Peripheral Vision: Quick Shot XII QS-112 and RadioShack Archer Joysticks for the NES
Remember being a kid and wanting something so badly but you only ever got the chance to own it as an adult? I do! And for me that was a Quick Shot joystick for the NES. I was actually quite fond of Top Gun, but highly frustrated by the convoluted landing scheme to finish the level. In my dumb childhood brain I thought if I owned a Quick Shot joystick I could land on the carrier every single time. Fast forward to finding one at a thrift store as an adult and the nostalgia of wanting one as a kid came rushing back. All my childhood dreams were about to come true, or so I initially hoped.
The Quick Shot XII had the look of a lean, mean Top Gun flying machine, all crammed into a beige and grey joystick. When I finally got the chance to sit down and play Top Gun with the QS-112 the first thing I noticed was just how loose the joystick is. I’m just assuming that’s from use throughout its lifetime but I can wiggle the base of the joystick and move the plane in the game. After figuring out that the trigger is B and the top button is A I was ready to set off on a grand adventure of blowing up enemy planes and saving the day. However, in reality the QS-112 didn’t make playing the game any easier. Even with the rapid fire option turned on, I was still so out of practice with the game that I just couldn’t do very well.
Despite my abysmal playing the joystick actually has a very ergonomic grip and everything fits really well in the hand. The suction cups are almost useless these days, but if you can manage to get a few to stick it feels nice to get it stuck down to a base, or holding it in your other hand. In fact you can use it with either hand equally, which I always find to be a nice feature. Although I guess with the simplicity of joysticks they should be able to be played left or right handed.
If I had one problem with the QS-112, and its RadioShack branded twin, it would be that the cable is awfully short. This is a complaint I’ve had with many, nay, nearly all of my third-party controllers. I’m not sure why Nintendo had these long cables on the OEM controllers, but every single one of my third-party controllers’ cables are just short of being comfortably away from the console. The QS-112 works well with any game, if you’re willing to try it out. While testing with Super Mario Bros. I actually had quite a fun time. Was the Quick Shot XII everything I thought it was as a kid? No, but I don’t think it’s completely useless either.
Super Cars for the NES
Until I first saw Super Cars for the NES at one of my local media resale stores I had never heard it. The label, unashamedly, shows a pair of Nissan 300zx IMSA racing against two other opponents, which made me wondered if this was going to be some kind of Gran Turismo style game for the NES. For the couple of dollars the store was asking I was willing to take the risk to find the answer.
Super Cars was ported to the NES in 1991 by Electro Brain, after Gremlin Graphics released it for many 8-bit computers the previous year. Super Cars is a top-down racing game in much the same ilk of Micro Machines, with a little bit of Super Off Road and R.C. Pro-AM splashed in for good measure. The main goal of the game is to compete against the AI in a series of nine races. If you win all nine races you’ll be elevated to the next level of difficulty.
From the start the player can immediately choose one of nine tracks and start earning money to help maintain and modify there current car, or later in the game purchase a much faster, albeit harder to control, vehicle. Between races you’ll mostly be spending that money to refill your gas, replace your tires or repair your body and engine for the next race to come as if any of these items are completely neglected it’s game over. Modifying your vehicle is always a good idea, if you have money left from doing your repairs. Items such as a High Speed Kit, Power Steering, Turbo Charger and even better brakes are on offer, which do provide a slight bit of improvement on your vehicle, however one very important thing to note is that these upgrades will only last throughout the upcoming race and will need to be purchased again for each and every race. — Yeah, seriously!!
Alongside useful upgrades you can also purchase weapons, which are nothing more than a waste of cash. Front and rear missiles shoot only one projectile out either side of the vehicle and rarely, if ever, actually strike the opponent. Another reason I feel the weapons are useless is because the AI never really pose much of a challenge. They always stay on track and cruise along at a fairly normal pace, meaning as long as you make your turns properly you’ll be able to pass them on any available straight and never have to worry about them again. However, there in lies the problem, those pesky turns can be a bit of a problem at first, but once you’ve gotten a few races in, coupled with the upgrades, you should be perfectly capable of managing to win every race. The only real problems you might face are the occasional water or oil slick on the track, which are usually easy to steer around and miss.
What is a racing game without crashing? Well, Super Cars will tell you! Crashing into anything will merely slow you down, frustrate you for a second or two and it will lower the condition of your body and engine. Otherwise, crashing is just a waste of time. Again, once you’ve got a few races under your belt and you’ve bought the upgrades you really won’t have any reason to crash anyway. Plus, crashing isn’t even satisfying from a sound standpoint. When you crash into things it sounds like someone biting into a stack of Pringles chips. Which is yet another thing, Super Cars doesn’t really offer much in the sound department at all. The crunch of Pringles and a very slight chirp from the tires every time you turn — and I do mean every time — is all you get in terms of sound effects.
