Well, unfortunately I managed to win the auction for this controller and received it today. And by using the word "unfortunately", I think you can tell I'm not too thrilled with it..at all. But hey, look on the bright side: you can extend your "controllers to avoid" list with a new entry.
Where to begin...I guess with the obvious:
That analog stick behaviour is not exactly what you want to see on any controller. Turns out whoever made this controller ditched SEGA's simple but effective analog stick mechanic to this lovely thing:
Which might have worked when it was brand new, but it sure as hell ain't working now. Diagonals are pretty much guaranteed to make it get stuck, but sometimes a simple Up or Down position does the job too. Naturally, because its design, it can't be swapped to an official SEGA-made analog stick either.
For some reason, it can also be pushed in as well, but I don't feel a button is being pressed when doing so:
Also, even the analog stick cap isn't compatible with an official one:
The hole size is different, and the whole thing is just thinner.
On the back, where the model number should be, it's completely blank, which is always a "good" sign:
The triggers are interesting:
They look like they also get stuck, but actually they have a shorter travel distance than the official ones. Also, they feel more stiff.
The buttons and dpad are okay, tho they feel a bit spongy.
After examining it, I didn't actually plug it in and test it with a game, because 1: I think my Dreamcast is better off without it, and 2: does anyone need to know more after seeing that first picture?
So one might think it at least could be used as a replacement case for an official controller PCB..I guess it could, but I wouldn't recommend it. The reason? If you look closely, you can see cracks on that case..not just one, but there are at least 3 bigger cracks on it. Have you ever seen an official Dreamcast controller with cracks on the case? Because I have like 8 official controllers, some pretty beaten up, but none of them have cracks. I even hit one of them to my table once in a rage quit (not proud of it), but even that only resulted in a small scratch on the side of it. When I opened up this clear controller, one screw hole tab broke off, as well as the tab keeping the facebuttons membrane in place..and not because I was rough with the case at all. If I were to hit a controller with this case to anything, I'm sure the case would shatter to a million pieces..if your tight grip on it doesn't break it first that is..
So there is the "Gamestation" controller in detail. Some people love to call the official Dreamcast controller terrible, but after holding this thing in my hands..I can safely say it could have been much, much worse, and SEGA did a pretty good job.
