DustyKramKram Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 I'm currently in the market for a Hori Mini Pad for N64 after hearing such great things about it, and it got me to thinking, what are the best third party accessories for consoles? Generally, third party accessories get a bad rap, but I seem to remember a few over the years that were preferred to their first party equivalents. The Logitech wireless controller for PS2 comes to mind. What about accessories invented by third party companies that had no first party equivalent? I'm sure there have been some interesting things like that pop up from time to time. What are some great, notably not-so-great, or flat-out weird accessories that you can recall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Well, Hori is one, if not the only third-party accessories maker that got consistently the rights to label their product with a Nintendo label or at least, official console names, using Nintendo designs, etc. So, Hori is a no-brainer : if you see hori, then you can go for it. As far as brand goes, many MadCatz accessories I owned were fine, of decent quality. Not a lot of controllers I can recall, but things like memory cards and rumble pack for the Dreamcast : fine! One brand you don't wanna have is Big Ben. Low price, but low quality. Flimsy plastic, poor reliability, odd, uncomfortable design for all of their controllers... You do not want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Wish I could recall the brand but growing up I had a clear plastic SNES controller with autofire that was a bit larger than the stock one and I really loved it. Unfortunately I got mad at Megaman X and I broke the thing. Oddly enough I have more nostalgia about that than the stock one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfitzenr Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Wish I could recall the brand but growing up I had a clear plastic SNES controller with autofire that was a bit larger than the stock one and I really loved it. Unfortunately I got mad at Megaman X and I broke the thing. Oddly enough I have more nostalgia about that than the stock one. Was that the progammable one? I had one, and it was my main controller for like, ever! Until... i got mad at a game and broke it. That clear plastic wasn't as durable as the stock stuff. I rarely used the macros or the autofire but it was just so damned responsive and comfortable for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Arcade sticks are typically the first things that come to mind for me. Hori has been named, but there's also Ascii, and some no-name ones like the Battlestation II multi-system dual-stick, or the Xgaming X-Arcade sticks. Even sticks that were brought over as first-party accessories were often still made by third party companies. Some light guns come to mind too. I have a third party "Enforcer" one for the Saturn, which is pretty much just as accurate as the official Stunner gun by Sega. On the 3DO, I used a controller that had four face buttons and two shoulder keys, which made playing Primal Rage, Street Fighter II and other fighting games considerably easier. I believe it was either by Performance, or Interact--I do not remember. The Capcom Soldier fighting pad was also a neat one, and that also came out on the SNES and Genesis along with the 3DO. Racing wheels are a no-brainer too. I don't think there were many 1st party ones. I know Sega had theirs on the Saturn, but outside of that most of the wheels I have seen have been third party on other systems. They really enhance the experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Was that the progammable one? I had one, and it was my main controller for like, ever! Until... i got mad at a game and broke it. That clear plastic wasn't as durable as the stock stuff. I rarely used the macros or the autofire but it was just so damned responsive and comfortable for some reason. Mine wasn't programmable but it did look very similar otherwise. I liked the larger size as even at a younger age I found the SNES pad to be a touch small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DustyKramKram Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Wish I could recall the brand but growing up I had a clear plastic SNES controller with autofire that was a bit larger than the stock one and I really loved it. Unfortunately I got mad at Megaman X and I broke the thing. Oddly enough I have more nostalgia about that than the stock one. Was it this one? http://www.sorethumbretrogames.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/n/sn_pro_pad.jpg My cousin had a larger SNES controller that I loved using when I visited her house, but it wasn't clear. I seem to recall it feeling longer, not necessarily bulkier. Can't recall if it had turbo switches or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 I think so, DKK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfitzenr Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Woah. Same company! It's funny... like I really love the SNES controller overall. But back in the day, I would bring the programpad around to friends' houses. I'd get PISSED because my older brother always got dibs on it and I'd have to play with the regular one! Maybe I need to pick one up and see how nice it plays with an SNES to USB adapter... I'm trying to think of other 3rd party stuff but honestly I mostly had bad luck with 3rd party stuff. I used a lot of 'alternative' stuff but usually first party (like, I played so many games exclusively with the NES Advantage, I almost exclusively used the Super Action controller for Coleco, etc.) I DID almost always use 3rd party high-capacity mem cards for PSX but if you played RPGs that was almost a necessity. And honestly, Obviously for more modern stuff, arcade sticks are the one 3rd party thing I can think of that really can enhance the experience for some stuff. PC tho... I was obsessed with my original Gravis Gamepad! And then later, daisy-chaining Sidewinders was the shiz. But I guess by that point pretty much every accessory was by definition 'third party.' Kinda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Admittedly, on PC, Sidewinder being Microsoft, they can be considered original controllers as well as the Xbox 360 controller now (well, I guess now it's more the Xbone controller) but yeah. That notion of third part on PC is a bit blurry. I guess you could make a difference between high profile, innovative, quality, standard defining product (Logitech G25 and G27 racing wheels, Xbox 360 gamepad) and the copycats (Thrustmaster wheels, any Chinese made USB gamepad). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 For the Atari 2600 Wico made some great third party controllers. The bat handle controller is my go to controller for playing 2600 games. And they also made controllers for the 5200. but prepared to shell out a lot of dough as they are not cheap. I also like the Gemstick 2600 controllers as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lentzquest Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 The Beeshu Zipper controllers for the NES are fantastic. They're still one of my go-to controllers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I had horrible luck with 3rd party cards. N64, Dreamcast, PSX all nuked saves. Admittedly I'm clearly a slow learner there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) There are 3rd party N64 memory card? I never saw any game that even use the original ones I have one 1109 or so 3rd party GameCube card, a "MaDrics". I was worried at first, but I have been using it for a good 7 years not, and never got any single issue. Edited December 3, 2015 by CatPix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I want to say it was a Pelican card?? It's been like 15 years now. I believe I lost a Rush 2 save among others. Mighta been Mad Catz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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