
86END SUB
87
88SUB DrawBlock (ColorO$, PitX, PitY)
89DrawX = PitX * BLOCKSCALE
90DrawY = PitY * BLOCKSCALE
91
92LINE (DrawX + (PITLEFT * BLOCKSCALE), DrawY + (PITTOP * BLOCKSCALE))-STEP(BLOCKSCALE, BLOCKSCALE), VAL("&H" + ColorO$), BF
93LINE (DrawX + CINT(BLOCKSCALE / 10) + (PITLEFT * BLOCKSCALE), DrawY + CINT(BLOCKSCALE / 10) + (PITTOP * BLOCKSCALE))-STEP(BLOCKSCALE - CINT(BLOCKSCALE / 5), BLOCKSCALE - CINT(BLOCKSCALE / 5)), 0, B
94END SUB
95
96SUB DrawPit
97LINE ((PITLEFT * BLOCKSCALE) - 1, (PITTOP * BLOCKSCALE) - 1)-STEP((PITWIDTH * BLOCKSCALE) + 2, (PITHEIGHT * BLOCKSCALE) + 2), 15, B
98LINE ((PITLEFT * BLOCKSCALE) - 1, (PITTOP * BLOCKSCALE) - 1)-STEP(PITWIDTH * BLOCKSCALE + 2, 0), 0
99
100FOR PitY = 0 TO PITHEIGHT - 1
101 FOR PitX = 0 TO PITWIDTH - 1
102  IF GameOver THEN
103   ColorO$ = "4"
104  ELSE
105   ColorO$ = MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1, 1)
106  END IF
107
108  DrawBlock ColorO$, PitX, PitY
109 NEXT PitX
110NEXT PitY
111END SUB
112
113SUB DrawShape (EraseV)
114FOR BlockX = 0 TO 3
115 FOR BlockY = 0 TO 3
116  PitX = ShapeX + BlockX
117  PitY = ShapeY + BlockY
118  IF PitX >= 0 AND PitX < PITWIDTH AND PitY >= 0 AND PitY < PITHEIGHT THEN
119   IF EraseV THEN
120    ColorO$ = MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1, 1)
121   ELSE
122    ColorO$ = MID$(ShapeMap$, ((BLOCKSIDE * BlockY) + BlockX) + 1, 1)
123    IF ColorO$ = "0" THEN ColorO$ = MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1, 1)
124   END IF
125   DrawBlock ColorO$, PitX, PitY
126  END IF
127 NEXT BlockY
128NEXT BlockX
129END SUB
130
131SUB DropShape
132IF CanMove(ShapeMap$, 0, 1) THEN
133 DrawShape -1
134 IF DropRate! > 0 THEN SOUND 37, .3
135 ShapeY = ShapeY + 1
136 DrawShape 0
137ELSE
138 SettleActiveShape
139 CheckGameState
140
141 IF NOT GameOver THEN
142  CreateShape
143  DrawShape 0
144 END IF
145END IF
146END SUB
147
148FUNCTION GetRotatedShapeMap$ (Shape, Angle)
149Map$ = GetShapeMap$(Shape)
150NewBlockX = 0
151NewBlockY = 0
152RotatedMap$ = STRING$(16, "0")
153
154IF Angle = 0 THEN
155 GetRotatedShapeMap = Map$
156 EXIT FUNCTION
157ELSE
158 FOR BlockX = 0 TO 3
159  FOR BlockY = 0 TO 3
160   SELECT CASE Angle
161    CASE 1
162     NewBlockX = 3 - BlockY
163     NewBlockY = BlockX
164    CASE 2
165     NewBlockX = 3 - BlockX
166     NewBlockY = 3 - BlockY
167    CASE 3
168     NewBlockX = BlockY
169     NewBlockY = 3 - BlockX
170   END SELECT
171
172   MID$(RotatedMap$, ((BLOCKSIDE * NewBlockY) + NewBlockX) + 1, 1) = MID$(Map$, ((BLOCKSIDE * BlockY) + BlockX) + 1, 1)
173  NEXT BlockY
174 NEXT BlockX
175END IF
176
177GetRotatedShapeMap = RotatedMap$
178END FUNCTION
179
180FUNCTION GetShapeMap$ (Shape)
181SELECT CASE Shape
182 CASE 0
183  Map$ = "0000333300000000"
184 CASE 1
185  Map$ = "0000111000100000"
186 CASE 2
187  Map$ = "0000666060000000"
188 CASE 3
189  Map$ = "00000EE00EE00000"
190 CASE 4
