What is your favorite gaming doohickey you use not as intended?

[gorfcadet]

So what do you use in a way not intended by manufacturer? SEGA pad on an Atari? Atari as a lamp? Let's share pics and stories. I know I have a box full of wires and stuff I use to accomplish odd compatibilities.

 

My favorite arcade sticks are my Tatsunoko VS. Capcom sticks for the Wii. Granted, there is not a lot of use in a Wii only arcade stick. So I bought this on Amazon.

 

 

It was glitchy and switched player 1 and 2 depending on what it was connected to. It really didn't like OpenEmu at all.

 

So I remembered I bought this thing for my SNES mini.

 

 

Not a great pad, but that adapter it came with allowed it to work on Windows etc. The adapter... that was in essence... a Wii/USB adapter. Hmmm.

 

Yup. Now me in business. I can finally use my modded Wii sticks (upgraded buttons and sticks) on my Mac and Retro Freak and TBD. A keyboard mapper later and pinball is a go. Yes I keep an extra monitor connected and turned sideways at all times to play pinball.

 

Yes I know Macs can read a Wiimote, but batteries, holding a pointless Wiimote connected to a stick, and lag presses too many of my OCD buttons.

 

 

So what about you all? Any creative uses for the Power Pad? Track and Field controller? ROB the robot?

 

[Tanooki]

Back in the 90s it took some creative digging, but I remember finding a monster made y-cable that I rigged up with some other cables and a stereo system to make an old NES output in stereo and it even did split the audio up between the two speakers quite nicely. It added this nice level of audio depth I hadn't heard until a few years later with NES emulators getting creative with their option panels, and later in more recent times decent emulator based consoles too.

 

Other than that nothing really outside of using a GBA (various models) with a flash kit so I could play NES, GB/GBC(for GBA only devices), TG16 along with ISOs of CDs all on the same system. That was well above and beyond with so much hiding in one tiny kit and micro SD card. Toss that into something like a GB Player, and you can get those consoles, albeit a little squished, back into console mode on a TV too through the gamecube. Imagine Ys Book 1+2 TG CD on a GBA, through PCE Advance, channeled through the GB Player to work on a TV. It was quite nice.

[gorfcadet]

I remember getting buddies together and playing Four Swords on five tvs with five Gamecubes, four Gameboy Players, and a LOT of link cables. One of us was stuck on the "Elvis" TV, an old black and white 13" with a bullet hole just above the monitor. I picked it up at a Catholic school yard sale for a quarter! I thought the bullet hole gave it charm.

[keepdreamin]

I've got a pair of 2009ish PS3 Street Fighter 4 MadCatz fight sticks. I think they're identical to the sticks shown in the first post, just happen to be the version released for PS3 and 360 with a SF4 theme.

 

They've been wired with DB15 joystick ports, so they can be plugged up to a consolized Neo Geo MVS. The addition of the DB15 ports doesn't interfere with the stock USB cable operation. They can still be used with a PS3 just as intended.

[Eltigro]

I'm pretty boring I guess. Can't think of anything other than using Genesis controllers on my 2600. I tried a Genesis controller on my Master System once, but for some reason I didn't like it... don't remember if it didn't work right or what now.

 

Before I got an actual PS3 controller, I used a PS2 controller with an adapter cable on my PS3. That worked fine in games, but you had to press the power button on the console to exit games as there was no home button to press to make that menu come up.

[derFunkenstein]

Back in the 90s it took some creative digging, but I remember finding a monster made y-cable that I rigged up with some other cables and a stereo system to make an old NES output in stereo and it even did split the audio up between the two speakers quite nicely. It added this nice level of audio depth I hadn't heard until a few years later with NES emulators getting creative with their option panels, and later in more recent times decent emulator based consoles too.

I did this, too, because I wanted to output my NES to my little AIWA bookshelf stereo (those things were super popular in the early 90s). I used to listen to homemade game soundtracks I would record from the games' sound test screens.

[TDIRunner]

Based on many of the used disc based games I've seen, many people used to use the discs as drink coasters. At least that's the only thing I can think of that would cause the types of scratches I've seen.

[gorfcadet]

I did this, too, because I wanted to output my NES to my little AIWA bookshelf stereo (those things were super popular in the early 90s). I used to listen to homemade game soundtracks I would record from the games' sound test screens.

I used to play my Sega CD and Saturn games in my car CD player. Blue Skies (Daytona) whilst delivering the pizza.

[Azathoth]

I have a few Genesis 4 player adapters I got in some thrift boxes. I have one of them plugged into my setup to act as a controller selector; I can leave a 6 button pad, arcade stick, Justifier, and SMS pad all 4 hooked up at the same time and just toggle between them with the switch. The small bit of extra cord length provided by the adapter is also just enough so I can sit on the couch without controller cords being as tight as Dick's hatband.

