3DO Controllers

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Atari Smeghead
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3DO Controllers

Post by Atari Smeghead » Sun Nov 21, 2010 5:32 pm

Hello again! It's getting near Christmas time once again, so I am back to get my brother Jim some more 3DO goodness.

This time around, he's telling me he needs a new controller. The only ones he can find (in his boxes of game systems) are the wireless ones that he said came out right at the end of the lifecycle, but they aren't working correctly. He says he can move left and right but not up and down, or something odd like that.

So I'm going to get him a wired controller. I skimmed here a bit to see what others have said about controllers, and I didn't find much, other than that they're a bit tough to come by. I found the eStarland link, and of course there's always evilbay.

Speaking of eBay, I was wondering if anyone here had opinions or experience with this brand of controller?

2 NEW 3DO TURBO Controllers FZ10/Panasonic/Goldstar (I think it's called "Naki.")

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-NEW-3DO-TURBO-Con ... 2eb17220d9

This seller has a lot of them, and they seem reasonable enough, price-wise, especially since ya get 2 controllers. But if they're crap, I'll stick to the original 3DO ones. I skimmed through his feedback, and of the half dozen that were sold, most said "item as described" but one had this: "Not as good as described." I wonder what that means...

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Smeg
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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:27 pm

I've never tried these.

From experience there isn't any one 3DO controller that leaps out (in?) from your hand as stand-up amazing. The basic 3DO controller, particularly the Japanese variant, is pretty okay mind.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:44 pm

I don't know about their quality but many people sold these still in the bag. You should be able to get 2 of them for $4, not $9.99. :(
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Post by Austin » Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:55 pm

IMO though the standard Panasonic controller is the best and most comfortable pad that I've used, particularly the later-edition smaller one version without the headphone jack. I haven't had experience with the pads listed in the original post, but also find these to be decent, with six buttons for fighting games and all, albeit as a lot of 3DO items are this auction is pretty overpriced: http://cgi.ebay.com/BOXED-PANASONIC-3DO ... 4aa138282b

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:01 pm

I have a ProPad and it's a bit clumsy.
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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:45 pm

Wasn't the one bundled with 3DO blaster meant to be aces? Good luck find one though.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:47 pm

No, they are common. In fact I just posted about thinking I had one in my coverage of cleaning the game room. I swear I had one and that it was very uncomfortable, but it's not with any of my 3DO stuff.
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Post by Mobius » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:47 pm

The Logitech pads and the later (smaller) Panasonic pads are the best. I particularly like that the Logitech pad has the 2-player port at the end of the cord, instead of the back of the controller.

The standard Panasonic controller is too big/clunky and has a mushy D-pad.

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Post by tinman » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:43 pm

My preferred controller is the 3DZero.

It comes with a little screw in stick to the joypad

It also has 6 button where in the normal controller there are three.

I think it is also programmable but I don't play around with this...I regard it as cheating.

I've seen them on eBay a few times...but not to common. :)

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Post by 3DO Experience » Sun Nov 21, 2010 9:25 pm

I know everybody likes the Logitech pad but I still prefer the old first Panasonic.
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Post by Scarlettkitten » Sun Nov 21, 2010 9:55 pm

I prefer the Goldstar pad then the smaller panasonic one.

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Post by Lemmi » Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:35 am

Scarlettkitten wrote:I prefer the Goldstar pad then the smaller panasonic one.
Same here, ive been using the same Goldstar pad from the first system i bought in 1997, i like it because it feels more like a Genesis controller (which i think is the best one created)

i tried the panasonic ones and they dont feel right in my hands
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Post by Trev » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:02 am

I seem to be the only one who ever mentions these, but the wirelss pads from Doc's are hard to beat (except for fighting games) And, seriously, the batteries seem to never die.
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Post by 3DO Experience » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:15 am

Yeah, I do use those most often, like you said the batteries last forever but I don't like where they moved the P button.
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Post by Trev » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:16 am

Can't daisy chain them either.
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Post by bitrate » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:31 am

I love how people are usually all over the board when it comes to 3DO control pad preferences.
I favor the large Panasonic FZ-JP1X pad (not the FZ-JP1 which has the often exaggerated diagonals issue).
I probably favor it because it was the first pad I was exposed to and the only pad I had to play games with for years.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:44 am

Same choice, probably the same reasons. :)
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Post by Austin » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:50 am

I remember the logitech controllers being decent, but the d-pads were not the best for fighters. Wish I could buy one cheap, but it seems the cheapest on evilBay is about 25 dollars.

