@timixretroplays@digipres.club
Post #3989771
2024-07-21 11:16 UTC
Joysticks at the time had two analog axes and two buttons, max, and the gameport had a total of four of each - it was designed so you could plug two joysticks into the same port using a Y-adapter cable, and each would use half of the pins.
The Gravis PC GamePad came along in 1991, and selfishly took all four buttons for itself. That was revolutionary on its own, but time's arrow marches forward, and by the mid 90s games were becoming ever more complex, and gamers demanded more control.
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@timixretroplays@digipres.club 2024-07-21 11:18
Enter the GamePad Pro, with its *ten* digital buttons as well as the customary D-pad. You could argue (many have) that it's a complete rip-off of the original PlayStation controller, but there's more to copying electronics than tracing around the outside - the PS1, like other consoles, used a digital protocol to talk to its controllers. But the PC gameport was totally analogue - no smarts at all, just four little lights that flickered, and four more that dimmed. So Gravis had to get clever.