Starfighter Joystick

Crash

Overall 2.5/5

Mark Caswell

Phil King

STICK IT! Forget Star Wars, this is a series destined to really run. In Issue 60 our joystick update promised sequels as soon as we received more sticks. With blisters not healed from that feature, Mark and Phil return to the joystick frontline... Star Fighter Cheetah £14.95 PHIL: 'Probably the best joystick in the world' is Cheetah's bold claim for this positively huge stick. The massive moulded handle provides a comfortable grip, while the equally large base (with suckers) aids stability - great for table-top play, useless for hand-held. Four fire buttons are incorporated, along with the now-typical autofire option. An extra D-plug allows the Star Fighter to be connected to +2/+3s. The stick has a one year guarantee. and eight microswitches make the stick fairly responsive Unfortunately it has a very off-putting, loose feel which makes it unsuitable for games requiring precise movements. MARK: This large stick is just the right size for my shovel-sized hands, but most people should definitely give it a try before buying. In play the thumb and forefinger fire buttons seem well placed, but feel loose. The stick itself seems slack, although, strangely the diagonals are quite easy. Playing Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge was difficult, given the length of stick travel, and some terrible grating sounds were produced. Readers wanting an exciting-looking stick to play slow-moving flight sims/space games could enjoy this product, but it's a questionable buy for most.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Function Rating 5/10

Design Rating 7/10

JOYSTICKS - WHAT TO LOOK FOR When it comes to joysticks, value for money can be difficult to assess. Naturally, you want one that's human proof, flexible, accurate and not likely to fall apart - so, to help you in your search, C&VG did a test run to see what you can expect for your money. We found that the most expensive wasn't necessarily the best. Aside from working out how much you can afford, decide what you want in terms of design and size - if you have limited desk space, or even no desk space at all, you may need one of the mini versions that is either hand held or stays rooted to the spot by little black plastic feet attached to the base, to stop it slipping. You may also have figured that most joysticks come in zap-pow colours like red/black, but more variations on the colour theme keep appearing and, more importantly, there is an increasing abundance of touch-sensitive joysticks, like Cheetasoft's RAT. RAT, which stands for Remote Action Transmitter, is a nice little gadget that enables you to play games without all those awkward dangling wires getting in the way. The RAT comes in two parts - the stick itself with a touch sensitive control surface and the receiver interface which plugs into the back of your Spectrum or Commodore 64. The stick looks more like one of those gizmos you get to work your TV set with - except instead of buttons it has that touch sensitive pad for direction control and another pad for firing/jumping. The RAT is fully Kempston compatible and is available for the Spectrum and Commodore 64 at £29.95. Maidenhead-based company Wico do a selection of traditional-style joysticks priced between £15 and £45, made specially for the CBM 64, Atari and Vic 20. The best one, in my book, is also the cheapest, at £13. Light grey in colour, with a black gear lever and white fire button on top. The Boss looks rather like a vacuum cleaner. However,it will zoom you around arcade games at the speed of light and has decent finger grips for you to hang onto. Their strangest joystick is the £25 Three Way Deluxe which comes with three different grips. One is a puny oval shape, another resembles an outsize radish which is very difficult to hold and the third is very similar to The Boss. This last one, again with proper finger grips, is the only one I'd use if given the Three Way joystick as a present. All three are red on a black base and the two fire buttons can be found on the base and grip tops. The selector switch determines whether you use one fire button or both at once and each grip is easy to pull on or off, without being too loose. However, the price seems excessive unless you really are going to use all three grips - remember you could get an equally good joystick for £12 less. But, to be fair, the thin grip may be good for little kids whose hands can't manage the bigger models. This one didn't work as effectively as The Boss - or, for that matter, the Redball joystick. Despite its name, the latter is a grip-type rather than ball-type joystick and costs £23. Again, there are two fire buttons and a selector switch so you can choose which one you want. Although you have to wrestle a fair bit with this one, it is accurate. However, there is always the problem of gaming cramp - rather like writer's cramp. It certainly makes you limp-wristed - just as if you'd been trying to twist the top off a new jar of marmalade. So instead of giving your aching wrists a break and shaking them around periodically, you may care to raid the bank and fork out a whacking great £45 for Trackball. However, this one was the least reliable of all when tested, with absolutely no results at all. It didn't matter which way you span the ball - you got about as much action as Silent Night. This offering is visually quite plain, consisting of a white ball in a square box with a red top and one fire button. Kempston's joysticks inspired both love and loathing. Love was directed at their cute Junior Pro joystick which is red all over and very tiny - great if you have an untidy desk or limited space. It costs only £5.99, and works very well indeed. More attractive than most joysticks due to its miniature features, it's a smart, compact little number which will work on Vic 20, Atari, CBM 64 and Sinclair Spectrums. Like all the joysticks previously mentioned, it has little rubber feet on the underside of its base to stop it sliding around during use and one fire button can be found on the base. The company isn't kidding when it says this joystick has been designed to combine economy with high performance - the price is unbeatable and shows you don't have to shell out loads of bread in order to make sure you get a good product. Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence is the BBC Pro joystick, also from Kempston at £16.95. Its ugliness is its most interesting feature. Loaded with clashing colours, it looks like a big, square milky bar with two huge red fire buttons on the base, brown grip and black lead. Also for the BBC is Strike Control, a set of two joysticks from Consumer Electronics at £13.85. These can be hand held or left on a surface and, while they're quite dinky and attractive looking, the duo we tested didn't work at all well. Of the two blue and white boxes with black switches at the top, only one worked. If there were two of you playing a game, one of you would be right out of luck. However, the one that did work did an excellent job and can be recommended. From the same company come three more joysticks - Slik Stick, Starfighter and Joy Sensor, all for the Atari, Vic 20 and CBM 64. The first, although it sounds like a make-up pencil or cover-up stick, likes moving characters up or down but has an aversion to right or left. This is a shame, as it is a really smart number, black and orange with quite a sophisticated finish and one base fire button. This one can also be used on the TI-99/4A but you'll need adaptor model 11060 first. The £8 Starfighter gave much the same performance, with up or down movement but apparently no left or right. This one also looks quite good, in a mixture of black, silver and orange, but design-wise is not quite as smart as the Silk Stick. Last but not least, the Joy Sensor seems to have no sense of left or right, either. This £14.65 model is a touch sensitive joystick simulator resembling a calculator without any buttons. But you won't be in luck if you want to use these joysticks on the Commodore C16 - its joystick ports are different from those on the CBM 64 and Commodore expects you to purchase your joysticks from Commodore dealers only. MAKE: The Boss FUNCTION RATING: 9 DESIGN RATING: 6 DISTRIBUTOR: CGL, [redacted] MAKE: Three Way Deluxe FUNCTION RATING: 5 DESIGN RATING: 4 DISTRIBUTOR: CGL, [redacted] MAKE: Redball FUNCTION RATING: 7 DESIGN RATING: 7 DISTRIBUTOR: CGL, [redacted] MAKE: Trackball FUNCTION RATING: 2 DESIGN RATING: 3 DISTRIBUTOR: CGL, [redacted] MAKE: Junior Pro FUNCTION RATING: 9 DESIGN RATING: 9 DISTRIBUTOR: Kempston, [redacted] MAKE: BBC Pro FUNCTION RATING: 8 DESIGN RATING: 3 DISTRIBUTOR: Kempston, [redacted] MAKE: Slik Stick FUNCTION RATING: 5 DESIGN RATING: 8 DISTRIBUTOR: Kempston, [redacted] MAKE: Starfighter FUNCTION RATING: 5 DESIGN RATING: 7 DISTRIBUTOR: Kempston, [redacted] MAKE: Joy Sensor FUNCTION RATING: 5 DESIGN RATING: 5 DISTRIBUTOR: Kempston, [redacted] MAKE: The RAT FUNCTION RATING: 5 DESIGN RATING: 5 DISTRIBUTOR: Cheetahsoft

