Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro. I got it for Christmas in 1995 and used it until it broke. Then, I took it apart, found the wire that had broken off of a circuit board and fixed it. It broke again 5 years later, and I wasn't able to determine what the problem was, so I replaced it with one from eBay. I used the one from eBay for some retro flight-simming just yesterday!
wrote:My "biggest" game controller is also my most unique: it's an exercise bicycle called TimeRyder from Life Gear
I remember my gym used to have a stair stepper machine with a videogame built in. You flew a plane around and shot balls of water at various things that were on fire. Guys in hot air ballons were setting the fires, and you could shoot them too. Also, there was the RED BARON.
If you stepped fast enough, you could fly straight up. It was a little embarrassing to use that machine, though.
[Edit: I made a small correction to my earlier post in this thread...the exercise bike "controller" that I own is actually called the TimeRyder and it's made by Life Gear -- it's not called "LifeCycle" as I earlier posted]. My digital camera isn't working good right now, but here's a (bad) pic I found of one from the web:
Once you try retrogaming, you'll never go back...
Speaking of 'bike' controllers, I have Thrustmaster's motorcycle controller. It's pretty good - especially for a sim like SuperBike 2000/2001, tho it takes time to get used to the setup after coming from a car controller.
It's set up a bit different than in real - no foot pedals for gear change or rear brake - you do that with hand buttons and the hand brake style controls. But you basically have the same control as in the real world: throttle, front rear brake, tilt, turn, clutch and gear change. Tilting the whole handle bar assembly left/right tilts the bike. Turning the bar turn the wheel, though you do little of that at the GP level - tilting mostly.
It's a pretty specific controller - not too too many bike sims out there... It can mount on the desk, or has a 'plate' that you sort of slip between your legs and chair - interesting piece of game ware really
For most games, old and new, these days I usually just use my PS3 controller via motionjoy software. You can use USB or Bluetooth and all the functions work, even works with xinput and motion control. Have to have the motionjoy software running to use it though I think, at least for Bluetooth. I used to use an old original Xbox controller with a USB plug soldered on the end, but finding drivers and xinput compatibility has become more and more of a hassle. Sometimes it's fun to hook up an old NES controller with my retrogames adapter. Gotta try one of my NES advantage arcade sticks one of these days, or a power pad.