What Super Cars lacks in sound effects it more than makes up in Soundtrack. The music on this game is absolutely amazing. I’m not one to really take notice of video game music during the old bit era, but when music is 99% of what you’ve got to hear during a game, it’s all you can notice. The music sounds very much like Micro Machines on the Gameboy. It makes me want to play this game just to hear the music, the best part is that you can actually pause the game and the music still plays! So if you’re like me, you may find yourself booting up Super Cars, starting a race just to pause it and do anything other than actually play the game.
Now I’m not saying Super Cars is a bad game and you’ll never actively want to play it, I find it to be a good time waster in short bursts. Which is nice because it comes with a unique password system where you change the color on a grid of cars. I’m not entirely sure when you obtain a passwords, maybe after beating all nine races and advancing to a new difficulty level now that I think about it. I will say though that five laps per race seems a bit too much, especially considering there are nine tracks to complete. I’m guessing this was their way of extending the playtime of this game.
All things considered Super Cars is fun for short bursts of racing, but I can’t recommend it over anything that it’s styled even remotely like. All the games that it can be compared to are superior and have much more replayability. Super Cars is an interesting game, fun in short bursts and has an amazing music selection. If they had only taken the time to make the AI and tracks a bit more challenging and given the weapons more purpose I think this game could have easily been one of the top racing games on the NES today, and remembered fondly by many people.
Repairing Gamecube Thumbsticks with Third-Party Replacements.
At some point we’ve all come across, or perhaps even own, a Nintendo Gamecube controller with sad, beaten and busted up thumbstick covers. The analog directional controller and the C stick are both merely thin plastic caps with a thin layer of rubber on them for assured grip. After a few furious rounds on Smash Bros. Melee or even just through the sands of time they do become worn out.
I myself had purchased a Wavebird with a destroyed analog stick some years ago. It still worked but the hard plastic where the rubber grip once was just wasn’t the same as having a nice rubbery grip to use, so the poor thing sat in my closet awaiting a remedy to become useful once again. I also had a few wired Gamecube controllers in need of both thumbstick replacements, so I felt it was time to bite the bullet and see what third-party replacements were all about.
After the thumbsticks arrived I noticed how cheap and thin they felt, but the rubber does feel rubbery so that’s a plus. The first thing I had to do was open up the Wavebird by removing the eight screws on the back. Thankfully that’s all the screws you’ll need to remove for this project. After you’ve separated the two halves just remove the main board and you now have full access to both thumbsticks. It’s that easy.
Screw locations marked in red.
After everything was apart I slid the original thumbstick off and realized the OEM thumbsticks are just as thin (shown below) and flimsy feeling as the third-party replacements. After removing the damaged one the replacement slid right back down into place. The only thing left to do now was to reverse what I had just done, making sure everything is aligned correctly and replace the screws.
After all was said and done the project took less than five minutes and the results are pretty good. I can’t say how long the rubber will last but I will say that to me it feels just as good as the OEM thumbsticks on my other Gamecube controllers. I did replace a few others, even the C stick, on a few of my wired Gamecube controllers and the process is pretty much the same, except fewer screws, and everything feels great on those too.
Are third-party thumbstick replacements worth buying? Again, I can’t say how long these will last, but with as cheap as they are and as good as they feel, I would buy more of them in the future should I need them. I say they’re a great investment to bring new life into that Gamecube controller thrown into a box and forgotten in your closet because the rubber has worn off the original thumbstick.
Peripheral Vision: Starmaster Joystick for the NES
Even though I’m not a fan of joystick controllers they keep showing up in my collection. Not that I really use them, it’s just that I like to collect peripherals for the classic consoles. Today we’ll be testing out the Starmaster joystick for the NES.
My first impression of the Starmaster was that the plastic feels cheap. It doesn’t feel like I’m going to break the joystick off or anything, but compared to the Beeshu Zinger the Starmaster just feels a bit cheaper. When it comes to turbo buttons and the flexibility of using it right and left handed, the Starmaster comes up short. Something else that comes up short is the exceedingly short cable, seemingly measured from the notoriously short Famicom controllers, rather than an NES controller.
For testing the Starmaster I used Galaxian and Super Mario Bros. The buttons were very responsive, but I did have some issues with holding right and needing to wiggle the joystick a little to reengage that direction. I must admit that a joystick really does bring something different to Galaxian and makes me enjoy it more that just a controller. As for Super Mario Bros. the joystick didn’t inhibit my ability to play, it’s just not what I’m familiar with.