Above: Redball £23.00. Below: Three Way Deluxe £25.00 both from Wico.

BBC Pro Joystick £16.95 Kempston.

Joy Sensor from £14.65 Consumer Electronics.

Junior Pro Joystick from Kempston.

Strike Control from £13.85 Consumer Electronics.

The Boss £13.00 from Wico.

Big K

John Conquest

STICKS MAY BREAK... ...Or do their bearings in, but nothing fazes John Conquest. He's got plenty more to fall back on. Look through the computer mag ads and you'll see that there are a lot of people trying to sell you custom joysticks, all convinced that theirs is the real McCoy. "Arcade action", "instant response", "high quality", "professional" - writing joysticks ads looks like a doddle, but what we're concerned with here is the rather more difficult business of actually buying one. Obviously the first consideration is compatibility, whether or not the widget will fit your machine. Virtually all the joysticks currently available are designed to fit Atari video & computer systems and Commodores, though they'll also work on CBS's Colecovision videos (you'll still need a standard controller in the second port to make the games run). Wico supply adaptor leads for Apple and Radio Shack marchines and, like Suncom, for Texas instruments TI 99/4As. A rare exception is Suncom's Strike Commander (£18.95), made specifically for the BBC or Dragon, though Kempston are also planning a BBC stick. VEXED The vexed question of interfaces is one on which you'll need expert, and hopefully disinterested, advice. For Spectrums, the Kempston at £11.50, which will accept any stick, has only one drawback, a single port. For BBc's the Wizard at £14.95 is recommended. The basic rules are not to get joysticks with plugs jury-rigged to fit machines they weren't designed for (they don't work too well) and to avoid anything that needs a program to make it run. A less obvious but vital consideration is the size of your hand. Believe me, that's important. Many of the sticks I tried simply weren't comfortable, but might well suit someone with smaller, or indeed larger, hands and this applies especially to shaped grips. Unfortunately a lot of shops stock a very limited range, usually Quickshot IIs or Point Masters, so for this and many other reasons it's well worth while going to one of the big computer shops and trying your hand at their range. Lion House in London's Tottenham Court Road, for instance, has 17 models ready to be hooked up for demonstration, and the Silica shop in Sidcup reckons to have at least 15 of a possible 26 in stock at any given time. Even if you just try them for feel, you'll notice the differences. Ask yourself realistically how much you're going to use a stick. Price differences are almost entirely down to quality of construction and the cheap ones simply aren't up to a lot of punishment. If you're heavily into 'Decathalon', to take an extreme example, a cheap joystick is going to be a waste of money. With joysticks you get what you pay for with a vengeance, and Atari owners at least should calculate whet her they're really improving on the standard issue sticks. OBVIOUS The most obvious differences between cheap and not so cheap sticks are whether or not they have steel shafts, the grade of plastics (high impact or extruded) used and the general solidity of construction. What you don't see is the guts, which is what really sorts them out. Very few sticks have microswitches (though Kempston are rumoured to be using them in all future models), but the leaf switches found in most vary considerably in quality and the cheap ones have very limited lives. Also hidden inside the casing is the shaft mounting which is another thing that decides whether or not the stick will go on doing what you want it to do. You should also think about the kind of game you usually play. Sticks come in two basic configurations, with the fire button in the handle, either centre fire on the top or trigger fire in the handle itself, or mounted on the base. I'm convinced that handle fire is a major contribution to fire control. Most of the sticks with handle fire have a base button as well, which can be a nuisance when hand holding, and some base mountings are available in either left or right hand versions or already have both, either as separate buttons or as a bar across the width of the base. Most of the sticks mentioned were tested with Activision's Atari computer version of River Raid.It requires precise manoeuvre, reliable and responsive speed control and pinpoint fire - in other words it uses everything that a joystick ought to offer. The cheapest sticks around are Acorn at £13 a pair (soon to go up to £19), which are so terrible that nobody seems to stock them. The Pinnacle at £7.95 is admired more for its price than for the quality of its 8-way movement and handle and base fire buttons, but if you really want to spend the minimum, this is the one. For £9.95 you can get Spectravision's Quickshot I with centre handle fire and sucker feet, which, for rather more, is a standard Spectrum interface offering. Like its big brother (below) its shaped handle makes hand size critical. Easy to use, though because of the shaft mounting rather loose, it's as fragile as it looks and would last about five minutes in an arcade. Its leaf switches have a poor reputation. Alternatively there's Suncom's Slik Stik, the cheapest half way reasonable stick, which has a ball grip, a left hand side base fire button and is a nice hand size. Solidly made, it's the kind of thing Atari ought to be offering as standard. First in over the £10 mark is the very basic Kempston 1000 (£10.99) which has little over the Slik Stik except a base fire bar, workable from left or right. The handle suggests that it might best be controlled with the thumb. It's followed at £11.95 by the Quickshot II which is identical to the junior version already dealt with except that it has 'auto rapid fire' via a trigger in