191  Map$ = "0000022022000000"
192 CASE 5
193  Map$ = "0000555005000000"
194 CASE 6
195  Map$ = "0000440004400000"
196 CASE ELSE
197  Map$ = ""
198END SELECT
199
200GetShapeMap$ = Map$
201END FUNCTION
202
203SUB InitializeGame
204RANDOMIZE TIMER
205PLAY "ML L64"
206
207SCREEN 12
208COLOR 9
209LOCATE 1, 1
210PRINT "QBBlocks v1.00 - by: Peter Swinkels, ***2019***"
211
212CreateShape
213
214GameOver = 0
215Pit$ = STRING$(PITWIDTH * PITHEIGHT, "0")
216Score = 0
217
218DrawPit
219DisplayStatus
220END SUB
221
222SUB Main
223StartTime! = TIMER
224DO
225 Key$ = ""
226 DO WHILE Key$ = ""
227  IF NOT GameOver THEN
228   IF TIMER >= StartTime! + DropRate! OR StartTime! > TIMER THEN
229    DropShape
230    StartTime! = TIMER
231   END IF
232  END IF
233  Key$ = INKEY$
234 LOOP
235 IF Key$ = CHR$(27) THEN
236  SCREEN 0
237  END
238 ELSEIF GameOver THEN
239  IF Key$ = CHR$(13) THEN InitializeGame
240 ELSE
241  SELECT CASE Key$
242   CASE "A", "a"
243    DrawShape -1
244    IF ShapeAngle = 3 THEN NewAngle = 0 ELSE NewAngle = ShapeAngle + 1
245    RotatedMap$ = GetRotatedShapeMap(Shape, NewAngle)
246    IF CanMove(RotatedMap$, 0, 0) THEN
247     ShapeAngle = NewAngle
248     ShapeMap$ = RotatedMap$
249    END IF
250    DrawShape 0
251   CASE CHR$(0) + "K"
252    DrawShape -1
253    IF CanMove(ShapeMap$, -1, 0) THEN ShapeX = ShapeX - 1
254    DrawShape 0
255   CASE CHR$(0) + "M"
256    DrawShape -1
257    IF CanMove(ShapeMap$, 1, 0) THEN ShapeX = ShapeX + 1
258    DrawShape 0
259   CASE " "
260    DropRate! = 0
261  END SELECT
262 END IF
263LOOP
264END SUB
265
266SUB RemoveFullRows
267Full = 0
268
269FOR PitY = 0 TO PITHEIGHT - 1
270 Full = -1
271 FOR PitX = 0 TO PITWIDTH - 1
272  IF MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN
273   Full = 0
274   EXIT FOR
275  END IF
276 NEXT PitX
277 IF Full THEN
278  FOR RemovedRow = PitY TO 0 STEP -1
279   FOR RemovedColumn = 0 TO PITWIDTH - 1
280    IF RemovedRow = 0 THEN
281     ColorO$ = "0"
282    ELSE
283     ColorO$ = MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * (RemovedRow - 1)) + RemovedColumn) + 1, 1)
284    END IF
285
286    MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * RemovedRow) + RemovedColumn) + 1, 1) = ColorO$
287   NEXT RemovedColumn
288  NEXT RemovedRow
289
290  Score = Score + 1
291 END IF
292NEXT PitY
293END SUB
294
295SUB SettleActiveShape
296PLAY "N21"
297
298FOR BlockY = 0 TO 3
299 FOR BlockX = 0 TO 3
300  PitX = ShapeX + BlockX
301  PitY = ShapeY + BlockY
302  IF PitX >= 0 AND PitX < PITWIDTH AND PitY >= 0 AND PitY < PITHEIGHT THEN
303   IF NOT MID$(ShapeMap$, ((BLOCKSIDE * BlockY) + BlockX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN
304    MID$(Pit$, ((PITWIDTH * PitY) + PitX) + 1, 1) = MID$(ShapeMap$, ((BLOCKSIDE * BlockY) + BlockX) + 1, 1)
305   END IF
306  END IF
307 NEXT BlockX
308NEXT BlockY
309
310RemoveFullRows
311END SUB

