Comments on: Most Complicated Controller Ever

By: DEC

DEC — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 16:06:41 +0000

I was just talking about the Super Action Controllers today with a couple of my students (I’m teaching English in Europe). I had two of them and for some games they were awesome—especially Super Action Baseball where, as JC described, the various button/trigger/roller actions and combinations of actions really gave you total control of your players. For other games, the larger joystick was more comfortable than the normal Coleco controllers (or the “true” joystick of the Atari 2600 or the disc of the Intellivision console. Plus, as a kid I always thought the hand guard looked neat! Of course all those dinosaur controllers of yesteryear are classics. I wish I still had my ColecoVision and Super Action Controllers for nostalgia’s sake. Describing these controllers and the competing gaming consoles from the early 80s to my students here in the Czech Republic, who were still Czechoslovakia and living behind the Iron Curtain back then, makes me realize how lucky and priviledged I was to grow up with that stuff.

By: ExtraLife - Scott Johnson’s Comics, Podcasts, Blog, Artwork, Humor and MORE! » Blog Archive » Abominations We Call Controllers

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:51:40 +0000

[...] After previously posting about the awful contraption that was the ColecoVision Super Action Controller, I began to scouring the Interweb to see what other abominations the gaming industry had unleashed upon us. I managed to come a cross IGN’s list of what they believe to be the ten worst game controllers ever to be released. [...]

By: jc

jc — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:46:03 +0000

I used to love this controller… playing SuperAction BaseBall was great. One use of the wheel was for advancing your baserunners. Hold down the yellow button, spin the wheel and the batter would run to first base, hold down the yellow and red button, spin the wheel and the batter and the guy on first base would advance. You could also spin the wheel in the backwards direction and the runner would go back in the other direction to prevent a pick off.

The learning curve was a little steep, but once you caught on it was a blast to use.

By: wonder6oy

wonder6oy — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:13:23 +0000

Yah – I had one of those. It was exciting as a kid, but in retrospect, not so good. It had a very clunky, “garunteed to break soon” feel to it.

I never could figure out a use for that wheel.

By: Fums

Fums — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 11:19:22 +0000

Daemoniorum, but it isen’t complicated. It’s a awesome controller