the handle, its main selling point. LOOSE FEEL The Triga Command (£12.99) has a very similar loose feel, again due to the shaft mounting, and looks very plasticky. It has a trigger tire only (and suctions cup feet) and comes in £19.99 versions for Spectrum and BBC. The handles design however is excellent with a diamond cross-cut pistol grip that is very satisfying. The much solider Kempston 3000 with handle centre, trigger and base fire bar buttons is El 2.75. At £12.95 you can choose between the Point Master, very similar to the Quickshot II but slightly less robust, and Sumlock's all-British Pro-Ace which resembles the Kempstons in its solid high-impact plastic construction and fire bar (plus centre fire in the handle), but which I found sluggish and awkwardly shaped. On the other hand, Sumlock back up the quality of their leaf switches with a two year warranty, so it should be pretty reliable in the long term. The top of the range Kempston 5000 (£13.50) is, again, a very solid piece of work with a ball grip on a short, tapered steel shaft and both left and right hand base fire buttons. It feels a bit stiff but I'm told that it wears in well. The next Suncom, the £13.95 Starfighter (also available in a ritzier version for Apple computers at a very ritzy £39.96) is a very nice hand size with excellent manoeuvre and speed control. It has a left hand base fire button and a stubby unshaped plastic handle that I found far too short, but that's me. Wico, like Suncom and American firm, make their first entry at £14.95 with The Boss, a muscular brute that I found very heavy to use, aggravating my advanced case of video wrist, but very positive. However as the hand grip is shaped for a much smaller hand than mine, it's virtually unusable in my glove size. The Arcade at £15.95 is the cheapest stick that one can get really enthusiastic about. Dutch made, with very superior microswitches, it's extremely positive and responsive, a real pleasure to use. This is an excellent device and highly recommended - not just by me but by Lion House where it's a big favourite. STEEL SHAFT Back to Suncom at £18,95 with the TAC which has a ball handle, steel shaft, nonslip feet and left and right hand side base fire buttons. A nice size for hand holding but, despite the amazing manoeuvre control, I find the shaft too short, the fire buttons need very firm instruction and the game (River Raid) seemed much speedier than with other sticks. The legendary Le Stick at £19.95 boasts unique mercury switches, but they're a mixed blessing. While it's ideal for one-handed use and suits games like Decathalon superbly, firing jogs the switches so that it has a tendency to jump about when you start shooting. Le Stick is if anything too responsive and so hard to control, making it a real wrist killer. QUALITY Jumping to £24.95 we have another Wico, the Red Ball a quality number with a longer steel shaft, a good size ball handle with built in fire button, plus another on the base, and all the control one expects from Wico widgets. However at this price I'd spring another £3 to get the £27.95 Wico Three Way. This is my personal favourite of all the sticks I tried and, for my money, the top of the range. It has a very long steel shaft, which means a far better 'throw', and three different clip-on handles, though in practice I only use one, the slim tapered job. The Three Way has a centre fire button in the handle and another on the base, but it offers a unique switching feature which enables one to cut off the base button, extremely useful if, like me, you like holding the stick in one hand and working it with the other. With other dual fire sticks it's very easy to find your fingers working both fire buttons, which may not be what you want. For River Raid at any rate the Three Way is the primp stick for control, fire accuracy, delicacy of manoeuvre, speed control and overall feel and response. TOUGH BABY From the same stable as The Arcade comes the Professional Mark at £28.95, which looks rather like it had been ripped off the front of an arcade machine. This is one tough baby and though I can't help wondering exactly what 'Professional' means in this context, if anything deserves the name this does. I imagine some of you must at some time have put your noses into a video arcade. If so, you'll know exactly what to expect from this one, The joker in the joystick pack is Suncom's Joy Sensor which looks rather like an upmarket version of Intellivision's control pad. I can't make it work and though I've heard rumours of people who have mastered it and love it. I've never actually met one of them. All it gives me is vicious oversteer. At £29.95 this seems like a real gamble, but maybe I'm missing something. MOVE BLIP All joysticks do pretty much the same thing, move a little blip round a TV screen. So how come there's a £20+ difference between the cheapest and the most expensive? Well, it depends on whether they're being made to a price or to a standard. I am not a racist... but. The tell-tale on the cheap sticks is the 'Made in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea' and there's no getting away from the fact that they're not in the same class as the American and Dutch made sticks. The trick is to find one that suits both your hand and your pocket, which is why you need access to a wide range. However even the big shops have no consensus view; Lion House are big Wico fans, plugging the price range with the Pinnacle and The Arcade, while Silica Shop prefer the Suncom Slik Stik and Starfighter with the Quickshot as back up. To me the ideal stick would be a cross between the Triga (handle design), The Arcade (micro switches) and Wico Three Way (everything else), in the real world three sticks seem to me to stand out as value for money and they are: 1. Suncom Slik Stik - £9.95 2. The Arcade - £15.95. 3. Wico Three Way - £27.95

ABOVE: the Spectravision 2.