It's hardly a complete game. Feel free expand it or not.

THUMBS UP for that! I will also check it out later when I can.

Thank you! Curious to hear your opinion.

Technically this is more of a 'retro-inspired' activity, and it was yesterday, but I'm posting it anyway. First I went to an arcade:

...I didn't stay long. 😜

Then I hit up another iteration of our awesome local chiptune show, which this time hosted an ALL-STAR lineup of indie game musicians. It was GODDAMN AMAZING.

Here's Danimal Cannon destroying the floor at 195 BPM:

Lena Raine doing a gorgeous chillout set with music from Celeste:

And here's Danny Fucking Baranowski opening his set with the overmap tune from Super Meat Boy. I listened to this song EVERY DAY for a quite a few months back in ~2012-13 when I was big into this game (and lots of times since then of course!) Seeing & hearing it live on stage in a packed venue was SURREAL.

Did I mention it was packed? BECAUSE IT WAS PACKED. And also like 32 degrees up by the stage because the air con in the venue was out. So much fun.

If you're lucky enough to live somewhere where events like this happen, get out and support them & have an amazing time! The chiptune/game music scene is unbelievable right now.

RetroLizard wrote:

bjwil1991 wrote:

I also fixed up the Duke controller as the wiring was exposed and only worked at a certain angle of the wiring. I shortened the wires and wrapped them around one by one using electrical tape.

Contrary to popular opinion, I find I actually prefer the Duke over the smaller controller. The Duke just feels better to use, imo.

Absolutely love the Duke. One of my all time favorite controllers and we are not alone and why they brought it back in a USB iteration.

Today I setup my 3 8-bit micros for some like for like Game comparisons, just for fun nothing serious.

The Spectrum had to screen share.

Tested the following games on all 3 systems:

• Turrican (C64 wins the first round of comparisons: faster gameplay & nice sound effects. The Spectrum version is nice and colourful, whilst the Amstrad version has the nicer graphics but slower framerate than the other 2.)
• Chase HQ (A game where the Amstrad CPC shines, at least the 128K version, with it's nice graphics, smooth gameplay & quirky speech synthesis. I didn't really like the C64 version of this and found the Spectrum version a bit more playable than that.)
• Stuntman Seymour (C64 wins here - it's a game that really plays to the strengths of the C64 hardware. The Spectrum version is horrible & Amstrad is even worse with a terrible framerate and sluggish controls - possibly a lazy Spectrum port to blame.)
• Buggy Boy (C64 version wins again - faster framerate & actual colours for the objects in the game, though I love the size of the graphics on the Spectrum version. Both Amstrad & Spectrum versions tend to run a bit sluggish.)
• R-Type (I prefer the ZX Spectrum version out of the 3, found the controls on the C64 a bit sluggish, though autofire is certainly a fun option on the C64 version. The Amstrad version is still very playable however, but succumbs to the usual flaws inherent in Spectrum ports.)
• Bubble Bobble (The newer "Bubble Bobble 4CPC" version for Amstrad is my favourite port overall. Whilst of the original 80s ports - the C64 wins there, though it is insanely more difficult by the lack of a working Credits system.)
• BMX Simulator (All very playable, tied top spot between C64 & CPC.)

Overall the Commodore 64 still retains my number 1 favourite spot, with Spectrum 2nd and Amstrad 3rd.

Now if this was a comparison between serious productivity/business kind of apps, things would change a bit, with the Amstrad CPC's support for CP/M making it a clear favourite. Though the Commodore 64 with it's GEOS software is quite the healthy competition! Speaking of which, I'd been wanting to run GEOS on a real Commodore 64 for years and now I finally can -

liqmat wrote:

RetroLizard wrote:

bjwil1991 wrote:

I also fixed up the Duke controller as the wiring was exposed and only worked at a certain angle of the wiring. I shortened the wires and wrapped them around one by one using electrical tape.

Contrary to popular opinion, I find I actually prefer the Duke over the smaller controller. The Duke just feels better to use, imo.

Absolutely love the Duke. One of my all time favorite controllers and we are not alone and why they brought it back in a USB iteration.

Is the USB version of the Duke any good? (I'm guessing you've tried it out)

Took two stubborn screws out of my Toshiba Satellite Pro 410CDT that held the metal bracket in place above the heatsink using a pair of wire cutters and it did work. Placed spare screws in the bottom of the laptop in the vicinity of the laptop battery and hard drive caddy and placed the screws from the caddy and battery area into ththe bracket. I will add thread locker to the screws where the heatsink is later on.

