Dreamcast-Talk.com

Finally a wireless Dreamcast controller! After RetroBit let us down this might ease the pain. Now I actually got a wired one awhile back and it was awful so I'm curious how this controller will be. I need some new Dreamcast controllers bad.

Here are the features of the controller:

No drift Hall Effect analog sticks
2.4 GHz wireless technology (low latency) with 30 foot range
Wireless vibration feedback
VMU wireless dongle
Pressure sensitive analog triggers / digital shoulder buttons
Updateable Firmware
USB-C Charging port
Comfortable and accurate D-pad
Turbo functionality
Comfortable and ergonomic design
Compatible with the original Sega® Dreamcast
Rechargeable battery w/10+ hours of battery life

https://youtu.be/HGICx-o7-1I

Having the VMU attached to the console with a 6" cable (even though I suppose you can use an extension) is a big minus for me. I'd much rather the VMU go into the controller like normal. Some games actually use the VMU during gameplay.

For the right price I’m in!

I like how it will have built in rumble I hope the quality of the controller is good. It kind of sucks that the VMU slot isn't on the controller but that isn't a big deal breaker

livingonwheels wrote:Having the VMU attached to the console with a 6" cable (even though I suppose you can use an extension) is a big minus for me. I'd much rather the VMU go into the controller like normal. Some games actually use the VMU during gameplay.

There was a guy from one of those Mediterranean countries (Greece or Turkey I believe, doesn't matter) was making a wireless controller with the VMU at over three times the price of the Striker AND you had to send them an official DC controller with your payment. I am not saying it was bad, in fact knowing it was a modded official DC controller made me feel good, it was just that price tag that kept me away.

Panja0 wrote:For the right price I’m in!

$49.99 USD. How's that?

their wired version was crap imo. The analog stick felt super cheap and had some issues trying to control what was happening onscreen especially like choosing options in the menus on like sports games...it was weird...then ultimately the left trigger just broke altogether after maybe 2 months of use

livingonwheels wrote:Having the VMU attached to the console with a 6" cable (even though I suppose you can use an extension) is a big minus for me. I'd much rather the VMU go into the controller like normal. Some games actually use the VMU during gameplay.

The reason they have it wired is that the protocol used by the DC has timing that is too strict to do reliably over standard wireless hardware. The DC expects the VMU to respond in a certain time frame, and won't wait long. A dongle can respond quick enough, but it's difficult to get the wireless round-trip latency low enough to make the DC happy.

There are ways to work around this, but I guess it was either too difficult/expensive or didn't occur to them. (For example, they could have the controller send the entire contents of the VMU to the dongle on boot up or when a VMU is inserted, so the dongle can respond to read requests fast enough; writes are buffered on the dongle and sent to the real VMU at whatever speed is possible. The dongle would have to report that there's no VMU inserted until it's finished reading the entire VMU, so it would take longer a VMU become visible to the DC when swapping VMUs.)

ncman071 wrote:their wired version was crap imo. The analog stick felt super cheap and had some issues trying to control what was happening onscreen especially like choosing options in the menus on like sports games...it was weird...then ultimately the left trigger just broke altogether after maybe 2 months of use

Your lucky, I only had mine for a couple days before I refund it. Same like you the trigger broke off, I only used it like 10 times and it came off. Also I use it in Sonic Adventure and I couldn't even get Sonic to run correctly so before my rage got to me and I was going to throw the controller at my wall I did the smart thing and got my money back. I hope this wireless controller is good. I'll wait for a review

ncman071 wrote:their wired version was crap imo. The analog stick felt super cheap and had some issues trying to control what was happening onscreen especially like choosing options in the menus on like sports games...it was weird...then ultimately the left trigger just broke altogether after maybe 2 months of use

Sonic1994DC wrote: Your lucky, I only had mine for a couple days before I refund it. Same like you the trigger broke off, I only used it like 10 times and it came off. Also I use it in Sonic Adventure and I couldn't even get Sonic to run correctly so before my rage got to me and I was going to throw the controller at my wall I did the smart thing and got my money back. I hope this wireless controller is good. I'll wait for a review

The stories of the triggers kept me away from the wired version. It even has me concerned for this release, too. I really like the design, but fragile triggers would be a deal-breaker to me. There was no suggestion of change in design, so I may sit back on this one. No doubt it will be popular for a bit, but I can wait a year if needed. Quality is really make-or-break for me. If it's sound, I would happily buy every color.