Both Spectras.

LEFT: Suncom Slik Stik. RIGHT: the Joy-Sensor vicious oversteer.

The Professional.

The WICO range - with the 3-Way top of the list.

The lot.

Personal Computer Games

Strength 7/10

Responsiveness 8/10

Ease Of Use 7/10

Value For Money 7/10

Peter Connor

THE JOYSTICK OPTION Peter Connor takes today's joysticks through their paces. It's when you've just been playing a version of Defender and you have to ask your mum to come and untie the knots in your scrambled fingers that you finally realize it might be a good idea to get yourself a joystick. But which one? How can you choose from the thousands of ads in the computer magazines, each claiming that their particular peripheral is the best? Money, of course, will be an important factor, especially when you notice that the more luxurious models can cost two or three times as much as something more modest. But after you've smashed the piggy-bank and decided what you can afford there are still some tricky decisions to be made. You will have to consider the kind of games you like to play and also the kind of games-player you are. Are you on of those hunched desperadoes who grips his stick with both hands and wildly wrenches it all over the place? Or are you the more refined type, calmly zooming out of trouble with the gentlest of pressure on the controls? Depending on which of these two descriptions fits you best you will want something either big and strong or smaller and more sensitive. It might even be necessary for you to consider such factors as the behavior of pets and parents. There isn't much point buying a joystick with a spongy grip if Fido likes nothing better than chewing on something rubbery and bone-like in his playful moments. And what's the use of a small sensitive stick if your ham-fisted Dad is in the habit of having a good mega-zap when you're tucked up in bed? Before you buy you must do some serious thinking about your family and yourself, and then most important of all read the PCG guide on how to get real joy from your stick. Suncom's Joy Sensor is one of the more unusual sticks around. In fact, it isn't a stick at all, it consists of a circular, flat plastic pad on which the player presses to produce movement on the screen. Above the circular pad is a smaller, rectangular one which is the firing pad. This has rapid or single fire options. The Joy Sensor's controls are very sensitive and the rapid-firing option is welcome, but somehow it just doesn't seem right. Pressing hard or quickly on the direction pad is likely to give you nasty friction burns on your thumb. And the shape of the contraption - like a pocket calculator - makes it rather uncomfortable to hold. The manufacturers make a selling point of the fact that there is 'no stick to move, no resistance to movement', but don't games-players want at least something to grasp and at least some resistance? Suncom's other products Starfighter, Slik Stik and Tac-2 - are more traditional, all being versions of the stick-in-base formula. The Slik Stik's thin steel handle is set in a light but sturdy plastic base. The handle is topped by a bright orange knob to stop your hand slipping. The stick is quite stiff in the base but is still very responsive. It does, though, seem a little small for an adult's hand and is probably better suited to the younger player. The Starfighter has a similar base but the handle is smoother, thicker and minus the knob: it is also quite short. Control is of similar quality to the Slik Stik but the handle can get a bit slippery and the whole thing seems less robust; you might be afraid of breaking it if you get too excited. Tac-2 is Suncom's luxury joystick. It's bigger and much more robust than either of the two already discussed. It has a long thin stick with a black knob set in a solid plastic base. Suncom claim it can withstand two million depressions, and I wouldn't like to argue with that figure. Despite its strength it has a good feel and is very responsive. There's also a choice of two fire-buttons. Wico also produce a range of four sticks, one of which is a curiosity. This is Le Stick, a joystick without a base works by means of mercury switches in the grip. Movement is produced by tilting it at least 20 degrees in the desired direction. Le Stick is made of springy black rubber and has the fire button on top, it's very comfortable and a lot less tiring than the normal type of stick. It does, though, feel very strange at first and takes some getting used to. The lack of a base and the lack of resistance could mean that some will never come to terms with it. It's quite easy to confuse directions on games such as Defender and seems more suited to lateral movement games such as Galaxians. Wico's range of more conventional sticks starts with The Boss. The comable black handle has moulded finger-grips and is set in a solid base providing good resistance. The Boss gives good control but the fire-button, at the top of the handle, is a little slack and has a slow response time. A step up from this is the Command Control 'built on a solid steel shaft mounted in Wico's ultra smooth arcade diaphragm module.' You get a red grip and a snazzy red and black base. Firing is interchangeable between base and grip. This is a very solid stick with a nice feel and good response. Top of the Wico range is the 3 Way Command Control. This is essentially the same thing as the ordinary Command Control but has three different grips 'ergonomically designed to fit your hand and mind.' Not bad, eh? The choice is between a grip with finger mouldings, a narrow smooth one and a thin smooth one. You should be able to