For me it's the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro. It's stability and accuracy for playing the mechwarrior series was what hooked me. I use it on all my retro rigs.

retrofool wrote:

For me it's the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro. It's stability and accuracy for playing the mechwarrior series was what hooked me. I use it on all my retro rigs.

I liked the Sidewinder 3D Pro for some games...but as a digital stick it had some compatibility issues with some games (IIRC).

yeah for pure DOS I use an old no-name analog stick, but if I can run the game through win98 it works ok. I run the Virge version of Terminal Velocity this way, and I have to start it by running it from the setup.exe then wait about 5 minutes while it sits there deciding what to do before it finally loads, 🤣.

retrofool wrote:

...I run the Virge version of Terminal Velocity this way, and I have to start it by running it from the setup.exe then wait about 5 minutes while it sits there deciding what to do before it finally loads, 🤣.

🤣 ...yeah, a lot of people think messing with old computers and software as a hobby is an "exact" science (and to some extent, it is) -- BUT, there's a considerable amount of nonsensical "tricks" that defy logic or explanation, yet are necessary to persuade these old machines to do what we want them to!

Haven't used a great deal of them, but I'd have to go with the Gravis Analog Pro Joystick. Lots of Wing Commander with that one 😀.

So true digitaldoofus, and a heaping helping of patience too! How many people would let the machine sit for 5 minutes while it appears to be doing nothing just to see if the game would eventually load 😀

I never really liked old joysticks because you often still needed a hand free to work the keyboard to use them, yet because of limited table space I learned to prefer to have my joystick in my lap.

To that end, my MS Sidewinder Precision Pro became my first favourite joystick when I got it way back over a decade ago, but now that I have a modern Thrustmaster HOTAS t.Flight X, which works very well with DOSBox, the old Precision Pro feels like a child's toy. ;D

Though I also have an arcade stick because while fully-decked-out joysticks are good for flight-based games, it still helps to have something for arcade-style games, and a gamepad for everything else. ;)

OFF THE RECORD:
I prefer other babes playing with MY joystick...hehehehe..... sorry....couldn't resist it.

FOR THE RECORD:
I don't actually have a favourite joystick. I tend to use different ones for different games.

For flight sims, I have the CH Jane's Combat Stick coupled with CH Pro Throttle and CH Pro Pedals as the HOTAS setup.

For fighting games like Super Street Fighter II Turbo, One Must Fall 2097, FX Fighter and Battle Arena Toshinden, I prefer gamepads.

For emulators, I use the respective controllers with the USB adapters.

I've yet to use the HOTAS setup for Mechwarrior 2, even though I long wanted to play it like that.

I did spend more time with this gamepad during early nineties :

When I grew up with I had quite a few joysticks from Gravis. Like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ADVANCED-GRAVIS-ANALO … =item53efb089a2

I do remember having purchased quite a few. After a while the joystick would get really "squeeky" and just wear out.

Later I had the Gravis Firebird and it was a fantastic joystick for Wing Commander, Privateer and all of these games. I do believe I had a Microsoft joystick as well. A Sidewinder 3D.

Because I was mostly into adventure games and Wing Commander type games, I would pick the Firebird as my favourite.

CH Products makes very solid joystick, throttle, and pedals. My only qualm is that the throttle doesn't have detents - which is necessary for jet sims.

For "casual sim" (you know, things like Wing Commander 😜 ), Logitech sticks do just fine. They're easy to program, although not very flexible.

The Gravis "dogbone" pad that looks like the controller that came with the SNES, or the later one that looked like a Playstation controller, are probably in everyone's collection. They are classic designs that just work.

I have worn down a lot of joysticks in my life, but my favorite was the original Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro.
These things were made to withstand the armageddon and the apocalypse at the same time.
I'm still hoping to get it working someday on my regular PC with the help of a cheap soundcard with game/midiport.

Procyon wrote:

I have worn down a lot of joysticks in my life, but my favorite was the original Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro.
These things were made to withstand the armageddon and the apocalypse at the same time.
I'm still hoping to get it working someday on my regular PC with the help of a cheap soundcard with game/midiport.

My favorite force feedback joystick is the CH Products Force F/X, because you could program it to respond to certain signals (like the "Fire" signal in a shooter game) in NON-force-feedback games to produce jolts!

For a long time I used a CH CombatStick, with and without the CH Pedals which I never became comfortable with. Space limitations made me explore one stick/4-axis solutions and I eventually settled on the Saitek Cyborg range of twist handle/integrated throttle sticks. Well built, nice feel and easy to program. I grew accustomed to wrist operated pedals very quickly.

When I drifted back to retro gaming I looked for a similar integrated stick - tried a few, but ended up with Saitek again - the 15-pin analog version of the Cyborg that works fine in W95 and *so far* okay with dos but not programmable.

I just wish Saitek made sticks that looked like real military gear. I'd love to mod my Suncom F-15 Talon to a Cyborg twist base...

digitaldoofus wrote:

My favorite force feedback joystick is the CH Products Force F/X, because you could program it to respond to certain signals (like the "Fire" signal in a shooter game) in NON-force-feedback games to produce jolts!

