Opinions of the NES Advantage controller?

[SlowCoder]

I picked up one from one of my GWs today. Looks to be in good shape, and not played much. It's a heavy tabletop controller which feels like it will play well. Just wondering what you guys think?

[Reaperman]

I've really never liked the thing myself. It doesn't provide the 'click' that microswitches give me, and I believe it's actually too small. My favorite part of it is that it uses both control ports and allows switching between them for games with alternating players.

 

My personal setup is the dogbone through a fourscore for its turbo function.

Edited May 29, 2011 by Reaperman

[Algus]

I agree with Reaperman that it is to small. I used to love mine as a kid but I dug it out the other day and was disappointed. I just bought Fester's Quest (a game that DEMANDS a turbo controller) and was disappointed with the results. I think I'm going to order up a NES Max or two soonish.

 

If you have smaller hands, it is probably pretty nice to use and responds well. You don't have to plug it into both ports unless you really want to. Being able to switch one controller back and forth is nice for games that use rotating multiplayer. The slow button is gimmicky and worthless (it rapidly presses start while switched on) but the dials to control how responsive the turbo function is are pretty neat. The turbo is a toggle on the Advantage instead of a separate button. This may or may not be annoying depending on how you like to use the turbo feature.

 

It might be good for arcade ports. I don't really have any of those on my NES besides Spy Hunter (which I need to clean and haven't played with the Advantage yet). It might be awesome for something like Pac Man.

[SRGilbert]

I have one, but I'm not a fan either. I find the stick to be too stiff and the buttons aren't very responsive.

[Prodos8]

They're okay, I use mine mainly with an adapter I made that lets me use it on the A2600/A7800. I like it better now than I did back when they came out. A friend of mine had one in the late 80s and I didn't care for the stick being on the left side. Guess I'm used to that layout now and plus it's built like a tank and will last forever.

[Zing]

It was a good idea, but executed poorly. Adjustable turbo is not necessary. The slow motion was unusable. Overall, it was worse than using the regular pad.

 

Now, the Max was a worthy controller!

[Armonigann]

Like others have mentioned the Advantage is really good for arcade ports but thats pretty much it.

 

Tha Max just flat out sucks. The disc is terrible and you eventually have to use outer ring as a D-pad.

 

The only great thing about it is the Turbo buttons are faster than any other controller if Im not mistakin.

[Chuplayer]

The only thing I genuinely didn't like about the Advantage is that the buttons sometimes get stuck in the holes. I found it to be wholly useless because of that. Well, maybe not wholly. You can get some Pac-Man gaming done with it.

[Armonigann]

Zing: your avatar is extremely annoying.

 

Please back away from your camera.

[Galeforcerm]

I don't care for it. My favorite nes controller is the beeshu zipper. Its a famicom style controller that has turbo. The advantage doesn't feel very precise to me.

[Eltigro]

It's kind of a specialized controller for me. I didn't use it unless I was playing a shooter like 1943, or Life Force, or Gradius or something. Then it was great. For platformers and most other types of games, I used the regular controller.

[chrisbid]

i loved it in the day. i could set it in my lap and use my right forefinger and middle finger for the A and B buttons, while my thumb would grasp it underneath. a lot of difficult NES games are 10x easier with turbo, so it can be an improvement for certain games.

 

in the day the joystick was great, but nowadays with clicky style micro switches, it feels a bit cheap.

[TheGameCollector]

The only time I ever beat Abadox with no cheats, I used the NES Max. The Advantage stick was fun to use on Donkey Kong and other arcade ports but I never did try to beat any games with it apart from Super Mario Bros. which I beat with every controller I've ever had. Even the Quickshot XII. I hadn't been to arcades much back in the day and didn't really understand the appeal of huge sticks. Nowadays I like them (ever since I owned a Neo Geo AES and got used to the type of controller). When the powerpak arrives I'm sure the stick will get more use. Still the dogbone is my favorite NES controller.

Edited May 30, 2011 by TheGameCollector

[kgenthe]

The only thing I genuinely didn't like about the Advantage is that the buttons sometimes get stuck in the holes. I found it to be wholly useless because of that. Well, maybe not wholly. You can get some Pac-Man gaming done with it.

 

This is my experience as well. It's awesome for shooters (Life Force, Image Fight, etc) where you hold the button down and let the turbo do it thing. But I found it a bit clumsy for games like Ninja Gaiden. I also liked the turbo knobs, so you can dial the turbo in perfectly for each game.

 

I thought the stick was excellent, one of the best non-micro-switch sticks I've ever used. It's very accurate and responsive.

 

As a whole, the build quality is excellent, I can't see this thing every going down. I also love the style of the thing, it just screams 80's. It's an excellent show piece.

[PsychoKittyNet]

The advantage is good for arcade ports, the max is one of the worst controllers I have ever used, if you want turbo I suggest a decent third party pad.

[Animan]

The NES Advantage is a natural fit for Galaga. It's also good for other 2D shooters.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Animan

[potatohead]

There are older metal ones. I like those. I don't care for the newer plastic ones.

[TheGameCollector]

The advantage is good for arcade ports, the max is one of the worst controllers I have ever used, if you want turbo I suggest a decent third party pad.

 

The trick to using the Max is to always keep the disc held in. If you do that, then it becomes much easier to use for games that let you move diagonally.

[Tr3vor]

I like the NES advantage, I beat smb the day I got one, with it. I like the adjustable turbo, I lets me get the perfect speed of shooting, so i can get machine gun like shooting, instead of little bursts of shooting, in metroid. Slow mo is generally useless in any controller.

[Rex Dart]

I'm not a fan of the Advantage, either. I had a Camerica Supersonic when I was a kid and that thing replaced my original NES pads to the extent that I was hardly able to play NES with the tiny little NES controllers when at a friend's house. Nice clicky action to the stick, turbo fire that worked, even a "reversible" layout with buttons on either side of the stick.

[YAGRS]

It's awesome for shooters (Life Force, Image Fight, etc) where you hold the button down and let the turbo do it thing. But I found it a bit clumsy for games like Ninja Gaiden.

 

Funny that you mention Ninja Gaiden. It was because of that game that I no longer have my NES Advantage. I fell to my death one too many times and took out my frustration on my Advantage. I slammed my fist down on top of it and cracked the board inside.

 

I do believe I enjoyed the Advantage up to that point, though

[Kreeboy]

Ive only used the Advantage to play arcade ports...other than that I use the standard controller. Pacman, Galaga, DigDug even that crummy version of Burgertime played better with it.

[tz101]

The NES Advantage is a natural fit for Galaga. It's also good for other 2D shooters.

 

For arcade Galaga fans, NES Advantage just does not have enough "slappiness" in its fire buttons. They are too stiff compared to the arcade fire buttons. I really want a 3rd party arcade stick made with click switches and arcade buttons for Galaga on NES.

[Lendorien]

Hm. I in general like the Advantage, but I agree with others that it's really best for arcade ports. It's certainly better than the Max. I've used the max and I just find it completely awkward.

[retrorussell]

I rather liked having adjustable turbo buttons, only because I played a lot of Trojan. I would wail on the turbo when facing the last boss (Achilles), and lay off a bit until he reared up to swing at me, then he'd get nailed. It helped me beat him with ease.