accommodate just about everybody with this range. As well as this choice of grips the 3 Way also has the edge over the ordinary Command Control in responsiveness and robustness. Emax Computing's Arcade Professional comes with a truly awesome warning: 'This panel,' you are told, 'is a professional module. It is not a toy.' Well, if it isn't a toy it isn't going to sell very well, because the number of people I know who make a living playing arcade games is pretty small. The Arcade Professional is an enormous module, as befits its price. The base measures about a foot across, dwarfing the stick itself. The 'non-slip foam base' doesn't prevent the module from roaming around the table when you get excited. Control is very disappointing; the steel stick is too loose in the base and, consequently, response time is slow. What is worse is that the stick is in the ideal position for left-handers. I have nothing against these people, but I do believe that the right-handed are in the majority, even among the arcade professionals. The Spectravideo Quickshot is, I think, a toy; but it's still a good joystick. It has a large grip with finger-mouldings set firmly in a sturdy base. There is a choice of fire-buttons on grip and base and there are also suction pads to stick it down to the table. It's very comfortable and gives good response. If you like a really big handle, then Triga Command 2 could suit you. The grip is curved away from the player and has tough plastic on the sides with the fire-button at the top front. The stick is fixed quite loosely in the base and does not feel very strong, but it is responsive. Lighter and smaller, but just as sensitive, is the Pro-Ace. The shaft here is small and smooth and set firmly in the base; only the slightest pressure is required to get movement on the screen. Unfortunately, the fire-button at the top of the stick seems a little loose and makes a clanking noise every time you shoot. Another one for those who like something firm and sensitive is the Competition-Pro. This has a very stout base in which two fire-buttons are set - there's no button on the stick itself. The large knob and short stick mean that this is one to hold in the palm and direct with short, sharp movements. There's not a great choice of joystick for Dragon owners. Dragon Data themselves produce one, but it is far from satisfactory. It's designed to be held in one hand while the stick is manipulated with the other. Unfortunately the stick is very small and very weak; over-enthusiastic use can lead to an early retirement. But the worst thing about this stick is that it isn't self-centring. As a result you go all over the place and movement takes a long time. A much better version of the same thing is the Computer Joystick which is self-centring and is therefore much more responsive. It's also rather more robust. Useful gadgets for the Spectrum are clip-on mechancial sticks for games using cursor-key control. EEC's stick is sturdy and has a nice large handle. This is quite stiff in the base and would suit players who appreciate some resistance. Grant Design's stick is smaller and has a looser feel; less pressure is required to produce movement. That old favourite, the Atari joystick, shouldn't be forgotten. Most games-players must by now be familiar with this sturdy peripheral. Its simple design has withstood many a mega-zap from the roughest of players. It has a straight stick with the fire-button on the base. There is quite a lot of resistance and control is good. Despite the flashly new styles around the Atari is still a contender. The Trickstick is a remarkable new idea which you will either love or hate. It is quite different from any other joystick I've encountered. The stick is basically a slim cylinder with six buttons: two on the top face, two on the upper part and two on the lower part. You hold it in two hands and are supposed to press lightly on the buttons. These you have already adjusted by turning the sensitivity knob; different people it seems require different degrees of resistance. The Trickstick is much more comfortable than the normal kind of joystick, but really does take some mental adjustment from the player. You have to restrain yourself from wrenching the thing all over the place as with the usual thing. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes exceptionally responsive and saves a lot of wear and tear on the thumbs. Of course, old-fashioned megazappers might never adjust. But the Trickstick is the shape of things to come. LINKING UP YOUR SPECTRUM OR ORIC One of the problems that games players suffer with machines such as the Spectrum and Oric is that no provision is made for a joystick, the only remedy to this is to buy an interface costing anything from £10 upwards. There are two main types of interface: dedicated and programmable. The dedicated type usually plugs into the edge connector of your micro. It suffers from the fact that only software written specifically for it can be used with it. However, the most popular interface of the dedicated type, the Kempston joystick interface for the Spectrum, can be used with a large number of games. Sinclair have recently launched their own joystick/cartridge interface, the Interface 2 and this will probably become the favourite with both software houses and users. But as yet not a great number of games are compatible. The latest addition to the joystick interface market are the programmable type. These allow you to make each position of the joystick equivalent to any key you choose. This means that the joystick can be used with any game. The AGF interface is one example.

