Sega DC Controller: Looks like A Trilobite, & it Bites.
Written: Nov 02 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: New colors, shoulder buttons are nice.
Cons: Read the design botches below.
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| Alkaiser's Full Review: Sega Controller for Dreamcast |
This isn't the worst controller on the market. That distinction goes to the Nintendo 64, but this is a close runner up.
The first and most obvious design botch. Why is the cord attached to the controller underneath the Start button and not up top by where the VMU is plugged into? Instead of placing it in the logical location, Sega does it totally opposite and as a result you end up bending the cord, which leads to fraying and broken controllers. (Solder doesn't hold forever, people...when you keep exerting force on the connections by bending the wire they come loose.) I really don't understand how anyone could have possibly thought it was a good idea to use up 6 inches of cable by forcing you to fold it underneath the controller.
Second botch. Both control sticks are on the same side of the controller. While this seems like a good idea at first because nobody uses both control sticks at the same time, some games require you to use both control sticks at the same time. Gundam 0079: Side Story is impossible to play without turning auto-aim on because you cannot torso twist and move at the same time. Personally, I think the analog stick is basically a big joke anyway, I just stick with the D-pad anyway. It's not like there's this huge increase in performance you get from it...the D-Pad's just as good.
Third Botch. The controller is a huge wedge shape. I'm talking about the bottom of it. This makes it nearly impossible to play those buttom mashing games like Syndey Olympics, Virtua Athlete, or International Track and Field. You can't just set the controller down on a flat surface and mash the buttons...it'll either tip over or slide out from underneath. I found two ways around this, both of which have downsides. Way one, was to have a friend hold the controller down for me. This ended up being bad because some of the games required you to hit the L and R buttons and I couldn't reach them because my holder would accidentally block them. Way two was to pin the thing down with my calf. The problems with that is it would still slide slowly, and that my leg would hit the Start button and Pause the game. By the time I unpaused, I had totally lost my momentum, and would lose horribly.
Fourth botch. It looks nasty. What the heck are those pointy things on the end supposed to be? They should have just made it look like a smaller version of the system like they were going for. Why the heck is it so freakin' huge, anyway? What was wrong with the NES Brick, and the SNES controllers? The PS controller is a nice size, but the D-pad hurts.
If you can find a 3rd party controller that doesn't have these drawbacks, go for it...it really can't be much worse than the original controller, even though they come in the spiff new colors now.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
Alkaiser
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Clayton Chan
Location: Irvine, CA
Reviews written: 655
Trusted by: 344 members
About Me:
Broke the 700 pound mark on my leg lifts.
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