To its credit, the Starmaster does have clicky inputs, which I find satisfying to use. The downfall of those clicky inputs is that they’re merely convexed pieces of metal that, once pressed, concave to finish the circuit on the board. The real problem came when I took the controller apart to fix one of these contacts and noticed they were merely taped to the board, and over the many years of this joystick’s life the tape had perished allowing the piece of metal to move.
Given how old the Starmaster is I can forgive the few problems I’ve had with it. The Starmaster may have been a good joystick for shooters back in its day, but over the years its build quality hasn’t really held up. With much better options out there I don’t see the Starmaster as being very good, unless you’re just a no frills type of person, in which case this joystick may be right up your alley.
Peripheral Vision: Beeshu Zinger NES Joystick
When it comes to playing the old NES I prefer the old tried and true method of a controller. On very rare occurrences would I ever want to use a joystick, but if I do I tend to use an Advantage. But it seems that the market was flooded with third-party joysticks for the NES. Were any of them good? Well today we’re going to be giving the Beeshu Zinger a try.
Much like its sibling, the Beeshu Zipper, the Zinger was available in many wild and zany color combinations. The Zinger was also an officially licensed product by Nintendo, but I don’t think the Zinger feels as nice as some of its competitors.
The base of the Zinger has four suction cups to secure the joystick to any flat surface. The base is also where you’ll find both A buttons, independent turbo switched for A and B, as well as the Select and Start buttons, around back of the joystick. Protruding from the center is, obviously, the joystick with both B buttons. Now you’ll noticed I said A was on the base and B was on the stick. This leads me to believe the Zinger was meant to be ambidextrous, allowing the player to use it either left or right handed freely, while also giving them two options for the B button.
While testing the Zinger I tried games like Galaxian and actually enjoyed myself. I’ve never been a fan of arcade style shooters, and perhaps that’s why I’ve never enjoyed joysticks, but using the Zinger with Galaxian kind of made me feel like I was at an arcade.
I also tried Super Mario Bros. with far less enthusiasm as I found while testing it with a good old space shooter. For platformers the Zinger isn’t horrible, it just might require more practice than I’m willing to give it. Being so familiar with the simplicity of a controller and switching to the more demanding joystick wasn’t much fun, but again it did the job, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the previous game.
The Zinger is actually surprisingly comfortable to hold in your hand and use. Also, as previously stated, there are four suction cups to plant it onto a flat surface, if you so choose. How you use the Beeshu Zinger is entirely up to you, but it’s nice to see that they included that option.
Even though the Beeshu Zinger is an officially licensed product I’m not really happy with the overall quality. The plastic kind of feels cheap, even for its day, and my yellow and black joystick reminds me of an N64 analog stick; kind of loose and sometimes it doesn’t function quite right. Perhaps I should give it a break for being over twenty years old, but either way I’m still not fully converted to using it over the NES controller or Advantage joystick. Regardless, they do look really nice displayed on a shelf.
Peripheral Vision: Beeshu Zipper NES Controller
Being the youngest sibling usually relegated you to using the cheap, third-party controller that hardly ever worked. Even more so if you went to your friend’s house and they handed you some strange controller nobody had ever heard of. Well it seems Beeshu Inc. knew that feeling all too well when they designed and created the Beeshu Zipper.
At first the Beeshu Zipper looks like your standard third-party turbo controller for the NES. That is until you realize this was an officially licensed product and was held to much higher standards, which are easily noticeable in the quality of this controller. The Zipper was available in a variety of colors, most of them being 1980’s LOUD colors, but were also available in a pretty standard, two-tone, dark grey on light grey.
Many third-party controllers of the time used the Famicom controller as their base, and the Zipper was no exception. However, the Zipper feels much more rigid with a textured front and back, which I think helps with gripping the controller. The Zipper is also slightly larger than both third-party and official NES controllers, making it more comfortable for larger hands than its counterparts.
The main defining feature of the Zipper are the two switches over the A and B buttons giving the player the choice of which button they needed turbo for, as well as allowing them to choose between two speeds of turbo or turning it completely off. Both turbo settings are useful, but personally I find the difference between them to be very slight. My only real complaint about it would be that the switches are quite difficult to switch back and forth, but they still function.
One thing I’ve always disliked about third-party NES controllers was that the plugs never fit quite right into my NES console, but since the Zipper is an officially licensed Nintendo product it has an official NES controller plug on the end for a perfect fit. In terms of reliability I can say that I’ve owned mine for over seven years and always had it packed away, but when I pulled it out to test it for this article everything still worked as if it were brand new. That’s far better than most of my other third-party NES turbo controllers.