Background: Mechanical Stick Foreground: Spectrum Stick

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

WHICH STICK? WE PRESENT THE RESULTS OF OUR JOYSTICK SURVEY A computer without a joystick is like a canoe without a paddle. No self respecting games player would want to be without a decent stick for his machine. Opinions vary as to the best stick and video games players are like seasoned tennis pro's, when it comes to choosing their favourite. At C&VG over the last few weeks we've tested just about every stick on the market to bring you this comprehensive guide to the best sticks around. We have tested the sticks for responsiveness, ease of grip and fire, robust construction of casing, attractiveness, and value for money. ARCADE PROFESSIONAL The Arcade Professional has a real arcade look and feel to it. Based on the controllers from an actual arcade game, the Professional comes in a shiny black metal case. It sits on a hard surface or on your lap with a foam base to protect your parents' best coffee table. Just like an arcade machine there are two fire buttons - useful in games like Scramble where you have to bomb as well as fire. The Arcade Pro is as responsive as any of the other sticks tested. The fire buttons are true arcade style alien blasters - as large as five pence pieces and dish shaped to avoid "finger-slip" - that dreaded affliction known to all vid kids! The Arcade Professional can be opened up to alter the stick's movement - four directions for maze games and eight directions for shoot-'em-ups. THE VERDICT Robust stick which can actually be repaired unlike some of the plastic throw-away sticks on sale. This advantage, however, makes the Arcade Pro dearer at £38.50. Nice design - will make your friends go green with envy! QUICKSHOT The Quickshot range of joysticks are the slickest, most futuristic sticks on offer. The original Quickshot stick with its long helicopter-style grip keys makes it easy to hold. Rubber suction pads on the base of the stick also make it easier to use - particularly with maze games where you can benefit from the stick being firmly secured to a solid base. Two fire buttons - one at the top of the shaft for thumb firing and another at the base of the stick - for you to choose your most comfortable fire position. THE VERDICT Good sturdy construction and comfortable grip. The stick scores best on shoot-'em-up type games where the shaft-mounted button is a real bonus. The bulkiness of the shaft makes the playing of maze games a little more difficult. One of the better sticks - retailing at £11.95. Compatible with Atari 400, 800, 600XL and VCS - will also work with Spectrum through the Sinclair interface. QUICKSHOT II Spectravideo's Quickshot II must be one of the best arcade-style sticks around for video gamesters. Its solid design promises hours of trouble tree playing. And you can use it with the Atari VCS, or Atari home computers, the Vic-20, CBM 64 and many others. The Quickshot II has a number of interesting features. Starting from the top of the aircraft style stick grip, you'll find the primary shooting button - for those games players who like to blast away using their thumbs. Below this is a trigger style fire button which lets those weary thumbs take a rest! Spectravideo say that the moulded stick grip is "ultra-ergonomic" - and who are we to contradict them. Suffice it to say that the slick is comfortable - even after an extended session of River Raid! The base at the stick is very sturdy and has a neat little innovation built in - an Auto-Fire switch. This allows you to unleash a continuous stream of bullets by simply locking the shooting mechanism. To make the stick stable, there are four powerful suction cups on the bottom of the base - this allows you to play one-handed. And the stick won't come unstuck even during the most exciting space battle! The Quickshot II is available from Spectravideo stockists and costs £12.95. THE VERDICT A winner from top to toe. The C&VG joystick jury voted the Quickshot II the best stick to come into the office for same time. RED BALL America's favourite deluxe controller (or, as they call them in the US, "gourmet stick'!) is the Wico range of sticks. It's easy to see why these sticks have been such a success across the water. They are sturdy, responsive, and built to last. The top of the Wico range is the Red Ball controller at £27.95. This is one of the most responsive sticks we tested - with a steel shaft, and fire buttons mounted on the base and the ball at the top of the shaft. Slightly cheaper than the Red Ball is the Wico Extended Lever stick, This has an extremely long control shaft, though unlike the Red Ball it only has a fire button on the base. The cheapest of the Wico sticks is the £16.00 Boss. It has a moulded grip which makes it comfortable to use. A well sprung fire button is mounted at the top of the shaft. THE VERDICT Wico sticks are generally regarded as the "Rolls-Royce" of video game controllers. If you can afford to fork out £27.95, you'll get no finer stick than the Red Ball - the Extended Lever and Boss are also excellent sticks at a slightly more affordable price. TRAK BALL Trak Ball controllers introduce a new specialist element to video-gaming. Like a professional goiter carefully selecting a certain iron to match the conditions of the green, so a true video games superstar will reach for a Trak Ball to play in certain games - such as Centipede, or Missile Command. The Trak Ball otters precision control in games where you need to move your character all over the screen as quickly and accurately as possible. It is a sleek black box with triangular-shaped "fire buttons" in both top right and left hand corners. Trak Ball-style controllers were first used in arcade games, but are now also available for home use and the latest version is Atari's controller far the VCS, 400 and 800. THE VERDICT I tested the Trak Ball on Centipede and Missile Command and found that it added the real feel of the arcade to these games. Something of a luxury add-on - but if you really lake your gaming seriously, the Trak Ball is a must at £39.99. STARFIGHTER Suncom's Starfighter is described by its makers as the ultimate joystick. Short and stubby and difficult to get a good grip on, I did not find the Starfighter very easy to use. Although the stick was reasonably responsive, I found the shaft a little stiff. THE VERDICT I was not happy with the fire button - it was sluggish and let too many nasty aliens slip through the net for my liking. Starfighter is a little overpriced at £13.95. LE STICK Another baseless stick is Datasoft's mercury-controlled Le Stick. What's really unique about Le Stick is that to move an object on screen you simply point the stick in the direction in which you wish the object to move. Mercury inside the stick makes the connections to make the objects move. THE VERDICT A nice idea - but one that doesn't come off - and we cannot recommend Le Stick. Priced at £24.95. VIDEO COMMAND Video Command is a baseless stick with a control grip secured to the top of the shaft. The fire button is mounted half way down the shaft so that you fire with the same hand as you hold the stick. The stick is good on shoot-'em-ups, but the lack of a firm base makes it difficult to handle the tight cornering required in maze games. Manufactured by Imagic - the makers of the Imagic range of video games - the stick is in the shops at £12.99. THE VERDICT Design of the stick means that it is extremely lightweight and easy to use. Fire response was adequate. The only drawback is that the short knob controller may make the stick difficult to use in games where a large amount of manoeuvring is required. TAC II TAC stands for totally accurate controller. The stick's extra responsiveness is due to a set of mini sensors built on to the shaft at the stick itself. The TAC's construction is amongst the most robust of the sticks we tested. On maze games, the joystick performed excellently. It also proved to be a good alien stomper. THE VERDICT This is my work-a-day stick. The one I reach for first when I sit down to review a game for C&VG. Its no-nonsense design with two large well positioned fire buttons makes the TAC II a joy to use. Available from Sumcom of Manchester at £18.95.