[Tanooki]

I did the recording bit too with my SNES, not so much the NES really. I had this nice later 70s early 80s realistic receiver and tape deck, a huge jack microphone on a stand, and at the top of this entertainment cabinet some nice wood box paneled copper wire speakers. The NES was a treat, but the SNES was like beyond mind blowing in 1991/92 when out of nowhere you went from the likes of Super Mario World into the classical music of ActRaiser and the beats of Gradius III, to then be chased by the likes of Super Castlevania, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Final Fight, Final Fantasy II, and Street Fighter II. I'd wait until I was home alone and start banging out some nice mix tapes of various game scores using the option screen or strategic placement if needed in a safe area in a stage. I miss that old setup, really wish I still had it, but I'd pay up dearly to get that now due to the old is new types now.

[Flojomojo]

I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty, the world's knowledge at my fingertips, as well as thousands of fun games to play, but I keep coming back to this weird message board full of eccentric retro game fans.

[godslabrat]

The Power Glove makes a decent RPG controller

Edited June 26, 2018 by godslabrat

[John Stamos Mullet]

Atari 2600 Trak-Ball for cheating in Decathlon.

[Eltigro]

I've recorded video games, too... but for a different purpose...

 

There's a shell game gambling mini-game in Suikoden. The more you bet, the faster the cups move. At the highest level, it's pretty difficult to track the one with the ball. I ran my playstation's output through a VCR and recorded the cups moving, then went back and watched the tape in slow-mo so I could easily follow the cup. Then I went back to the game and selected the correct cup.

[Flojomojo]

Atari 2600 Trak-Ball for cheating in Decathlon.

 

My trackball was messed up almost out of the box (it was on sale, probably a return), but the buttons still worked, and they were large. I used it as a foot pedal for hitting the alternate weapons in Stargate.

 

[Pixelboy]

I had an original X-Box at one point, but I only used it to watch TV shows on DVD. The only game I ever played on it (before I sold my X-Box and bought a DVD player) was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which was a very good game.

[Flojomojo]

I have owned two recent game systems (Xbox One, replaced with Xbox One X) that have never had an optical disc placed into their drive slots.

[Billy2600]

I know I wasn't the only one to this, but: When I was a kid, I used to plug the Gameboy Camera into the Gameboy Player, run the SNES into my VCR and record myself (with no audio).

[pacman000]

I used to play my Sega CD and Saturn games in my car CD player. Blue Skies (Daytona) whilst delivering the pizza.

I copied the music from The Lost World (PS1) to my PC.

[derFunkenstein]

I have owned two recent game systems (Xbox One, replaced with Xbox One X) that have never had an optical disc placed into their drive slots.

My PS4 (which was replaced with a PS4 Pro, like your X1 + X1X) have had movie discs in them, but never a game disc. Between what you get free on the various marketplaces plus what's just too dang convenient to buy digitally, I've never needed a game disc for modern consoles. In a way, I half-way expect that the next gen won't have anything other than digital delivery. GameStop gonna be mad

[bigfriendly]

Atari 2600 Trak-Ball for cheating in Decathlon.

 

Dang, that's a good idea! I can remember running the 1500M while playing Decathalon. Probably why I have some arthritis in my wrist and elbow now! That game would wreck a 2600 stick in a hurry.

[Flojomojo]

My PS4 (which was replaced with a PS4 Pro, like your X1 + X1X) have had movie discs in them, but never a game disc. Between what you get free on the various marketplaces plus what's just too dang convenient to buy digitally, I've never needed a game disc for modern consoles. In a way, I half-way expect that the next gen won't have anything other than digital delivery. GameStop gonna be mad

I don't know who said it, but I feel like a saw a recent headline, "Playstation 5 is the last console, everything will be streaming after that."

[BassGuitari]

Those who know me know I'm generally an unapologetic purist. The closest I get to using things "not as intended" is probably third-party controllers and extension cables. Or using a Coleco controller to play Omega Race on the Atari (which I never do anyway).

 

Sega controllers on Atari = anathema.

 

 

 

My trackball was messed up almost out of the box (it was on sale, probably a return), but the buttons still worked, and they were large. I used it as a foot pedal for hitting the alternate weapons in Stargate.

 

This gives me an idea: I bet the Starplex controller would be great to use with Defender II, Radar Lock, Spy Hunter, etc., with its easily accessible buttons all laid out...

[Tanooki]

I doubt this counts, but I retired both my PS3 (when I got a PS4 eventually) and then the PS4 after about under 2 years because the unique games felt like downgrades and the rest Steam did to better -- so now the pair of them are just streaming/blu ray movie boxes, that's it. I have 2 nice Sony bluray players that just happen to say playstation on them but get no play.

[p1FqO3]

I run Night Driver's anti-burn routine on my TV, when I have no intention of playing it, just for atmospheric enhancement.

Edited June 27, 2018 by p1FqO3