Strange Gamepads

I recently spotted a good deal for a Retro-Bit's 8-button USB pad that takes inspiration from the original Mega Drive / Genesis controller. It's apparently officially licensed by SEGA and I've read some favorable reviews online so for 16€ including shipping this seemed like a good deal. Front of the box Back of the box The box pretty much says it all. It's compatible with pretty much everything, has 8 buttons, long USB cable and is officially licensed by SEGA. The latter claim unfortunately doesn't tell much since even the horrible AtGames stuff five or so years back was also officially licensed. To be fair it seems that AtGames are now producing some interesting quality stuff but that is another story. The important page of the instructions leaflet Inside of the box is the controller itself in a plastic tray and an instruction leaflet. The leaflet has some important instuctions on how the switch between D-Input and X-Input modes and the button functionalities for d...

I had urge to play some emulated Sensible Soccer but wanted to use the original Mega Drive (Genesis) controller. Unfortunately the only controller I have is not working very well. The conductive pads for buttons are almost gone. I cleaned this one in a previous post  https://strangegamepads.blogspot.com/2019/05/sega-megadrive-3-button-controller.html Sad state of the original conductive pads I still don't have the proper conductive pads for this and replacement pads are still quite hard to find and expensive. However I noticed by accident that the PS1/PS2/PS3 controller conductive pads for the buttons are almost exactly the same size. Mega Drive pads on top of PS3 (left) and PS2 (right) pads There is however slight difference in height. Also the conductive area is smaller in PS pads. But this should not make a huge difference since the copper area on the PCB is so large. So I sacrificed one PS2 replacement conductive pad and just cut it with scissors to separate the four circular a...

This is bit of an update to the previous Xbox 360 wireless controller post: https://strangegamepads.blogspot.com/2019/06/cleaning-xbox-360-wireless-controller.html Now I finally got my Microsoft official Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows. The Microsoft original receiver might be quite hard to come by so I suggest you grab one if you find them for cheap. The receiver works in Windows 10 without any extra drivers and it supports up to four controllers. I paid around 20 euros for this but it came bundled with another Xbox 360 wireless controller. This is the "S" black model. As far as I can tell the only difference to the original black model is that the controller is now all black and the "home" button has nice shiny chrome finish to it. Also the text in front says XBOX 360 instead of Microsoft. Comparison of the two models. The newer model looks much better in my opinion. I will be selling the old model since it is fully functional and now also cl...

I've been looking for a decent controller for my Nokia 8 since it can run many emulators at full speed. With my old phone LG G4 I used USB OTG and Dualshock 3 in wired mode with cheap clip that clipped to the DS3 and had holder for the phone. The problem with this was that since phone weighs much more than the controller the center of gravity is in wrong place and hands get tired quite fast. Also this solution is not very portable. Furthermore it seems that the USB OTG functionality in the Nokia 8 is really bad. I couldn't get DS3 to work in wired mode. Even wired Xbox 360 controller did not work. And I didn't want to root my phone to get DS3 working in wireless mode. So I decided to get one of these for my mobile gaming sessions. The iPega PG-9087S Red Knight Retractable Controller. These go for under 20 euros shipped from China. As far as I can tell they are currently the only reasonable solution if you want PS Vita/PSP style side controls. Back of the box with mini...

I've been recently playing quite a lot of Fallout: New Vegas on my main TV using Steam link. I've been using wired Xbox 360 controller and it works fine, but I'd like to move to wireless solution. I've had one Xbox 360 wireless controller laying around, but I didn't have the PC receiver for it. I ordered one 3rd party receiver from dealextreme, but it never arrived. However I finally managed to find one original Microsoft receiver cheap. So I decided to clean my controller while waiting for the receiver to arrive. Front before cleaning. In nice shape. Even the analog stick caps are in good condition. Back. Again only minor scuff marks. But here is the real problem. The battery holder has had some leaking batteries inside. Luckily it seems that the leakage has not gone to the terminals on the PCB. Those were clean and without corrosion, so I'm assuming the PCB is fine also. First a warning. That white gunk is not good for you. It is corrosive so ...