Saturday, January 7, 2017

Get Serious!

I've got a Playstation 4 now, but lately, all I seem to be doing with it is playing King of Fighters 14. Sure, I've got other games (waves to the still-sealed copy of Uncharted 4 that came with the system), but I may not have gotten a Playstation 4 at all if it weren't for this one. I've been a fan of SNK's work for a very long time, and of the high-profile fighting games available for the PS4, this seemed like my best option.

 The only problem is that I don't have a proper controller for it. The standard issue Dual Shock 4 is almost adequate, but it cheats you out of the sure-footed response you need to play King of Fighters 14 (or indeed, any fighting game) confidently. I've got a Hori controller coming in the mail, but that won't be here until Monday at the earliest... and the reviews on Amazon suggest that once it does arrive, it may not last long.
This thing had better last after spending
that much cash on it. I've got my eye
on you, Hori...
If only I had a way to use my cherished Sega Saturn joypad instead. Oh wait, I DO! SNK was kind enough to add support for "legacy" (marketing speak for "old") game controllers to King of Fighters 14, and I just received an adapter in the mail that lets me connect Playstation 2 joypads to my Playstation 3. If I'm really lucky, I can connect my Saturn pad to that adapter to my Playstation 4, and get the kind of flawless control I had on my Sega Saturn three console generations ago.
And the verdict is... drum roll please! It works, in a Red Green "duct tape solves everything" kind of way. (You remember The Red Green Show, right? It was like Home Improvement, except Canadian. And also funny.) King of Fighters 14 recognizes the controller as soon as you switch on legacy support in the options menu, but it's read in a peculiar way, with X and O and square and triangle trading places. It's easy enough to reassign those buttons to compensate, but the order select is hardwired to X, tri, and square, meaning that you're probably going to pick the wrong fighters and/or back out of menus more than you'd like.

 Beyond that? It works like a charm. The Saturn pad comes through yet again, readily taking all your input and throwing it on the screen as burn knuckles, venom strikes, and super Argentine backbreakers. There remains no better joypad for fighting games, making me wonder why Sega has kept the Saturn controller design in retirement for over a decade. Don't fighting game fans deserve better than to be left at the mercy of Mad Catz and Pelican?

 One other thing. I haven't posted anything on my YouTube page in a dog's age, but thanks to the Playstation 4's share feature, that may change. Stay tuned.

 EDIT! This is kind of important... to me, at least. King of Fighters 2000 also supports legacy controllers. When you start the game with one plugged in, you'll get a message stating "AUX CONTROLLER DETECTED," and can use that to play the game. While we're on the subject, here's a preliminary list of PS4 games which offer support for PS3 controllers, including fight sticks and pads.

 PS3 CONTROLLERS SUPPORTED!

 Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator
King of Fighters 14
King of Fighters 2000
Mortal Kombat X
Street Fighter V (DS4 must remain on)
Skullgirls

 PS3 CONTROLLERS UNCONFIRMED

 Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Last Blade 2
Metal Slug Anthology
Samurai Shodown VI/Tenkaichi
Fu'un Super Combo
Arcade Archives (doubtful)
Arcade Archives Neo-Geo (also doubtful)

 NO PS3 CONTROLLER SUPPORT

 Dead or Alive 5: Final Round 
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4 comments:

  1. NightrnrJanuary 8, 2017 at 11:53 AM

    Whoa! You have a Darkstalkers Saturn pad? Those are mighty hard to come by.
    I found a good Saturn to PS2 adapter, which might work too (although, daisy chaining adapters don't always play nice together).But I have no plans to get a PS4 (Street Fighter V might get to me one day though).
    I also have one of those SLS usb Saturn controllers (also hard to come by) that I use for PS3 fighters. I bet it would work too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ArugulaZJanuary 8, 2017 at 6:02 PM

      I wouldn't put much money on that bet. I think I tried my Saturn USB pad, and it wouldn't play nice with my PS4. I can try it again, but I think I'll get the same disappointing results. I never thought of using a Saturn to PS2 adapter, but if the Hori pad doesn't work out and I come across some spare Saturn pads, I may consider it.

      Also: heck yes I bought that Darkstalkers pad! And while it's nice that it's a collector's item, I've used mine enough that it's hardly in mint condition.

      Delete
  2. NightrnrJanuary 8, 2017 at 10:14 PM

    Just about everything "Saturn" is hard to come by these days. Everything worth having anyways, including a good Saturn controller adapter. I actually didn't get the one I wanted initially, but the one I found is still quality (and of course, not available anymore). I've been combining it with Tototek adapters for various systems, to good results.
    For Xbox, I even finally tracked down a "Magic Box". That works with every fighter on the system I tried when my other adapters sometimes failed me.

    My USB pad is supposedly Sega endorsed (the ones branded "SLS" with the Sega logo on front), so it would still be interesting to try.

    Oh, and collector's item or not, that Darkstalkers controller is still destined for 2D fighting. You are fulfilling its purpose admirably.

    In any case, I'll have to reference to this if I ever do catch up to current gen consoles (not likely).

    Is Hori still up to the same quality standards. I've never owned anything from them, but they always seemed to have a good reputation for controllers and arcade sticks.

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  3. saadOctober 17, 2018 at 5:27 AM

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