Best 3DO controller?

**MetalSlime** · 10-09-2009

I have a rather simple question. Was just wondering what would be considered the best controller to have for the 3DO?

I know the 6 button brands are probably considered the most preferred - seeing as they allow you to play Street Fighter properly. I'm curious as to which model brand is the best?

The only 6 button controllers I can seem to find are the 3rd party Pro Pad SV 1200's. Does anyone know how well built those models are? From the looks in the pictures the d-pad and buttons don't seem any worse than your standard 3 button 3DO controller. All the 3DO brand models seem to have no more than 5 buttons from what I can find. Also, do any actual arcade stick peripherals for the 3DO exist, or is it nothing but pads?

I know these are probably fairly simple questions to be asking here, but searching on google dosen't seem to turn up much in the way of 3DO controller quality and variety of brands. Any help with this matter would be appreciated.

**port187** · 10-09-2009

The very best is simply to buy the 3DO->SNES converter and stick a SNES pad in your 3DO :-) besides that really all original 3do pads suck especially the goldstar one.

I know there was a special pad for SSF2T but I can't remeber the brand, but who cares when you can play with the SNES pad anyway.

So if you can still find one as they became rare by time it's a must as the SNES pad is one of the better pads of all times.

http://3do.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Accessories/3dzeroboxf.jpg

**MetalSlime** · 10-09-2009

Thanks for the input and quick reply port187. I wasn't even aware SNES to 3DO converters existed. I'll try searching ebay or google to see if I can locate one.

I'm painfully aware all 3DO pads were fairly crap. That's why I was hoping someone here might know of a brand that isn't quite as bad. If nothing else I'll probably just settle for the Pro Pad SV 1200, if I can't locate a SNES converter today. At least that brand offers all 6 buttons along with adjustable auto-fire, plus an extra long cable. It seems to be just as good of quality as the 1st party pads at least.

:edit:
Okay, well I couldn't seem to find any sites offering the converter you mentioned, so I just went ahead an bought a mint boxed and sealed Pro Pad SV 1200. Most of the 3DO games I really want to play again only require the 3 button pad anyways. Super SFII Turbo was nice for it's time on the 3DO, but it's obviously been surpassed these days.

I've owned a practically brand new Goldstar unit for quite some time. Unfortunately the pad that originally came with it (along with my s-video cable :sadface:) somehow disappeared over the process of me moving a few times. I'm a huge sucker for those types of so bad they're laughably good FMV/bad digitize fighting games, which makes the 3DO one of my favorite 'b-systems' of all time. Although I shouldn't knock it completely. 3DO does have a select few exclusive titles (mainly the Japanese ones) that are actually worth playing. If you're a hardcore WARP fan; owning a 3DO along with D's Diner is worth the price.

Either way, I'm pretty excited to know I'll finally be able to play it again within 3 to 5 shipping days hopefully. My 3DO game library is actually pretty large now. Think I own at least 50 to 70 games - including a decent amount of Japanese imports. I guess I'm kind of lucky since I acquired a large bundle of them for incredibly cheap prices. In my younger days I use to work at a used gaming shop that had one regular customer in particular that was also a big 3DO fan at one time. He would come in to sell or trade his massive 3DO collection nearly every weekend. He even sold some of the more rare but incredibly crappy useless adult titles for no more than 5 dollars a pop. Of course most 3DO games aren't worth much on the collectors market aside from the the cheesy semi-rare nudie games.

Can't wait to pop in Robinson's Requiem and relive all the ultra bad acting / voice dubbing in what is actually a somewhat decent 3D adventure game. For those who've never played it here's a little video sample from youtube, just so you can witness the attrocious, yet hilarious piece of gaming goodness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8g9S0-zOc

**Jamtex** · 10-09-2009

The best one is the Capcom Pad Soldier, which is made by ASCII. As long as you are right handed then it's comfortable to hold. I do have a couple for sale in the sales forum for $15.. ;)

**MetalSlime** · 10-10-2009

Originally Posted by Jamtex

The best one is the Capcom Pad Soldier, which is made by ASCII. As long as you are right handed then it's comfortable to hold. I do have a couple for sale in the sales forum for $15.. ;)

I've actually seen pics of those pads before. But just judging by the look they appeared quite awkward and uncomfortable to me.

