Top 5 Video Game Accessories

 

The video games are the fun entertainment hobbies for all the families, friends, and kids sitting on the same couch and spend playing together over an hours holding with the controller on their hand is what defining the nostalgic moments of their childhood days. 

We all know the standard joypad are the main primary controller for video game consoles which are designed and used for controlling the player's gameplay action such as walking, running, jumping, shooting, climbing, and etc. which is quite a basic for user, but in order to get those people excited who are looking for alternative way to enhance their experience which is the reason why most of the major and 3rd party companies decided to create their peripherals to attract their attention starting from Magnavox's long-ass shotgun to Atari's Trackball controller, Nintendo's Power Glove to SEGA Light Phaser, SNES Super Scope to SEGA Menacer light gun, Konami's Dance Mat Pad to Activision's Guitar controller, and SONY's PS Move to Microsoft's Xbox Kinect which is the new ways of playing the video games which adds up the innovation that people can able to enjoy themselves. 

I decided to make my own 5 best gaming peripherals that I mostly enjoyed playing it back in my old days of gaming.

I'll be discussing each peripherals that are fully functional and responsive, has great features that aren't present on standard officials controllers, and the build quality itself which is why I'm going to do my top 5's today.  

So without go further do, here's my top 5 Video Game Accessories.    

5 - Keyboard and Mouse (Dreamcast) 

  

SEGA Dreamcast had fair shares with the best video game accessories such as the Arcade Stick which are designed for various of arcade's shoot-em-ups and fighting games, the Fishing Controller made the debut for the title like SEGA Bass Fishing are used for motion sensing capabilities, the Light Guns are heavily utilize for most of the light gun shooters like The House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission, the Mic Device was developed for use with interactive title like Seaman, and of course the Keyboard and Mouse accessories are created for internet browsing and compatible games.

I got these off from online store from last year of Christmas 2021 which is why I wanted to test these to see if its anything plays miles better than the regular controller, the answer is it's all depending on which kinds of games that are worked 100% with the Keyboard and Mouse.

It's basically like most of the PCs had their own Keyboard and Mouse as primary devices which are used for typing stuff and interact user interfaces, but it is also quite common for mostly PC gaming as well as the internet browsing.

So what's got to do with the Dreamcast's own peripherals? well despite the closure of the Dreamcast's own online services like DreamArena and SEGANET as in 2001-02, the Keyboard and Mouse can actually work with some offline titles that are also compatible to play especially with FPS games like Outtrigger, Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament worked really well with these devices that enhanced the playstyle such as precise aiming controls with smooth sensitivity options, and multiple action buttons that are easier to config, while games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear and Soldier of Fortune are highly recommended to play with Keyboard and Mouse that gives the player's an same full experience as you play on the gaming PCs.

What I liked about the Keyboard and Mouse is that it had a same quality as you see mostly from PCs own accessories, so the QWERTY buttons and size of the Keyboard are just exact same as the PCs own Keyboard in terms of design, and the mouse just feels exactly just like the old-school PCs mouse which has optical ball underneath are quite common back in the 90's, and it has two action buttons, wheel-controls, and side-button feels really nice and comfortable to hold when playing the game.  

Dreamcast's Keyboard and Mouse works really great for most FPS titles which gives a full PCs gaming experience feel to it and plays more accurate than using the Dreamcast's standard controller which is why I much preferred this to play FPS games on SEGA's last-gen console.  

4 - Guitar Hero's controller (Various) 

    

The music in video games are quite an interesting concept where you see dozens of people back in the old days of gaming start dancing their feet around with the dance pad, bashing the drums of bongos with huge-ass hands, and singing the karaoke songs with the mics.

What really attracts me the attention mostly as the mid-teens that had most of the people had played and talked about which is a Guitar Hero, a popular video game music-rhythm franchise had started back in mid-2000s originally created by RedOctane that produced specialized video game controllers and seeking to bring in a Konami's Guitar Freaks-like game, a music-rhythm series that are highly popular in Japan at the time, into western markets. 

The Guitar Hero series have been generally acclaimed by video critics and becoming financially success has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, earning US-$2 billion at retail, 60 million downloadable tracks have been purchased across the series as of 2010, and becoming Activision's 3rd largest game franchise in 2009. 

The success of the franchise had spawned numerous of titles for various of gaming platforms, and made a significant cultural impact has helped the entertainment industries such as incorporated into music educational programs, and made several appearances in popular culture such as in TV Shows, Sports, and Films. 

