https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_port

With Dos, you need to find a 15 pin gamepad and have a 15 pin port (on a soundcard or standalone card) (and drivers for either).

Calibration was done in the setup for the game or the game itself.

Later versions of Windows 95 and all 98 supported USB, so your options are plentiful, and both system supported the 15 pin port (if you have that).

You know, we'd be a lot more likely to help you if you gave the impression of at least having Googled the question before dumping it here...

Game controllers were invented in the DOS era and as with most DOS stuff, games need to address the hardware directly, but pretty much any one will work, although timing issues can occur if the game controller and the rest of the system are very different in age (XT card in Pentium system etc). If you're having doubts about a particular model of controller or pad, show us what you've found so far and we can help you onwards.

dionb wrote:

You know, we'd be a lot more likely to help you if you gave the impression of at least having Googled the question before dumping it here...

Game controllers were invented in the DOS era and as with most DOS stuff, games need to address the hardware directly, but pretty much any one will work, although timing issues can occur if the game controller and the rest of the system are very different in age (XT card in Pentium system etc). If you're having doubts about a particular model of controller or pad, show us what you've found so far and we can help you onwards.

Asking questions is what a forum is for. Anyways I would like recommendations from veteran pc game enthusiast.

So what game controllers do you think work best , are most compatible with DOS games and are of good quality and design ?

What are the system specs for the computer(s) that you want to use said controller(s) with?

Also, what games?

What's your favourite gamepad for DOS?

Intel486dx33 wrote:

Asking questions is what a forum is for.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.

i have built a snes controller mod to lpt1 with a tsr loaded on DOS and works better than any gamepad of that era

There probably isn't a single DOS game that can benefit from a digital gamepad over a good keyboard. Maybe if a pad has an "Arcade stick"-style knob that actually works, it can be useful for games like Street Fighter...

dr_st wrote:

There probably isn't a single DOS game that can benefit from a digital gamepad over a good keyboard. Maybe if a pad has an "Arcade stick"-style knob that actually works, it can be useful for games like Street Fighter...

Well apart form the obvious ergonomic differences, keyboards are made for inputting text, not button mashinng. I can imagine every platformer is better with a pad than a keyboard, just becasue a keyboard can be used, doesn't mean it should be (especially if a game pad is avaliable). Much bigger chance of hitting the wrong key.

Why use a mouse and keyboard for an FPS when you can use a joystick and speech commands right?

spiroyster wrote:

Well apart form the obvious ergonomic differences, keyboards are made for inputting text, not button mashinng.

That's why I said "good" keyboard. A "bad" (or just "simple" keyboard) will have bad ergonomics and jam if 3 or more buttons are pressed at the same time. Good keyboards are pleasant to use and don't jam (support at least 6 simultaneous keypresses).

spiroyster wrote:

I can imagine every platformer is better with a pad than a keyboard

That may be true for you, if you grew up playing with gamepads; for someone who grew up playing PC games on a keyboard, it won't be true; for someone starting from scratch - either method can be made efficient, it is just a matter of adjusting to doing things differently.

spiroyster wrote:

just becasue a keyboard can be used, doesn't mean it should be (especially if a game pad is avaliable)

A keyboard (which is always available on a PC) has some advantages compared to gamepads - it is natively supported, does not glitch, does not require calibration, does not depend on gameport / sound card quirks, etc. It also has some disadvantages (like the jamming which I mentioned above).

spiroyster wrote:

Why use a mouse and keyboard for an FPS when you can use a joystick and speech commands right?

The precision and speed of a mouse has obvious advantages that neither joystick nor keyboard can match. In the case of platformers (especially DOS era ones that can't even utilize analog inputs) there are no such advantages - it is all a matter of personal preference.

You can move a character in 4 or 8 directions with just your left thumb with a pad as apposed to several fingers with a keyboard. Actions can be performed with just your right thumb hovering over 2 or 4 buttons as well. It gives you more control over your character regardless of how good your keyboard is.

If you're proficient and prefer a keyboard that's cool but saying there probably isn't a single dos game that would benefit from a pad is just false. A pad is an input device designed specifically for playing games, of course it's going to provide a better experience.

Well... I grew up playing computer games on keyboards and on C64 and Amiga I gamed with joysticks. Around 1999/00'ish, I bought a gravis game pad (15pin) in order to play Bleem on my K6-2 setup that I had at that time. Because I had sold my Playstation1 at that time. Oh boy. What a mistake. Gravis gamepads are like the worst. If you can source a Playstation2-to-15pin adaptor, then go for that. Else forget anything about gamepads on Dos games.

