LGR - Revisiting My First Joystick! "The Mac & Cheese"

Nice timing indeed! I always enjoyed gazing at those maps in-between LHX sessions

LGR

I just found the original fold-out map of Libya my Genesis copy came with about a week ago, in the middle of a stack of PC Gamer magazines... That game was a lot of fun, and those camels never did get old. Funny I found that thing just before watching the video.

Paul

Yeah it's certainly not as popular as some of the other flight sims of the time, even others from EA. Will definitely give it a spotlight!

LGR

The first joystick I remember using was an old CH flight stick. It was the one with the black stick, two red buttons, and grey base. Played lots of x wing with that.

LHX was always one of my favorite games even as far back in the 286 days. Oddly enough, when I mention it to most people, they've never heard of it. I would be interested to see your review of it.

The 8-Bit Guy

Happy New Year, Clint! I never really got a joystick of my own (unless you count gamepads, had tons of those), but a friend of mine had one, which I used to play with. I don't remember the brand, though. Say, did you find out what happened to your NFS disc?

Pablo Rodriguez

The Wingman Extreme was easily my favourite joystick too. That thing got me through TIE Fighter, three Wing Commanders, Descent... it was brilliant. I think my first joystick was some kind of Quickshot. It was just a beige box with the stick in the middle. The Wingman Extreme was quite a step up from that!

Square red button! My first one too.

Jason Dupree

I think after having so many (starting with the Tandy TRS-80 Joystick I used on my Tandy 1000 EX). <a href="http://www.the-liberator.net/site-files/retro-games/hardware/Tandy-TRS-80-Deluxe-Joystick/tandy-trs-80-deluxe-joystick-001.JPG" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.the-liberator.net/site-files/retro-games/hardware/Tandy-TRS-80-Deluxe-Joystick/tandy-trs-80-deluxe-joystick-001.JPG</a> - And later (gravis and others like the early Flightmaster TCS) I think my favorite of all was the Logitech Wingman Extreme - because that thing was weighted like a motha. Had a ton of weight inside and it was super heavy which made it pretty stable on the desk. I played a ton of Descent with that thing.

Jason Dupree

Not yet, but I've seen the memes!

LGR

Yeah I was very much aware of all the stats of my computer, even when really young. It was kind of by necessity due to the specs of my machine not being the best, so I was constantly looking at system requirements stickers in stores to see what I could run at home. And I was always poking around inside it, both upgrading hardware and customizing software. I just couldn't get enough (and still can't!)

LGR

Thanks! I'll order one when I have cash tomorrow :)

Awesome, I'm glad you're reunited!

LGR

Check out the Rockfire 15-pin to USB adapter! It works great with Gravis gamepads.

LGR

My first was the super-fancy Gravis Xterminator gamepad, found it at a Goodwill for $3 in the early 2000s. I still have that one and have since bought a second for all my current retro-ish PC needs, I just wish I could find a USB adapter for the thing so I could use it on my modern PC as well. The thing is super comfortable and easily has too many buttons and whatnot, which is right up my alley :)

Damn I search for my first joystick, it was a "advanced" gravis! The one with the clear base base and red part inside! (like this one <a href="https://segaretro.org/images/f/f5/AGSJ.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://segaretro.org/images/f/f5/AGSJ.jpg</a>) There are other version of it! I didn't know that until now! Anyway my version is the more beautiful, cause well that's one of my memories :) And that bring back memories! I played X-Wing and TIE-Figher to the death with that joystick! Rebel Assault, Terminal Velocity... And yeah I have to hold it firmly too as it was lightweight as possible! Never tried to use it for racing games, it looks way too hard to drive like that! Thanks for leveraging good old memories and bring back the joy-stick thing of that era. It was kind of a special gaming peripherals at this time on PC. Happy new year Clint!

