Help me find a simple gamepad

April 12, 2006 11:36 AM

I'm looking for a very simple USB gamepad. It should have a d-pad, no analog sticks, and as few action buttons as possible, ideally only two. Current trends in gamepads are packing them ever-tighter with buttons, so I despair of finding a gamepad with less than 8 buttons and triggers. Any ideas?

The RetroPad would be great, except it's too small/unergonomic, plus I'm planning on modding it so I hate the idea of wasting beautiful nostalgic Nintendo gear.

posted by breath to shopping (13 comments total)

See if you can find a store's shoddy own-brand pad - I bought one from GAME in the UK a few years back that's almost exactly what you descibe.
posted by djgh at 11:46 AM on April 12, 2006

I use the Microsoft Sidewinder Game Pad for old console emulation. Seems like a good fit. 6 buttons, no analog sticks.
posted by Otis at 11:48 AM on April 12, 2006

Logitech Gamepad. Six button + d-pad.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:01 PM on April 12, 2006

How about this?
posted by Jonsnews at 12:08 PM on April 12, 2006

Sega have officially released a version of the original Saturn pad for the PC, with an eye toward emulation and homebrew games, I suspect - it's got a few more buttons than your ideal (six plus two triggers) but on the other hand you can be assured it has a lovely d-pad and button action, unlike a lot of PC peripheral companies' efforts.
posted by terpsichoria at 12:09 PM on April 12, 2006

Err. I wish I had looked at that retro pad link more and realised thats exactly what you do not want.
posted by Jonsnews at 12:10 PM on April 12, 2006

There are a few converters out there that will make old console controllers talk to a computer via USB. A quick google search yielded this SNES-to-USB adaptor.
posted by Durhey at 12:22 PM on April 12, 2006

You might try a Gravis Gamepad Pro. It's essentially a PS2 controller (4 buttons, 4 triggers), which might be overkill for your purposes, but it's the closest thing I can think of aside from actual old-school console controllers. Plus, you can find them really cheap on eBay.
posted by danb at 12:52 PM on April 12, 2006

I used to have one of these although I'm not sure they ever made a USB version.
posted by mikeh at 12:52 PM on April 12, 2006

Jinx, mikeh. I used to have one of those too -- it came bundled with Commander Keen, IIRC -- but it wasn't USB.
posted by danb at 12:59 PM on April 12, 2006

Thanks for the suggestions. It's unfortunate that many of the de-buttoned game pads are not being manufactured any more. The Sidewinder and Logitech gamepad appear to be my best options so far.

Believe it or not, when I tried a Gravis Gamepad Pro I felt that the build quality was too awful even for my modest purposes. :-) I had one of those old-school joystick-port gamepads that mikeh mentions and it was much better-made. Kids these days!
posted by breath at 1:43 PM on April 12, 2006

cheap ones on geeks.com currently 2.79. figured the price might make you overlook the fact that it has 10 buttons + slomo&turbo. I have a couple and they are good even with button mashers like pro wrestling on the NES
posted by psychobum at 2:08 PM on April 12, 2006

How about this adapter
posted by krisjohn at 3:41 PM on April 12, 2006