*Misses the late '90s for the fact that these could be had for $2 new..

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Post by bitrate » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:58 am

3DO Experience wrote:Same choice, probably the same reasons. :)
I would guess a lot of people are like us on this one where the pad of choice is heavily influenced by what you first used.

I remember agonizing over the fact that I couldn't afford to 2 additional control pads for the 3DO. I badly wanted two more pads so that I could enter in the horsepower/torque code into Need for Speed, but at ~$40 a piece at the local game stores it wasn't going to happen for a long time

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Post by mattyg » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:05 am

My first controller was the Goldstar but I have always preferred the original FZ1 - I had a 3DO Zone pad at the time and remember hating it. Tried the logitech recently - didn't like it and my hands are too big for the FZ-10 controller.
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Post by Atari Smeghead » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:50 pm

Thanks everyone for weighing in. I definitely appreciate it. It sounds like it's a mixed bag, a matter of personal preference, mostly.
3DO Experience wrote:I don't know about their quality but many people sold these still in the bag. You should be able to get 2 of them for $4, not $9.99. :(
Have you seen any around for $4? The eBay link I attached was, so far, the cheapest price I could find. $5 each seems reasonable enough, but if I can get one cheaper, I'll do that.
Lemmi wrote:
Scarlettkitten wrote:I prefer the Goldstar pad then the smaller panasonic one.
Same here, ive been using the same Goldstar pad from the first system i bought in 1997, i like it because it feels more like a Genesis controller (which i think is the best one created)

i tried the panasonic ones and they dont feel right in my hands
Is this the Goldstar one of which you speak?

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-3DO-VIDEO ... 4aa2c616a1

Also wondering if this one is any more (or less) comfortable than the standard flat ones:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-3DO-VIDEO ... 335ec9bb8c

So far, I'm leaning toward the Naki two-pack, but I'll keep looking.

Thanks,
Smeg
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Post by Scarlettkitten » Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:06 pm

This is the Goldstar pad :)

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Post by 3DO Experience » Mon Nov 22, 2010 6:46 pm

Not lately, there used to be tons of pairs on evilbay for $4 but I've been filtering Naki for a while now.
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Post by Karny » Thu Dec 16, 2010 1:51 pm

I just got something interesting which I think might be the perfect pad!

Image

I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but it feels great!

Only downside is that there doesn't seem to be a way to have a second controller... (this doesn't bother me, but does seem like a pretty major oversight).

Anyone else have any experience with these?

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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:10 pm

No experience of that, but did anyone actually ever use 'turbo buttons' to any great effect?

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Post by Qcombus » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:13 pm

I did. In fact I found them to be pretty handy in Strahl; it was a lot easier to enjoy the nice animations without having to repeatedly press the buttons. That was with the Naki controller mentionned earlier though and it's pretty much the only use Ì've made of them.

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Post by Karny » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:38 pm

3DOKid wrote:No experience of that, but did anyone actually ever use 'turbo buttons' to any great effect?
I used to use turbo buttons on my Megadrive for Street Fighter 2 (Chun-li and E. Honda :oops: ).

What I want to know is did anyone ever use the "slow mo" buttons? All the basically did was paused the game all the time... I can't imagine anyone wanting to play like that!

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Post by Beef Supreme » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:06 pm

I have the naki controllers but I find myself using my goldstar or panasonic ones more . They aren't bad controllers but they're clearly not up to the same quality as the factory ones , it's been a while but if i remember right they had a diagonal problem worse than the panasonic ones did . My vote would go to the goldstar .

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Post by Rincewind » Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:26 am

I can't believe nobody yet mentioned the SNES to 3DO controller. I remember actually seeing one in Gamepro, it was kinda cool!
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Post by Mobius » Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:07 am

3DOKid wrote:No experience of that, but did anyone actually ever use 'turbo buttons' to any great effect?
Turbo buttons are great on the TurboGrafx/Duo! Of course, it helps that they come standard. Some games are made with them in mind.

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