Saturday, March 20, 2021

Dial, Minus Style

I did it, you damn dirty homo sapiens. I bought an arcade spinner for all my brick-breaking, tube-running, adorable planet-defending needs. There's just one little problem, though... see if you can spot it.

My dial is currently without a proper home, so it's taken temporary residence inside a Tupperware container. It ain't sexy (how are electronics "sexy," exactly? I'm still wondering twenty years after the gaming press started using, and overusing, that description...), but it gets the job done. The spinner spins, the buttons press, and I can even use the case to store last night's lasagna after I'm done with my marathon session of Ghox, or whatever. 

So I guess it's good enough for the moment. However, I'd much rather have something with class, and mass, and if at all possible, four buttons. Most games that use a spinner top out at two, but Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulation demands four, and yeah, I need to play that one as nature and Sam Palahnuk intended. Since the GRS spinner only has support for two buttons, I'll have to install an encoder or a USB joystick inside the case, and join the two peripherals with a hub to give myself access to all the inputs I'll need.

Speaking of silly, superfluous toys, I broke down and got one of those Legends Gamer Pro joysticks, since it was super cheap and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get another chance after the stimulus runs dry. That'll arrive in about a week, and I look forward to kicking the tires of this mammoth twin joystick. What I probably won't get is Megavolt85's upcoming Dreamcast controller adapter, which makes the system compatible with everything but your Peloton exercise bicycle, but I'm tempted.

1 comment:

  1. That's beautiful man. I still need to get a proper enclosure for mine as well. :D

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