I have been a big fan of emulators for well over a decade now. Mainly since you can easily load games you may well have in the closet or garage, and take screenshots of your gameplay fairly easily, plus save states at any moment you need to. I got into them before I found IRC back in '96, and before that I used normal 2 button gamepads and Gravis joysticks for the games I played. The problem I found was the analog pads had issues with staying centered and liked to jump around a lot as I played, plus only 2 buttons meant I was only really able to play a few classic consoles without using the keyboard as well.

I eventually got a Sidewinder gamepad, but the d pad left me with a bland taste in my mouth because it was not square enough if that makes sense. It was all raised and curved and did not feel the same as an SNES, PS1, or NES d pad. My brother was a big fan of the Saitek pads, which felt much better to me when I used them. I was curious what you all have used over the years of your emulation gaming? I know I'd be dead in the water without JoytoKey handy though...

I thought about this some recently, as I had bought some cheap USB twinpads (dualshock knockoffs) off some website and they work but not without a LOT of trouble setting up JoytoKey and they sometimes cut out the analog for no reason at all. After that failure I got two of those tiny usb pads with retractable cable from GameMon that Wal-Mart has for $10 a piece. They are black and look like an NES 2 dogbone controller with the middle chopped out. They are ok once you get used to them, but I passed them along to friends just getting into emulation again, and moved on. Just the other week I got two these from Wal-Mart:



This is a GameMon GameCube/PS2/Xbox/2 port USB hub adapter, also found at Wal-Mart for $10 a pop. I've read that some people, a lot of them, have huge issues installing it and getting it to work. Weird because I have not had any major problems. When I first got it I had to remove the unknown device in hardware a few times and reinstall it because I had plugged it up before installing the driver software. Also, I noticed it did not like USB 2.0 at all, but works peachy keen on USB 1.1. Sadly, not everyone has USB 1.1 anymore though it may work fine if you install drivers first and never let it touch the port before hand. Anyone else have one of these bastages?

I have noticed that while the PS and Cube ports show up even without you plugging them in, Xbox does not. I don't know if it will once I plug one up or not, as I don't have any Xbox pads handy. I can use a PS2 dual shock pad and a GameCube pad at the same time, while also using one of the USB hub ports on it, even for connecting another adapter in, with the second one running another PS2 pad and Cube pad. Though it might not be a hot idea for power via one port is concerned, I have been told. ZSNES, SNES9x, Nesten, No$GBA, Project 64, and other emulators work well with the adapter though I use JoytoKey to map the pads to keyboard keys in some instances to force digital over analog.

I'm not sure if this info will be of any use to anyone, but there it is. I know I am glad to have spent the $20 and intend to buy at least two more as well. If anyone has had horrible experiences with these, please let me know though. Also, any additional USB controller adapters or USB pads you have to discuss, as I'm always looking to add one here or there. Which of the n64 pad USB adapters have treated you well? I think that's my next adapter purchase possibly.

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Little old, but... I used to have a PSX controller clone to play. It's not perfect, but they don't sell those kinds of things here where I live. It was easy to set and it survived four years, until my little brother made his Fatality and Animality on it.

Now I plan to buy... Another PSX controller clone, lol. I wish they sold N64 or GameCube controller clones, they're the best.

Cool. Yeah, I have a set of those ps2 dual shock clones and they work ok sometimes, but are a bear to configure with JoytoKey the first time. I pulled out one of my ps1 pads and it makes the inability to turn off the analog sticks of the ps2 pads a moot point with that adapter pictured. :)

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Actually, I didn't need to config here since I could do that on emulator and games. Perhaps that is why I never could play flash games with the joystick... I see.