› ›

Did the Spectrum ever have a joypad?

neoncherryneoncherry
edited January 2008 in Hardware
There were plenty of joysticks but was there ever a Spectrum joypad?

By that I mean something that worked like a joystick but had a flat direction pad instead of a stick, with separate fire buttons nearby.
Post edited by neoncherry on

Comments

  • monty.molemonty.mole
    edited January 2008
    http://www.uncleclive.co.uk/spectrumjoypad.html
  • thx1138thx1138
    edited January 2008
    uncle clive - updates slower than BBC Ceefax in 1980's on a no news day in August. :D
  • neoncherryneoncherry
    edited January 2008
    monty.mole wrote: »
    http://www.uncleclive.co.uk/spectrumjoypad.html

    Well, if it used buttons like that you could say the whole Spectrum was a joypad!
  • dekhdekh
    edited January 2008
    Hmm, what would it take to convert a megadrive joypad to work with a Kempston interface?

    It would only need the pad and one firebutton wired in. Would it be possible?
  • monty.molemonty.mole
    edited January 2008
    dekh wrote: »
    Hmm, what would it take to convert a megadrive joypad to work with a Kempston interface?

    It would only need the pad and one firebutton wired in. Would it be possible?

    It'd probably work without modification. I think all 3 fire buttons could be used as the single fire button from the Kempston joystick. I've used an Amiga CD32 Competition Pro control pad with the Spectrum without any problems in the past. It was plugged into an Interface 2 - but I imagine it'd be exactly the same with a Kempston interface.
  • GodsGods
    edited January 2008
    dekh wrote: »
    Hmm, what would it take to convert a megadrive joypad to work with a Kempston interface?
    It sould work... It worked with my Amiga computers. I'm using one SEGA mastersystem joypad with the spectrum (and also on the C64...)
  • ZupZup
    edited January 2008
    I remember an article about a sms-like pad for spectrum, but I can't find it.

    [EDITING:] Oh, yes. Probably you're looking for one of those.
    I was there, too
    An' you know what they said?
    Well, some of it was true!
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited January 2008
    I've got a weird joypad type thing for the speccy.

    It was black with a circular button on it that was your directions (imagine a flat analogue stick) and two buttons on the edges. The buttons were red.

    Imagine holding a pda in your left hand, your thumb and finger would be on the fire buttons and the circular button would be on the top at the end closest to your body.

    If I can find it easily in the boxes I'll up a photo of it. I should've taken photos of all the Speccy add-ons I've got when I put them up on my blog.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • neoncherryneoncherry
    edited January 2008
    VincentAC, it's not that strange "rat" wireless controller is it?
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited January 2008
    Never heard of it, mine isn't wireless though.

    I'll see if I can dig it out tomorrow.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited January 2008
    It's this.

    It's a Quick Shot VII. I could still take photos of mine (and probably will) but these photos will be better than my attempts.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • velesoftvelesoft
    edited January 2008
    http://velesoft.speccy.cz/ruzne/psx/index.htm
  • Dr BEEPDr BEEP
    edited January 2008
    I rebuilt a Nintendo controller to be used with a ZX Spectrum.
  • dekhdekh
    edited January 2008
    Dr BEEP wrote: »
    I rebuilt a Nintendo controller to be used with a ZX Spectrum.

    Hmmm, what were the wiring differences?
  • neoncherryneoncherry
    edited January 2008
    VincentAC wrote: »
    It's this.

    It's a Quick Shot VII. I could still take photos of mine (and probably will) but these photos will be better than my attempts.

    Ah, well, that does seem much more joypad-ish than joystick-ish, so I think that does count as a Spectrum joypad.
  • VincentACVincentAC
    edited January 2008
    neoncherry wrote: »
    Ah, well, that does seem much more joypad-ish than joystick-ish, so I think that does count as a Spectrum joypad.

    Yeah, but it'd probably work a lot better if you got rid of the red circle and put in a stick.

    The pad keeps sticking when you press a diagonal.
    Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
    I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
    --Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)

    https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
  • BloodBazBloodBaz
    edited January 2008
    I had a "baseless" joystick for the speccy. You held it in the air and it used a ballbearing inside to detect left/right/up/down like a standard spectrum joystick.

    It worked OK, ... kind of.
  • Dr BEEPDr BEEP
    edited January 2008
    dekh wrote: »
    Hmmm, what were the wiring differences?

    First I opened the controller.
    I disconnected all wires and attached new ones directly on the contacts.
    I led the wires out and connected a female 9 pin connector.

    It worked.
  • VertigoVertigo
    edited January 2008
    dekh wrote: »
    Hmm, what would it take to convert a megadrive joypad to work with a Kempston interface?

    It would only need the pad and one firebutton wired in. Would it be possible?
    Iirc I used to use one. That and a GX4000 pad. Standard 9-pin joypads didn't need any modification to work. Beware of using 3DO pads though, as they have voltage pins in different places, which is a bad thing. Internally, 3DO pads are like SNES pads (i.e. same chip), but Megadrive ones use a more common chip and in many cases pads with low numbers of buttons are just directly wired (in the same way that an arcade machine is).
    If you want more information from people taht know about this sort of thing, head over to www.gamesx.com forums (forum link at top left of page) and try the Controller Technik section.
Sign In or Register to comment.