• Tag Archives controllers

  • Turbo Touch 360 (1994)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/703137135963832320/retrocgads-usa-1994

    Once upon a time, there used to be tons of 3rd party controllers to chose from. Some of them were very good and some of them were cheap junk. First party controllers were always among the best but not always the very best. I haven’t really kept track with the most recent generations of consoles but it seems like this changed a while back. Probably around the PS3 generation. From then (or some time near then) it seems like first party controllers were the best and generally the only thing you would ever want unless you just needed an extra cheap controller for guests or as a temporary emergency replacement. These days it seems like first party controllers are the only quality controllers. If you can even find 3rd party controllers they are almost always junk or at least obviously lower quality than the first party controller. This isn’t universally true of course. There are still good third party controllers. Just fewer of them than there used to be.

    I guess one place where this isn’t as true is with the PC. There’s not really such a thing as a first party PC controller (I mean I guess you could make an argument for Microsoft but even that doesn’t apply if you are gaming on Linux or MacOS). This ad from 1994 is for a controller for the PC. In 1994 pretty much all PC gaming meant DOS gaming (unless you were playing something like Minesweeper or Solitaire in Windows 3.1 and you didn’t need a controller for that anyway). This controller would have used a gameport connection, not USB.

    While this particular ad is for the PC, the Turbo Touch 360 from a company called Triax Technologies was available for other platforms. It was available for at least the NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis. The Genesis version also worked with Commodore and Atari systems as they used the same connector.

    So what made the Turbo Touch 360 special? For the most part it was a pretty standard controller with turbo support. However, its one unique feature was the D-pad. Instead of using physical switches underneath a button that could be moved in different directions, it used eight capacitive touch sensors. The claim was that because it took less force to operate, it was better for your thumbs and was even endorsed by an orthopedic surgeon. Those used to playing games on mobile devices like phones might find the feel a little familiar. The buttons, however, were standard buttons and not touch sensitive.

    So how did it actually compare to other controllers? Unfortunately, not that well. I’ve never tried it but this doesn’t surprise me. I’ve always felt that even modern games that use touch sensitive control were pretty crappy. A similar but older and less refined version of the same technology can’t be an improvement.


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  • The Triton Pad

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: GamePro – Issue Number 33 – April 1992

    These days it seems that third party controllers only exist so that people can buy cheap, crappy replacements. First party controllers, though expensive, seem to always be the best. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo seem to have finally perfected the controller.

    However, this wasn’t always the case. Third party controller used to, at least in many cases, improve upon the quality of the OEM controllers. In addition, they also offered additional features not found on first party controllers. These features ranged from more buttons to turbo to wireless capabilities (first party controllers were always wired back in the day) and much more.

    The controllers featured in this ad are some that I have never heard of. This leads me to believe that they never really caught on. Perhaps because in this case their quality wasn’t so great or maybe it’s just because they were ugly. In any case, they do offer some rather unique features.

    This ad is from the April 1992 issue of GamePro and features the Triton pad TRI-1000 series of controllers. While the advertisement isn’t terribly specific, the fact that the ad mentions Nintendo and Sega and the photo features three controllers probably means that these controllers were for the Super NES, NES (notice the middle one has fewer buttons), and Genesis (black to match that console).

    The ad mentions five specific features. The first and main feature is that it is programmable, meaning you can essentially record a series of moves and button presses, up to 9 in this case. This leads into the next set of features, most of which involve playback of those recorded control movements. The first is called “Repeat” which repeats the controls that you have recorded. The second is called “Shrink” (though I’m not clear how this name relates to the function) which allows you to replay a program at Turbo or Super Turbo speeds. Third is the “Hold” feature which allows you to “Play your moves while the Triton Pad repeats programmed maneuvers”. I’m also not clear on exactly what that means or how it is different from the first feature. In any case, the main point is that you can record a series of controls and play them back in different ways. The final feature is a rapid fire feature which was a common capability of almost every third party controller at the time.

    I don’t know how well these features worked but I could imagine they would be useful for doing things like repeating special moves easily. The fact that I have never heard of them may mean that they didn’t work so well. Having never used one I can’t say for sure but they are certainly interesting controllers. There used to be quite a bit of variety in controllers (anybody remember the Power Glove?). These days it’s pretty boring. The only choices seem to be the latest Dual Shock controller (or Microsoft/Nintendo equivalents) or a cheap knockoff.


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