However after you brought up the name and mentioned they were made by ASCII I decided to read a few reviews. Guess they really are suppose to be quite the opposite of what I had assumed. Seems they're quite sturdily built as well. Guess you can't judge a book from it's strange cover after all.

I am left handed but think it wouldn't be hard for me to adjust. Darn. Had I only not been so impatient / anxious to once again play some Lucienne's Quest, Grand Chef, Dr. Hauzer, or some Virtual Cameraman, Neo Organic Bioform and Twinkle Knights... ;-)

If you happen to still have one in another few weeks time, I'd probably be glad to purchase one from you.

**sayin999** · 10-10-2009

The pad Jamtex mentioned is a good alternative. I myself loosened the screws on the offical one and its helped a bit, but its not 100% accurate on street fighter.

The reason why the official ones are so horrible is the control layout and the poor way the dpad is designed to react with the sensor under(forgot what the rubber thing is called).

There is also an official arcade stick I see from time to time on ebay that's sold by japanese sellers.

**kendrick** · 10-11-2009

There's an Angelfire page out there somewhere that has images of most of the controller... here:

http://3do.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Accessories.html

The Interact pad happens to have the same form factor that they used for a Genesis/Megadrive pad. It's pretty sturdy, but doesn't have that nice six-button layout. My preferred controller is also the Capcom soldier pad.

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 10-12-2009

Is the Sanyo TRY controller any good, or is it about the same as the others?

**WolverineDK** · 10-12-2009

I really like the Mad Catz joystick for the 3DO

http://3do.classicgaming.gamespy.com...catzcpboxf.jpg

**Jamtex** · 10-12-2009

The Sanyo try is basically the same as the Panasonic one...

**port187** · 10-12-2009

I remember FZ-10 come with a smaller controller, but still shit :) sanyo and panasonic have the same controller only goldstar had a different one which was even worse!

**MetalSlime** · 10-19-2009

My controller finally arrived a couple days ago. The over all feel isn't to bad. The d-pad is actually pretty nice. The buttons feel a bit cheap and it does suffer from lag a bit. The shoulder buttons in particular seem to be the worst as far as that goes. In fact, while playing SFII I noticed if I'm pressing a direction while trying to use one of the shoulder buttons at the same time, the shoulder button input just doesn't work.

The biggest annoyance I have with it would be that it reuses the X button twice for some reason. Since SFII Turbo only seems to recognize X as the start button, it doesn't allow me configure the controls to use all "6". Kind of lame on Interacts part to design it that way.

Anyways, thanks for all the other recommendations. That Capcom pad is even more tempting now. At least for now I have something to use for the time being. I did have quite a blast with Wolfenstein 3D last night. Just wish Doom didn't have such a terrible frame rate, has such a killer soundtrack. :(

**hl718** · 10-19-2009

Originally Posted by MetalSlime

Just wish Doom didn't have such a terrible frame rate, has such a killer soundtrack. :(

Best console Doom, hands down, is the PSone version.

There is no comparison.

-hl718

**Baseley09** · 10-19-2009

Deffo the Soldier pad, very nice.

The Goldstar pad is quite decent for a standard 3DO pad.

**Calpis** · 10-19-2009

SNES pad > Panasonic > Soldier > Rest.

**Psycho Fox** · 12-15-2009

Has anyone ever tried filing a little off a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive pad so it'd fit in the 3DO controller port? The pins are lined up correctly, its just that the connector on the Sega pad is not quite rounded off enough on the edges.

Using a 6 button Sega pad on the 3DO would be cool for Super Street Fighter. But uncool if it breaks the 3DO.

Has anyone ever tried?

**Calpis** · 12-16-2009

It won't work. Sega pads contain a multiplexer (parallel polling), 3DO pads contain a shift register (serial polling).

**bitrate** · 12-16-2009

You run the risk of damaging the 3DO if you try to use Genesis pads on it.

The reason is that the 3DO uses a serial bus for communication between 3DO peripherals and therefore 3DO peripherals are active devices. Genesis pads, while technically active devices too, would essentially be simple switch boxes to the 3DO port and would short the voltage supply to numerous pins of the 3DO peripheral port.
While the physical layout of the pins is similar between the Genesis and 3DO, the signaling standards are completely different.