Happy New Year!!! The "mac and cheese" joystick makes me think of those dried macaroni noodle crafts every little kid made in kindergarten... I wonder if someone would make one in joystick form just to be funny. :P My dad also bought a Sidewinder that I always had fun using in a bunch of games back in the 90s. Definitely an important part of my gaming experiences as a kid. I also admire how you always know what hardware and software you used even back in the day... all I remember about the 90s is that we had a PC instead of a Mac and a handful of games I used to play... I know nothing about the stats of said computer. Do you ask your parents about these things or did you always knew what you were using from a young age?

Lindsay Michelle

Happy new Years Clint. NFS takes me way back. Talking about sidewinder wouldn't that be nice video topic? I had the 1.0 Gamepad which had a gameport build in to daisychain them. Futhermore i consider the Sidewinder Gamevoice to be oddware.

Magnus Köhler

I don't know what you mean by "boxed." But my camera didn't come with a lens, just the DSLR body. I chose the 12-35mm <a href="http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/lumix-camera-lenses/H-HS12035.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/lumix-camera-lenses/H-HS12035.html</a>

LGR

I can not remember exactly which one i had as a child, but i think it was something like that: <a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/718Y8BC0G3L._AC_UL320_SR268,320_.gif." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/718Y8BC0G3L._AC_UL320_SR268,320_.gif.</a> A friend of mine and me played The Settlers when he was using my mice and i used the crappy joystick. I don't always miss the old times :D

Patrick Pelinski

Happy New Year LGR, totally unrelated, have you tried out the LA Noire VR version?

Wallace Fung Wooh Sheen

Oh a question Clint, the lens you use on your camera isn't the boxed one right? Because I can't remember the boxed lense to have any bokeh at all.

Ezydenias

have a merry 12018

Ezydenias

My first joystick was on the Atari. Or maybe it was the Ti-99? Am I dating myself?

Jailyn Dyer

YEP

LGR

Did you steal your soul from a Christmas Clone?

Steve Lovelace

Strikingly similar to the Kraft IBM PC joysticks of the mid 80s! <a href="https://i.imgur.com/ZCaMC4E.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/ZCaMC4E.jpg</a>

LGR

Nice, that's one of my favorite sticks of the period. And happy new years to you, too!

LGR

This was my first joystick, not counting the Atari VGS (Stock Apple IIe/IIc Joystick): <a href="http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/archives/vintage/images/0021/snap18.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/archives/vintage/images/0021/snap18.jpg</a>

<a href="https://imgur.com/a/5psMh" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/5psMh</a> was my choice and game, with a Packard Bell Navigator computer with a whopping 90 Mhz processor from I believe 1993? Came with I believe 8 MB of ram and we upgraded it to 40 or so MB of RAM, it was substantial. 2x Speed CD-ROM made Starcraft on it a bit jittery but that's what I did. Happy New Years, hope to see great things for you!

Kraft is that the same company who makes Mac and cheese

Happy new year Clint!

Happy Birthday !!! :D

Oh gosh. That is a cheap one alright. Which is funny, 'cause I've been dabbling with Apple II's a fair bit of late, and they seem to really love a certain Kraft stick. Maybe they just got cheap towards the end of the 80s? PC wise, my first was a "Quickshot Super Warrior" which I picked up around 1997 or so. It had *4* buttons, and a throttle dial, yet the same old calibration joys. It was actually half decent for a cheap-ish joystick… at least until the pots started to wear out a bit. But by that point, I could afford to splash out on a Sidewinder Precision Pro. Now that was a spectacular bit of engineering - I still have it around, and still use it on occasion with playing old DOS games through DOSBox. (My proper first… was probably Atari's Pro-Line controller for the 7800… which they seemed to bundle with 2600 Junior's down here. That one was always a little awkward for my 6-7 year old hands to use. Was so glad to switch over to the trusty classic 2600 stick for most of my 8-bit life back then!)

Rob Caporetto

Tandy 1000 joystick was my first. That was pretty basic haha

Jason Wellband