The death of the joystick?

[JackBurton-Me]

I may be being daft here so apologies if I am, bot other than retrogaming does anyone use them anymore?

When I was growin up with the Speccy, Atari XE and Amiga, I used to very particular about my joysticks but it occured to me in Gamestation the other day that they aren't even really used much on the PC now. People seem to use the mouse and keyboard for every "post apocalyptic FPS" is they aren't using pads on the consoles.

I know there is the odd specialist sticks for the fighters but that's about it isn't it?

Can joysticks ever make a comback in a big way?

[joefish]

I don't think we'll ever go back to joysticks for the likes of platform and puzzle games - they just weren't as responsive as pads. I actually wanted a thumbstick or pad for my Speccy and ST, but there weren't any decent ones.

I presume the pads were introduced originally because they were cheaper to mass-produce and more reliable, having fewer parts. Nowadays you get a pad because the games need so many buttons to play. You still get little thumb analogue sticks, but the idea of moving your whole hand to just indicate 'right' has had its day. Oh wait, now it's your whole arm...

[JackBurton-Me]

Lol! Good point!

I hope that Kinect nonsense bombs. Very cynical stuff indeed.

[killbot]

I've always preferred pads to sticks - indeed, I went out and bought a MD pad for my Amiga because I preferred it so much. Obviously the bottom has dropped out of the mainstream stick market but there are still a couple of joystick-shaped niches - fighting and flight sim fans seem to like them - so they're not going anywhere.

[Antiriad2097]

I'm in the opposite camp, I much prefer sticks to pads. Pads are convenient but they can't match the control of a good stick.

[DPrinny]

50/50 on both

Trying to get used to sticks for fighters (its the only way I will play a Virtua Fighter)

[speedlolita]

I do 80% of my gaming on a "joystick". Another 10% on my beatmania IIDX controller and then 10% on all other regular pads.

Stick of choice currently is the Seimitsu LS-32-01 in my modded, by me, SF4 tournament edition which works on all consoles..

[Antiriad2097]

Nice self portrait on the stick

[speedlolita]

Why thanks.

Can be changed with ease at any time so that's good at least..

[Sel Feena]

Can't say I've got much love for sticks, I've certainly never bought any for home consoles. It just feels far more natural for me just to tap my thumb and get a response. Maybe I'll eventually get one for MAME to play shooters though, as I know a few people on here swear by them!

[Rayne]

I was raised on the joypad. I bought that Tekken 6 arcade stick bundle and found the whole thing really awkward and annoying.

[speedlolita]

Can't say I've got much love for sticks, I've certainly never bought any for home consoles. It just feels far more natural for me just to tap my thumb and get a response. Maybe I'll eventually get one for MAME to play shooters though, as I know a few people on here swear by them!

Hitting a microswitch is way more satisfying..

[JackBurton-Me]

Kempston were the joystick makers of yore, do they make pads?

[station]

This was my favourite joystick - Cheetah Mach 1:



It had microswitches and my mate sold it to me after owning it for about five years. Top buttons were useless, but base buttons did the job. I do miss them!

[joefish]

Good points - I'd forgotten about arcade-style fighting sticks with multiple buttons. I was thinking of the Quickshot 1, 2 and things like that Cheetah one there where it's very difficult to keep a good grip on the stick yet still be able to operate more than one or two buttons.