I've never heard of serial port joysticks on the PC - I'm guessing you mean game port.
Since you posted in the DOS forum, I'm assuming it's a DOS game you're talking about. I'm about 90% certain that USB joysticks will not be supported in DOS games running under Win9x/ME. As el_pusher said, it's worth trying if you can borrow one from somebody, but I wouldn't spend any money on it.
The only options I can think of (other than building another computer) are:
- Buy a joystick bracket for your motherboard. Most motherboards with on-board sound have a pin header to which you can connect a joystick port. Unfortunately the pin assignments on that header vary by board, so it's possible (even likely) that you'll have to use your motherboard manual to determine how to cut and splice the ribbon cable wires to make it work.
- Buy a cheap sound card. This should come with a joystick port, but may cause conflicts with your on-board sound should you try to use both the sound card and on-board sound at the same time. You can usually disable on-board sound in your BIOS setup, however, if you're willing to use the sound card for everything.
- Buy a USB joystick and use software (often included) that simulates keyboard keypresses in response to joystick movements. This will of course not give you analog response (if that's what you're after) but may be more comfortable than a keyboard for digitally-controllable games. Also, I don't know if this will work with DOS games running under Windows.
