Jaguar Controller Questions

[up2knowgood]

I have two Jaguar Controllers, one with grey buttons that came with the system, and one with black buttons I bought as a spare. The black buttoned controller doesn't say where it was made on the back, which for electronics usually means it was made in America. However, this isn't proof of anything, and I have read the information on several Jaguar boxes online, and they all say "Controller Made in China" or "Controller Made in Republic of China."

 

Since the consoles themselves, the Jaguar CD add-on, the CD games, and many of the cartridges are all made in America, I wondered if it was possible that there were at least a few Jaguar controllers also made in America. Does anyone have any sort of information about Jaguar production?

 

Pictures below.

 

 

 

[Clint Thompson]

Interesting question, I wondered the same thing as I was looking at the various versions I had just last week. I know the machine was touted to be made in the USA but that can often be used very loosely. Seems there were at least two different black versions, one with a really thick cable and then one with a thin one with the end piece.

[Rick Dangerous]

The pro controller molds were not founds recently among the rest. Maybe they were subbed out to China or Taiwan.

[up2knowgood]

Interesting question, I wondered the same thing as I was looking at the various versions I had just last week. I know the machine was touted to be made in the USA but that can often be used very loosely. Seems there were at least two different black versions, one with a really thick cable and then one with a thin one with the end piece.

 

Yeah, the console itself says "Made in America" on it, but its hard to say how many of the internal parts were truly made in America.

 

I also kind of wonder what the difference between the two is. I mean, obviously I can tell the buttons are different colors, but what is the significance to the difference?

[up2knowgood]

The pro controller molds were not founds recently among the rest. Maybe they were subbed out to China or Taiwan.

 

I've seen a few Procontroller boxes online, and they all say "Made in China" on them, so I think its likely that they were subcontracted out, and made in China. Who knows what could have happened to the molds after production stopped, they probably got destroyed.

[Lynxpro]

The pro controller molds were not founds recently among the rest. Maybe they were subbed out to China or Taiwan.

 

I wasn't aware any Jaguar controller molds were found at all. I thought the only things that came up were the console and cartridge molds that that dental company had owned.

 

I'd be very happy if the regular Jaguar controller molds were/have been found. If there was more supply on the market, it would compel hobbyists to make adapters to use them with the 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, etc. It might also compel people to add hacks/updates to various ST games so they could be used for those games on the STe and Falcons. Hell, I'm surprised the Amiga community never offered a card to provide the Enhanced Joystick Ports to their systems. They were certainly better than the CDTV or Amiga CD32 controllers.

[+CyranoJ]

 

I wasn't aware any Jaguar controller molds were found at all. I thought the only things that came up were the console and cartridge molds that that dental company had owned.

 

I'd be very happy if the regular Jaguar controller molds were/have been found. If there was more supply on the market, it would compel hobbyists to make adapters to use them with the 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, etc. It might also compel people to add hacks/updates to various ST games so they could be used for those games on the STe and Falcons. Hell, I'm surprised the Amiga community never offered a card to provide the Enhanced Joystick Ports to their systems. They were certainly better than the CDTV or Amiga CD32 controllers.

 

 

I can't imagine anyone would prefer a jagpad over a good old ZipStik.

[Lynxpro]

 

 

I can't imagine anyone would prefer a jagpad over a good old ZipStik.

 

A JagPad vs. a Competition Pro knock-off? I'll take the JagPad. It has the 3 Fire Buttons, the Pause & Option buttons, and the numeric keypad.

[+CyranoJ]

 

A JagPad vs. a Competition Pro knock-off? I'll take the JagPad. It has the 3 Fire Buttons, the Pause & Option buttons, and the numeric keypad.

 

Which isn't a very good trade for precision movement, when compared to the god awful dpad

[Lynxpro]

 

Which isn't a very good trade for precision movement, when compared to the god awful dpad

 

I never had problems with the Jag's DPad. But I am surprised I haven't seen any pics of anyone adding a thumbstick to the controller.

 

I'm skeptical about the "precision" of that other joystick. It's not analog so how could it really be precise? But more power to you if that's your weapon of choice. I'm biased because I like as many buttons as possible at my disposal. That's why as a former ST gamer it drove me up the wall that it only recognized 1 fire button through the DB9s and I really wanted so much more support for controllers through the Enhanced Joystick Ports of the STe and Falcon.

[+Sauron]

 

 

I can't imagine anyone would prefer a jagpad over a good old ZipStik.

 

I'd take a Jag Pro Controller over just about anything.

[up2knowgood]

 

I'd take a Jag Pro Controller over just about anything.

Yeah, I like the Pro Controller too, that little groove in the middle the controller should be on all Jaguar controllers, it makes it so easy to remove overlays without damaging them.

[up2knowgood]

 

I never had problems with the Jag's DPad. But I am surprised I haven't seen any pics of anyone adding a thumbstick to the controller.

 

I'm skeptical about the "precision" of that other joystick. It's not analog so how could it really be precise? But more power to you if that's your weapon of choice. I'm biased because I like as many buttons as possible at my disposal. That's why as a former ST gamer it drove me up the wall that it only recognized 1 fire button through the DB9s and I really wanted so much more support for controllers through the Enhanced Joystick Ports of the STe and Falcon.

 

Good point with the thumbstick, I never thought of it before. I mean, I've seen a few different versions of the rotary controllers for Tempest 2000. So many that I thought some were officially released by Atari! Must be harder to do, might require a mold to make the new part.

[up2knowgood]

 

A JagPad vs. a Competition Pro knock-off? I'll take the JagPad. It has the 3 Fire Buttons, the Pause & Option buttons, and the numeric keypad.

 

Full disclosure, if a Pro knock-off was made, I'd probably buy it just to compare it to the original Pro. Maybe even do a YouTube video review.