Sinclair User

Stephen Adams

AIMING TO SPEED THE RESPONSE Stephen Adams looks at the wide range of joysticks that are now the market. Joysticks are a favourite weapon against space invaders, pirates and in other fighting games. They are also very useful for flight simulation, maze games like Mazog for the ZX-81 or Escape for the Spectrum. That is because they speed the response to the games by up to 300 percent and if the games have been written to obey joysticks, the response to the keyboard has probably made the game run more slowly. Most work on one of two principles, the commonest being the switched type like the Atari joystick. The other is the proportional joystick, which instead of just indicating the direction of the joystick also sends back a report on its exact position. It does so by giving an X/Y value for the position of the stick in the vertical and horizontal directions. You can write software for those joysticks but no commercial software uses them. The Atari joystick set a standard by being the first to be used on a video game and since then the style has changed but the connections to the game have not. The Atari joystick has a 9-pin "D" type socket on the end of it which has five pins at the top and four pins at the bottom. They are numbered from one to nine, starting at the top right-hand side - looking at the plug - and only pins 1-4, 6 and 8 are connected. Those pins are connected to five switches in the joystick, one side of the switch being connected to a numbered socket, and the other being connected to a common point, which is connected to pin on the socket. Operating the joystick in any of the four directions makes that switch operate, connecting the common pin to the socket pin of that switch. The fifth switch is the fire button. Thus only one switch can be operated at a time, plus the fire button. That kind of switch cannot be used directly in place of the keyboard switches, as all the switches are connected together. Therefore an interface has to be used to connect the joystick to the Spectrum without damaging it. The interfaces are of various kinds but a standard seems to have been set by Kempston, which contacted software companies before it launched its joystick to pursuade them that there should be a standard way of using a joystick on a Spectrum. That standard way of working has now been written into some of the software by mos of the big companies as an alternative to using the Sinclair keyboard. The software is easier to write if you have only one address to look at or to control. It is also not difficult in machine code to take one byte from an address and check that a switch has operated. It is much easier than scanning the entire keyboard for several different keys. The address the Kempstori uses is very simple; it requires only bit A6 to be low using anIN instruction to operate the chip. Address 31 is used to read the value of the joystick. The joystick switches each operate one bit of the binary data returned from the port and as the Kempston Competition Pro joystick allows you to operate two switches directly instead of one - allowing you to go in diagonal directions as well - it is very useful. Only five of the bits are thus used and all the rest are set to 0. If one of the joystick switches is operated, that bit changes to a binary 1 and the number returned will be greater than zero. The AGF Interface II allows you to simulate a set of keys on the keyboard but they are fixed to the cursor keys and use 0 for the fire button. It also allows you to use other devices on the back of the joystick and is available in ZX-81 and Spectrum versions. Unlike the Kempston joystick, which works on both the ZX-81 and Spectrum with the appropriate software, keyboard interfaces for the Spectrum cannot be transferred to the ZX-81 as not only is the edge connector too big - 28 ways instead of the 23 of the ZX-81 - but the expansion port has different connections. The Protek is also a cursor-type interface but like most of the interfaces reviewed has no PCB edge to which to connect anything else like a sound board. The Jiles Electronics interface is a three-way, bare-board device which can he made to look like that from Kempston, a cursor-controlled joystick, or to work Psion programs. The selection is via two little pegs and is probably the cheapest solution to fitting joysticks, at £13.95. The Sinclair joystick port in Interface Two operates either the first five or the last five of the number keys. The only software which works with the system is that from Sinclair or Psion. Soundboards like the Fuller Box and the ZXM from Timedata also have joystick interfaces but use different addresses for them. Programmable joystick interfaces have also begun to appear for the Spectrum which allow you to program the positions of the joystick to operate different keys on the keyboard. That allows you to operate it with any software, whether it be designed for the joystick or not. The simplest to understand is the Pickard controller, a plastic box on which there are 40 sockets, one for each key on the keyboard. Five jack plugs, the same type as the cassette leads, are used to program the five positions of the joystick by plugging them into the appropriate sockets for the game. At no time is the keyboard disabled. The connection to the joystick is via an Atari socket on the side and the connection to the computer is made by plugging-in plugs to the keyboard sockets inside the case. The power is obtained by plugging the power supply into the unit and then a flying lead is plugged into the computer power socket. It is a very simple and inexpensive way of doing the job and will work for the ZX81 or Spectrum. The AGF version also programs it manually by using a set of crocodile clips, one for each data line and one for each address line. It now seems a complicated way of doing things, as it is not as easy to understand as the Pickard, but it does not involve entering the computer. A set of cards is provided to mark the positions of the clips for each game, which seems to prove the point. The unit also tends to be unstable and programming it during a game can crash the system. Cambridge Computing and Stone- chip have employed a different method to program the joystick. They have used 1K of RAM to store the positions of the keys where the joystick should operate. In the Stonechip design you can even have the diagonals operating different keys, giving nine positions. The Stonechip is also the easiest to operate and has the advantage over the Cambridge in that it will also operate the Microdrive interface, Interface One. To use it all you have to do is push a three-position switch to PROGRAM on the front of the unit and, while holding down the key for that position, operate the joystick. A quick flick is all that is required for each position of the joystick. Then move the switch to NORMAL and LOAD the game. To use the joystick just switch it to PLAY and the game will respond to the joystick. The review model also disabled the keyboard when in use but the company says a small modification will be done to all the current units to prevent that and will be informing all customers so far as to when to return units for free modification. The Cambridge unit requires you to LOAD a tape first, which takes you through a menu to program the joystick. If you touch the joystick while LOADing the program, it crashes. It also appears to crash after programming the joystick completely as it NEWs itself to be ready for the next program and that is not mentioned in the instructions - but the joystick still works. The joystick settings can also be viewed and recorded on tape. The menu program still has to be LOADed first. It has also a rear edge connector so that other things can be plugged-in. The interface is intended to work with the joystick which accompanies it but can still be purchased separately if you want to use an Atari joystick. The advantage of using your own is that you not only have an eight-position joystick but two independent fire buttons for games at a cheaper price than Atari. Cambridge says it will change software when it can obtain a Microdrive on which to test it. Electrotech also uses the same system to program its joystick but its interface board is uncased and will work only with its joystick console. The console contains a four-position joystick and three large 1in. fire buttons and looks as if it should belong in an arcade game. It is very robust but costs at least half as much again as the other two. Joysticks tend to be personal things, so I asked a few friends at a computer club and my children for their options on the range available. The result is clearly for the Kraft joystick, with Cambridge Computing second with its two fire buttons. The Kempston Competition Pro joystick is a good all-rounder with its eight positions. The others go to show that an increase in price does not always provide easier control. The Jiles Electronic joystick is probably the least helpful, as its stick becomes more like a flexible toy in use. The Atari shows how much joysticks have developed, as it now seems very stiff and unresponsive compared to the newer types.

'It is much easier than scanning the entire keyboard for difficult keys.'

1. Micropower (Analog) 2. Atari 3. Starfighter 4. Kraft 5. Quickshot 6. Slik Stik 7. Cambridge Computing 8. Stonechip interface 9. AGF interface 10. Protek interface 11. Joysensor 12. Jiles III interface 13. Jile II interface 14. AGF Programmable interface 15. Midwich Analog interface and joystick 16. Tac 2 17. Jiles joystick 18. Kempston joystick and interface 19. AGF programmable interface 20. Stonechip interface 21. Quickshot 22. Midwich interface

Atari joystick Fire W N E S 6 1 3 8 2 4 9-way socket Byte returned from Kempston Joystick 0 0 0 Fire S N E W

Joystick Interfaces Interface: Cambridge Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £29.50 inc.joystick, £24 on its own. Interface: Stonechip Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £24.95 Interface: AGF Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £33.95 Interface: AGF II Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Kempston: Price: £16.95 Interface: Kempston Programmable?: Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Y Price: £15 without joystick, £24.50 with joystick Interface: Protek Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Kempston: Price: £14.95 Interface: Jiles III Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Y Kempston: Y Price: £13.95 Interface: Pickard - from Success Services Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £21.45