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

3x 512MB modules? Is that stable in general, or under 9x? I've always heard 9x was unstable with more than 1GB

It gets unstable with more than 512MB of memory, but it depends on the hardware if it'll actually boot.

On my IBM T23 it won't even install with too much memory and will complain about not having enough of it before even starting the setup. On my Apollo Pro desktop PC it will install fine but as soon as I install a graphics driver, it will hang at boot.

Both systems run very stable after applying PATCHMEM from rloew, though. So that's what I usually do when setting up a new retro machine.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Removed the clock cap on an Original Xbox 1.0 revision motherboard, which did not leak and I desoldered the cap as it is better to do a desolder than it is to twist the cap off, which can cause the cap to spew its guts out. I also fixed up the Duke controller as the wiring was exposed and only worked at a certain angle of the wiring. I shortened the wires and wrapped them around one by one using electrical tape. Both the system and the controller work without any major issues, and I also cleaned out the Original Xbox (man, was it dusty). I will do a soft mod on the Xbox and do a hard mod with an HDD swap later on.

I just spliced up a USB to Xbox Port adapter the other day. Only to find out xbox only works with flash drives under 4GB. The Xbox is generally a shitty platform to work with in 2019.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I just spliced up a USB to Xbox Port adapter the other day. Only to find out xbox only works with flash drives under 4GB. The Xbox is generally a shitty platform to work with in 2019.

Because it... Doesn't support a device that didn't exist, or was at least out of consumer reach, when it was being designed and produced?

At least it has USB disk support at all.

PTherapist wrote:

Today I setup my 3 8-bit micros for some like for like Game comparisons, just for fun nothing serious. […]
Show full quote

Today I setup my 3 8-bit micros for some like for like Game comparisons, just for fun nothing serious.

The Spectrum had to screen share.

Tested the following games on all 3 systems:

• Turrican (C64 wins the first round of comparisons: faster gameplay & nice sound effects. The Spectrum version is nice and colourful, whilst the Amstrad version has the nicer graphics but slower framerate than the other 2.)
• Chase HQ (A game where the Amstrad CPC shines, at least the 128K version, with it's nice graphics, smooth gameplay & quirky speech synthesis. I didn't really like the C64 version of this and found the Spectrum version a bit more playable than that.)
• Stuntman Seymour (C64 wins here - it's a game that really plays to the strengths of the C64 hardware. The Spectrum version is horrible & Amstrad is even worse with a terrible framerate and sluggish controls - possibly a lazy Spectrum port to blame.)
• Buggy Boy (C64 version wins again - faster framerate & actual colours for the objects in the game, though I love the size of the graphics on the Spectrum version. Both Amstrad & Spectrum versions tend to run a bit sluggish.)
• R-Type (I prefer the ZX Spectrum version out of the 3, found the controls on the C64 a bit sluggish, though autofire is certainly a fun option on the C64 version. The Amstrad version is still very playable however, but succumbs to the usual flaws inherent in Spectrum ports.)
• Bubble Bobble (The newer "Bubble Bobble 4CPC" version for Amstrad is my favourite port overall. Whilst of the original 80s ports - the C64 wins there, though it is insanely more difficult by the lack of a working Credits system.)
• BMX Simulator (All very playable, tied top spot between C64 & CPC.)

Overall the Commodore 64 still retains my number 1 favourite spot, with Spectrum 2nd and Amstrad 3rd.

Now if this was a comparison between serious productivity/business kind of apps, things would change a bit, with the Amstrad CPC's support for CP/M making it a clear favourite. Though the Commodore 64 with it's GEOS software is quite the healthy competition! Speaking of which, I'd been wanting to run GEOS on a real Commodore 64 for years and now I finally can -

Awesome stuff. My kids had a couple of C64s and had a lot of fun on them.

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I just spliced up a USB to Xbox Port adapter the other day. Only to find out xbox only works with flash drives under 4GB. The Xbox is generally a shitty platform to work with in 2019.

Because it... Doesn't support a device that didn't exist, or was at least out of consumer reach, when it was being designed and produced?

At least it has USB disk support at all.