With the rounded off edges of the Famicom controller, the tried and true NES familiar button layout and an over nine foot long cord, let’s not forget the official plug on the end, the Beeshu Zipper would be an OEM killer in my mind. It’s comfortable to hold, it still functions after being packed away for many years, as if it was brand new, and if you happen across one of them in the bright 80’s colors, you’re in for a great time as player two when your friend or older siblings hand you this controller.
Peripheral Vision: Super 8 by Innovation for the SNES
Is it a Famiclone? Is it a peripheral? Well, it’s actually both!
These days, it seems, at least a few times a year we read news of an upcoming video game console packing the necessary hardware, or software, to run multiple systems from a single unit. With the likes of the Retron5, among many others, gamers can now spend more time and money on video games themselves, rather than putting money into individual consoles. Though it may be a more current trend, this isn’t the first time such an idea has been marketed. I introduce to you the Super 8 by Innovation.
Innovation is, perhaps, most well known for their third party video game accessories. With products such as controllers, AV cables and many others, Innovations broke into the video game market. Where does a video game accessory company go when they are tired of only making video game accessories? To the console market, of course! Not you Mad Catz. NO! Bad Mad Catz! Bad!
With the Super 8 peripheral you can run three different consoles from the safety of your Super Nintendo, or Super Famicom. (Yes this works on the SNES-101 as well!) The Super 8 allows you to play Famicom and NES games from your SNES, which is quite odd but works very well. The Famicom and NES portions are handled by a system on a chip, but I haven’t found any incompatibility issued yet. Yes, it even plays Castlevania 3 without problems, and no I’m not kidding.
Are you someone who wants to play imported SNES/Super Famicom games without breaking the tabs in the cartridge slot? The Super 8 will facilitate that for you as well. I can’t fully test whether or not it will play PAL games for the Super Nintendo or PAL NES games, but I do know it plays Japanese NTSC games without a problem, at least the ones I have tested. I’m not completely sure, but I run on the assumption that Super Nintendo/Super Famicom games are run as pass-thru and working on the actual SNES hardware. Bone stock Super 8 units will have a rectifiable compatibility issue that I will explain later.
Simply place the Super 8 into your Super Nintendo like any other video game. Then you take the video pigtail, which looks like the normal Nintendo AV cables, and plug that into the back of your Super Nintendo console, and plug the actual AV cables into the output of the Super 8 peripheral. Be careful as the output on the Super 8 won’t fit perfectly snug, but as long as you make a good connection and don’t jostle the console or the peripheral you should be fine.
Now it’s up to you to decide which one of the systems you want to utilize. I would heavily advise against filling both the NES and Famicom slots at the same time, but putting a Super Nintendo cartridge in with either Famicom or NES catridges won’t have any affect on the Super 8. Once you’ve booted up your Super Nintendo you should be greeted by a screen showing two controllers, a Famicom for 8-bit and a Super Famicom controller for 16-bit. The on-screen instructions will guide you through the process. That’s pretty much it. Now you should be playing one of the three systems the Super 8 allows.
Now here are a few things you may need to know about the Super 8, whether you already own one or are thinking about purchasing one. The Super 8 was designed to sit atop the Super Famicom design, not the squared off Super Nintendo or even the redesigned Super Famicom/SNES-101. You may find yourself having to shim the Super 8 to keep it straight on the console.
If for any reason you are going to open your Super 8 it is highly advised not to do so in direct sunlight or under UV light as there is an exposed chip on top of the board. I carefully opened mine and covered that chip, so hopefully that’s taken care of that. Which leads us to why you may need to open your Super 8.
One thing you may notice is just how temperamental your Super 8 is. Sometimes it may work, other times it may not work at all. Mine slowly degraded into not working at all. Being familiar with Famiclones I just assumed it was rendered nothing more than a unique conversation piece. After a year or so of it not working I opened the unit and noticed some of the chips are in sockets. Ever so carefully I pressed down on each chip to see if it was well seated, which all of them seemed as if they were. However, when I checked the unit after doing so it fired right up without any glitches.
Finally the compatibility issue I spoke about earlier. The Super 8 will not natively play the Super Gameboy, and as an extension I assume it won’t play Super FX equipped games either. Someone at Innovation thought it would be a good idea to purposely cut one of the traces that is needed to play the Super Gameboy, but with a little soldering you can scrape yourself a few spots and bridge that gap. I’ve already done this on my Super 8 and can confirm it does restore the ability to use the Super Gameboy. I can not currently confirm whether it restores Super FX game compatibility though.
The Super 8 is a fun little piece to own that opens your video game library up to a few different consoles you may not have been able to play before, as well as consolidates power and AV cables. Playing Famicom and NES games with an SNES controller does feel a bit weird, but if you’re familiar with Super Mario All-Stars you should be fine. If you’re interested in owning a Super 8 they might be a bit hard to find, but if you find one in good working condition I believe it’s well worth owning.