And yes. If you grew up playing consoles, then you can not use a keyboard as a starting point. You might be able to learn, yet it does not come natural to you. And please for the love of. Ditch those bad gravis gamepads. Nothing comes close to a real Playstation-2 or Xbox-1 controller. Yes. The first Xbox and not Xbox-ONE. Yet you need that converter.

Duouk2000 wrote:

You can move a character in 4 or 8 directions with just your left thumb with a pad as apposed to several fingers with a keyboard. Actions can be performed with just your right thumb hovering over 2 or 4 buttons as well. It gives you more control over your character regardless of how good your keyboard is.

The jury is still out on whether it's better to control everything with a single digit (thumb) or several. The jury will possibly be out indefinitely, since it is, fundamentally, a matter of personal preference and/or acquired aptitude.

I don't think you can make a compelling case that it's objectively better to use your just two thumbs (one for directions, one for action buttons) and use the rest of your fingers just to grip the damn pad, versus being able to utilize 8 or even all 10 of your fingers for controls.

Duouk2000 wrote:

If you're proficient and prefer a keyboard that's cool but saying there probably isn't a single dos game that would benefit from a pad is just false.

No, it's not false. You are just looking at it differently from me.

I am not denying that some (perhaps even, many) players can benefit greatly from a pad versus a keyboard. Simply because they are not as good with a keyboard and never will be.

I am merely saying, that from a technical perspective - anything that can be done with a digital pad can be done with a keyboard. Thus if you take two theoretical players, one who achieved maximum proficiency with a gamepad and the other who achieved maximum proficiency with a keyboard, neither will be at inherent handicap compared to the other.

This is not true, for example, when comparing mouse+keyboard scheme for FPS/RTS, or keyboard versus analog stick / wheel in driving games. In these example, if you play keyboard only, there will be certain things you simply cannot execute, no matter how good you are. But for simple platformers it is true.

dr_st wrote:

I don't think you can make a compelling case that it's objectively better to use your just two thumbs (one for directions, one for action buttons) and use the rest of your fingers just to grip the damn pad, versus being able to utilize 8 or even all 10 of your fingers for controls.

Of course I can, being able to achieve the same level of control with less less digits offers a better experience. Less is more.

brostenen wrote:

Well... I grew up playing computer games on keyboards and on C64 and Amiga I gamed with joysticks. Around 1999/00'ish, I bought a gravis game pad (15pin) in order to play Bleem on my K6-2 setup that I had at that time. Because I had sold my Playstation1 at that time. Oh boy. What a mistake. Gravis gamepads are like the worst. If you can source a Playstation2-to-15pin adaptor, then go for that. Else forget anything about gamepads on Dos games.

Completely agree, I never understood the love those pads get.

Duouk2000 wrote:

dr_st wrote:

I don't think you can make a compelling case that it's objectively better to use your just two thumbs (one for directions, one for action buttons) and use the rest of your fingers just to grip the damn pad, versus being able to utilize 8 or even all 10 of your fingers for controls.

Of course I can, being able to achieve the same level of control with less less digits offers a better experience. Less is more.

Oh, I don't disagree that you can pull something out of somewhere that sounds like a case, but at it's core it is just nonsense and empty slogans like "less is more". In other words, pure bull.

It's not like you can make a claim that by using fewer fingers for control you can employ the remaining fingers for something useful, and thus increase you productivity.

Effectively you have a tradeoff between a control method which puts 100% of the stress on your thumbs, and keeps the other fingers more or less static, and a different method which splits the load between all of your fingers (but also puts more stress on the tendons). To this I say: pick your poison.

The balance does shift a bit away from the thumbs once you introduce the more advanced controllers with shoulder buttons, and all, but most DOS games don't support those anyway.

I don't agree with the Gravis Gamepad hate...they work fine and we were using them long before Playstation and XBox existed. Some games work better with gamepads than others. Platformers are great. Racing, not so much.

My personal experience with a Gravis Gamepad was miserable. It is overly sensitive and starts registering diagonals when you are trying to move left or right. Maybe it's a flaw of specific units, or one that develops with age, but I learned here on VOGONS that I was far from the only one experiencing such issues.

I have the same 'diagonals' experience with my Gravis Gamepads. (both back in the day, and the ones I've recently purchased) But it wasn't all that bad, and you adapt to more precise presses of the d-pad which almost eliminates it. The bigger problems I had were the buttons sticking. The plastic chafed over time and deposits tiny plastic shavings that required cleaning out -- after a while that goes away and the buttons are a little looser feeling. Anyhow, I still use the Gravis Gamepad for certain titles and it works ok.

Plasma wrote:

I don't agree with the Gravis Gamepad hate...they work fine and we were using them long before Playstation and XBox existed. Some games work better with gamepads than others. Platformers are great. Racing, not so much.

I dont know about you. But I played Playstation in 1995.