Probably as easy to work on as a new iMac mini 😀 He could always slap Linux on it and I'm sure that'll read bigger USB pen drives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Linux

RetroLizard wrote:

liqmat wrote:

RetroLizard wrote:

Contrary to popular opinion, I find I actually prefer the Duke over the smaller controller. The Duke just feels better to use, imo.

Absolutely love the Duke. One of my all time favorite controllers and we are not alone and why they brought it back in a USB iteration.

Is the USB version of the Duke any good? (I'm guessing you've tried it out)

You can actually bodge an Xbox 360 USB breakaway cable onto an original Duke and make your own USB one. Basically you just file away the inside shape of the port on the breakaway cable until it fits. There are drivers for it on Win32 (including Win98), Win64, Mac OS/X, and Linux (built into the kernel.) Works pretty well!

I'm also a fan of the big old Duke. I have fairly average-size dude hands and I find it comfortable to use & not as cramped as the S or Playstation controllers. The Dreamcast controller is okay, but it doesn't feel as solid, and they made the cable come out the wrong damn end. Why would they do that??

A long time ago I got pretty good at playing Soul Calibur 1 & 2 (DC & Xbox) with the controllers flipped over so I could use my eight fingers on the face buttons and D-pad/sticks, and my two thumbs on the two triggers. The L-R movement direction is "reversed" (sort of - although not if you think about it in terms of which way you're pushing a pivot), but that was easy enough to get used to. It made sense to me! I'm not nearly as good at those games as I used to be, but I still play that way.

IMHO, the worst 1st party controller ever IS... the freaking Gamecube pad (more like Lamecube AMIRIGHT?) I even think they're worse than the N64 one. Clumsy layout that was designed to look weird instead of be comfortable, JUST AWFUL analog sticks that feel like they should be on a pirate direct-to-TV thing (with that weird octagonal slot you're supposed to roll them around in, so they can't trace out a nice circle - why??), nonsensical ABXY button layout, uncomfortable 'lips' on the triggers which are hinged on the wrong side, and that Z button that's so stupidly placed you forget it's there 99% of the time. The worst part is, tournament Smash players go through them like candy so the prices are through the roof for a piece of dogturd. I "had" to get one for playing the odd GC game on my Wii, but the originals were so stupid I just bought the cheapest 3rd party schlock pad I could find. It's not great, but it's marginally better than an 'official' one.

xjas wrote:

IMHO, the worst 1st party controller ever IS... the freaking Gamecube pad (more like Lamecube AMIRIGHT?) I even think they're worse than the N64 one.

I can't say I've ever used an N64 controller... But yes, the Gamecube controller is just outright uncomfortable to use, especially for games like Metroid Prime. The console has some pretty good games, though.

I don't mind the Gamecube controller, always found it comfortable to handle and use. The layout works well for the games designed for it, with my only real criticism being the lower number of buttons vs the PlayStation or Xbox controllers, which did hamper some cross-platform games.

Agreed on the N64 controller though, I was never a fan of that. Though it was probably more of a case of me not being a fan of the controls of that era of consoles in general, as I'd primarily switched to PC gaming at that point in time. My friends all loved Goldeneye on the N64, but I found it an absolute nightmare to control and was awful at it. I find it just about playable nowadays on emulation, with the buttons remapped into a more "modern"/sensible style with a DualShock or Xbox 360/One controller.

xjas wrote:

I "had" to get one for playing the odd GC game on my Wii, but the originals were so stupid I just bought the cheapest 3rd party schlock pad I could find. It's not great, but it's marginally better than an 'official' one.

You can softmod the Wii and use whatever controller you like for GameCube games with Nintendont. I've not tried it, but apparently you can use PS2/3/4 DualShock controllers in addition to the Wii's Classic Controllers. I have tested the Wii Classic Controller Pro on GameCube games and it's a nice novelty to have, but I prefer the original GameCube controller.

I have a couple of cheap 3rd party GameCube controllers myself and apart from the triggers being a little stiffer, they're not bad. But I still prefer the official one.

Today I have to test a 2600XT Pcie.

kaiser77_1982 wrote:

Today I have to test a 2600XT Pcie.

I had an AGP version of one of those back in the day (still have it installed in an old Athlon XP build actually). Was a nice budget card for HTPC usage, allowing 720p/1080p HD decoding & Blu-Ray/HD DVD playback, back before HDMI & audio passthrough became common. If I recall, it wasn't very great for 3D gaming and most people just got them for media playback.

a lot of Dells came with them