Never had one of those, only CH I ever owned was a Flightstick (two buttons + throttle). Though I liked the Sidewinders use of lightsensors instead of potentiometers that can become inconsistent over time. I don't like the buttons of generally every joystick I've had, it are always those cheap feeling microswitches.

One joystick I also wanted to mention is the Gravis Firebird 2, it was maybe the most ergonomically joystick I've had, lots of buttons and was easy to program.
The durability was terrible however, calibration was twitchy even when new and the stick swivelpoint would wear out rather quickly so it created its own deadzone. Nevertheless I liked them and had two of these. 😀

I used to use a Thrustmaster PFCS along with Elite rudder pedals and a WCS Mk II throttle. When the PFCS finally died, I replaced it with an X-Fighter. All were great equipment for their time, but very bulky. The WCS throttle was also a terrible pain in the ass to program with its proprietary interpreted scripting language. I sold them years ago and haven't regretted it since.

Nowadays, I use CH Products midi/gameport Flightstick Pro, Throttle (non-pro version), and Pedals (non-pro version). They are almost indestructible, have an 8-way hat switch, and if you run Win9x the SpeedKeys utility is very easy to use for programming. Trim control on the stick also enables on-the-fly recalibration. I highly recommend them. The Flightstick Pro is also great because it is an ambidexterous stick.

Favorite DOS and Win9x gameport stick: CH Products Flightstick Pro, Throttle, and Pedals. If you don't want the whole HOTAS setup, just get the Flightstick Pro by itself, as it has a rudimentary throttle axis built-in.

For newer/modern/non-gameport systems, I have a Thrustmaster Top Gun Fox 2 Pro USB stick which is just plain awesome and also works flawlessly in Win98SE. It is probably my favorite controller. The ThrustMapper software is super easy to program. I also have the newer version of that stick, the "T.Flight Stick X". While very similar to the Fox 2 Pro, it has a few more buttons but almost no programming functionality. In fact, the old ThrustMapper software doesn't work with the new stick at all and there is no official alternative! The only thing you can do to program the newer stick is to use something like JoyToKey or XPadder. They work, but the old ThrustMapper software was much easier.

The Thrustmaster T.1600M looks like it is a better alternative and I wish I had known about it before I bought the T.Flight Stick X. It's also an ambidexterous stick, which is important to me. However, it will only work with WinXP and newer systems. So, if you want a new stick for your Win9x system, you might be stuck with the T.Flight Stick X and JoyToKey and/or XPadder.

Favorite USB stick: ThrustMaster Top Gun Fox 2 Pro

For gamepads, I have a Gravis Destroyer midi/gameport pad which works great. I also have a Gravis Xterminator pad which I've never gotten to work correctly, even when it was new. The software for it is just plain flakey. I also really like PSOne dualshock controllers. I've got a couple of those that I connect with a Radio Shack USB adapter. I also have a "Super Joy Box 5 Pro" USB adapter for connecting the Playstation controllers.

Favorite DOS gameport gamepad: Gravis Destroyer.

Favorite Windows USB gamepad: Playstation One DualShock with an adapter.

By the way does anyone have experience with getting gameport joysticks to run on new computers?
I want to give my FFB Pro another shot. 😀

This a good thread and a under-represented subject on VOGONS for the most part. After video cards I probably have more controller 'tonnage' than anything.

Procyon wrote:

By the way does anyone have experience with getting gameport joysticks to run on new computers?
I want to give my FFB Pro another shot. 😀

I have one of those RockFire adapters. It works fine with just my Flightstick Pro and the non-pro pedals, but not with my throttle. I'm stuck with the Flightstick's built-in throttle axis when using it. Since your Sidewinder FFB is dependent upon drivers for full functionality, I assume you'll have problems as well. I know that some gameport versions of the MS Sidewinder Precision Pro came with a USB adapter, so you might try one of those. I also found this page about making an adapter for the Precision Pro.

tincup wrote:

This a good thread and a under-represented subject on VOGONS for the most part. After video cards I probably have more controller 'tonnage' than anything.

Same here. A few years ago, there was a guy on eBay selling refurb TM Fox 2 Pro sticks, so I picked up a few spares. They're not new, but close enough.

I forgot to mention that I also have a a Logitech Precision USB gamepad. They're not made anymore, which is a total shame. It's a really good, cheap gamepad. I still like my PS One dualshock controllers better, but for a plain USB device that requires no drivers and works great in Win98, it can't be beat.

I remember trying one of the original Saitek Cyborg 3D sticks in the late 90s and found that it couldn't maintain its calibration. I returned that one. I also remember trying one of the original MS Sidewinder Precision Pro sticks. I didn't like the programming software, so I returned that one too. I also tried a Gravis Firebird stick in the mid-90s and didn't like the way the pots spiked. That one was returned too. The Thrustmaster gear was expensive and spiked too, but at least was tolerable.

Really though, as far as gameport joysticks go, the only ones I've had good luck with are the CH Products gear. As long as you're using them on a Win9x system, they're the best.