Number: 1 Joystick: Kraft switch hitter Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £18.95 Comment: Light, fingertip control. Number: 2 Joystick: Cambridge Computing Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 indep. Cost: £7 Comment: Fire buttons may hurt after a time. Number: 3 Joystick: Kempston Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £14.50 Comment: Solid and reliable Number: 4 Joystick: Starfighter Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 1 Cost: £13.95 Comment: Short but easy to use Number: 5 Joystick: Quickshot Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £12.95 Comment: Suckers can fix it to a table but a little loose in action Number: 6 Joystick: Joysensor Positions: 4 or 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £29.95 Comment: Touch-sensitive pads, it takes time to get used to. Number: 7 Joystick: Slik Stick Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £9.95 Comment: Noisy in use. Number: 8 Joystick: Tac-2 Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £18.95 Comment: Accurate but may also be stiff. Number: 9 Joystick: Atari - from AGF Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 1 Cost: £7.54 Comment: Stiff but inexpensive. Number: 10 Joystick: Jiles Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £6.50 Comment: Bends in use.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Getting the right joystick for your TV games centre is becoming as difficult as choosing the right squash racquet or set at golf clubs. Adverts claim all sorts at things for sticks - that they will increase your scores and turn you into a pro-player. We have already reported on the latest batch of souped-up sticks now being imported into this country from the States and this month the C&VG staff sat down at our Atari VCS and played a few games using the sticks - purely for research you'll understand! Here we bring you the results at our bench-tests on four of the new sticks - plus the novel Wico Trackball and the simple but effective Byte Stick-Stand. Our general impression was that these sticks add a great deal to your game and will prove a valuable addition to your games centre. Most of the sticks we tested were in the £15 - £25 price range - less than one at the top at the range VCS cartridges. Pretty good value in our humble opinion. We would like to thank Silica Shop, at Sidcup, Kent, who supplied the sticks we tested, and import them from the States. STICK-STAND The Stick-Stand was the cheapest and simplest product we tested. Basically its a plastic stand into which your standard Atari joystick fits snugly. You also get a little red ball which slips onto the top of the standard stick to improve the grip. Simple but effective. The wide-bottom base provides a good stable support for the stick - and that little red ball does improve playability - especially when the on-screen action gets fast and furious. Made by the U.S. firm Byte, the SlickStand costs £7.95. TRACKBALL The Wico trackball is truly a video games gourmet controller. Once you get used to this unusual method of control and develop some speed, it gives you unbelievable responsiveness and adds greatly to playability of any game. Left and right commands are fairly easy to master but up and down movements are a little bit more difficult to control. You will have to readjust your Pacman technique accordingly! My one reservation with the trackball was with the fire button. This was particularly heavy and choked unnecessarily every time you released a missile. It would also have been an improvement to have a fire button in the top right hand corner as well as the top left for left-handed people. The trackball does not come cheap. At £48 you would have to forgo one or two games which you have had your eyes on for some time in order to pay for it. But in my opinion this would be well worth it. DATABASE If you are the proud owner of an Interton VC4000, Radofin, or Acetronic video games centre then you might not be quite so proud of the ever decreasing range of games available. As these little-known machines have not generated the mass sales of, say the Atari, Phillips or Intellivision machines there is not a large enough owner base to support independent software. It also means that the firms who produce the machines do not tend to produce a very wide range of games themselves. The situation has been improved slightly by the production of an adaptor from Voltmace which enables all software for the Database system to be played on any of the above machines. The range of games for the Database is probably about the most up to date of these lesser known machines and includes versions of the popular arcade games Frogger and Pacman. The adaptor plugs into the software ports on the various machines and the Data base software is then inserted into it. The adaptor is available at £4.50 from the Baldock, Hertfordshire-based firm. LE STICK Le Stick from Datasoft is a really nice idea. A joystick without a base seems the easiest way to describe it. It works when the player tilts the stick in the direction he wants to move, and a pressure sensitive 'switch' inside the stick freezes the action if the player squeezes it gently. As I've said before it's a really nice idea. However in practice - on a video games centre anyway - it's just not responsive enough. You really need a lot of practice to get it working as well as one of the regular design sticks. We tested it on maze and space-type games and found it difficult to keep control of the action - which, of course, is all important in TV games. Le Stick, which costs £24.95, may come into its own when it's used for computer games - but unfortunately our testers just couldn't give it the C&VG seal of approval - despite the nice design concept. STARFIGHTER Suncom's Starfighter is described by its makers as the ultimate joystick. Well, in our opinion, despite the two year warranty that comes with it, the stick fails to come up to this extravagant claim. The Startlghter stick is short, stubby and difficult to get a good grip on - you'll soon be suffering from Astro Fighter thumb or some such affliction that all video game players suffer from time to time. The fire button is not one of this stick's best features. It's slow and allows those aliens to escape too easily. As you've probably guessed Starfighter is not one of C&VG's favourite sticks. It costs £19.95 WICO STICKS The Wico Command Control range of joysticks are the best known "gourmet sticks" as they are termed in the U.S., where they are currently the number one sellers. There are two sticks in the range - the Red Ball stick and the Extended Lever stick. Both are highly responsive and offer you a choice of two fire buttons. One is mounted at the top of the joystick itself and the other at the base for those of for those of you used to blasting away with Atari sticks. The Red Ball joystick is the dearer of the two at £27.95. The Lever stick is £6 less - which I feel was not reflected in extra responsiveness. Both Wico sticks are compatible with Atari VCS, Atari 400 and 800 and the Commodore Vic-20. An adaptor enables the sticks to be plugged into the Ti99/4a, Apple and TRS-80 home computers. Wico also produce an extension lead for their sticks which is useful for those people who like to sit in their armchair and play. It sells for £5.95.