As a mid-teens back then, I listened several of rock music based by the genres including Alt-Rock, Punk, Indie, and of course Metal which I had it stored on my pocket MP3 devices, so that I can enjoy hearing the sounds of riffs and shredding through the earphone delivers the atmospheric personally which brings all my joy and excitement.   

The day when I first got the bundle of Guitar Hero: World Tour for Nintendo Wii which comes with the copy of the game and of course the guitar controller which I am looking forward to play my very first Guitar Hero game that I wanted to spend my hours of rock and roll.

It's basically a video game controller that are heavily designed to play this kind of game that requires a guitar controller which has 5 frets buttons, strum-pad, whammy-bar, and star-power button in order to perform music.      

It worked absolutely well with tight button-mashing and responsive corresponding notes with no signs of input lags and delay which is the reason why the quality gameplay design is very good and the controller itself feels quite authentic to hold and mashing stuff proves that the game makes you feel like a rock star.

The design of the guitar controller that I've mention above is looking remarkable with front face-plate which is removable so that you can able to change any types of face-plate themes you like to insert to suit your style preferences, it had strap that helps you adjust, hold, and lift the guitar with suitable heights, and the quality itself is not that cheap because it feels standard and stable enough that are unlikely to break it off during the playthrough which is why I consider this controller a main pinnacle of the whole franchise had gotten into success in 2000s.     

3 - Arcade Racing Steering Wheel (Saturn)

         

 

I love playing racing games especially the classics from the 90's that I grew up playing back then such as Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, Wipeout 3, and Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament, but I want to dive back to my very first racing game that I ever played as a small child when my brother had first bought a SEGA Saturn console bundled with the Arcade Racing Steering Wheel and of course 2 games such as SEGA Rally Championship and SEGA Manx TT Superbike.

First of all, I had no idea what are the racing games are about and what does the steering wheel actually do till I start playing SEGA Rally Championship on the Saturn to experience my first time ever I drove through the racing track, so I played dozens of hours with the steering wheel controller on my hand and it really amazes me because it feels like I'm actually driving in the racing car which is why it makes one of my favourite racing title on the Saturn's library.

As I re-visit the game again in my early age of 20s in later years, it still remains to be the all-time classic as today which is why I never forget all my gaming nostalgia moments that I had from my childhood.

What I liked about the Arcade Racing Steering Wheel is the overall design of the racing controller with solid build quality, fine looking material surfaces, and has nice weight of it just feels right for those who are seeking for a suitable racing controller.

The steering wheel itself feels very comfortable to hold thanks to tight griping handle, adjustable height and angle, and 6 buttons and two paddles shifters, as it fully designed to create a full racing experience featuring an smooth analog control as opposed to Saturn's own standard controller relying on digital d-pad control.

I spent playing both of SEGA Rally Championship and SEGA Manx TT Superbike with this racing wheel for hours and man it felt really good to play because I love the responsiveness of driving mechanics and feedback which I had no trouble of playing it proves that the racing games in general played amazingly with the steering wheel controller. 

I say this is definitely my favourite racing controller in video games so far which is why I used it for some racing titles I own on my Saturn collection.

2 - Logic 3 Predator Gun (Saturn/PS1)

        

Speaking of Saturn's accessories that I've talked about earlier, I also want to mention that I'm a light-gun fanatics back in my childhood days where I go to the theme parks which fair shares with many arcade cabinets where everyone loves spending their quarters to play various of arcades stuff including a light-gun shooters such as Virtua Cop 2, Time Crisis, The House of the Dead, T2: Arcade Game, Lethal Enforcers, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

I remember the day when I had a Saturn for months, my brother and I been to the electronic store to browse which games should I get it for my Saturn, so his answer is to get a bundle of light-gun controller and the copy of Virtua Cop 2 which had me excited to play this kind of game that I wanted.

After reaching back home, my brother and I spend playing the game that are recommended to use a light-gun controller where you can able to point and shoot all the bad guys on the CRT TV screen which makes the light-gun games so special to play.

I've spend time playing the Saturn all day long that never got really old before my brother had made unexpecting plans to trade my Saturn console, the accessories, and games with the N64 which I never had to see the Saturn again till at my early age of 20s where I finally got the Saturn back again which I got it off from eBay auction in later years.

After retrieving my Saturn collection back since the mid-90s, I saw an unusual looking 3rd-party light-gun controller that I never seen anything like this before, unlike the official Saturn light-gun controller from my childhood days, which is why I decided to experiment on this to see if its anything good to play.

Thankfully I still had my old-fashioned CRT TV kept in my bedroom which is why I've mostly used it to play many retro console gaming, but when it comes with the light-gun shooter from the 90s it may not work on many modern HDTVs due to insufficient video sensors, as opposed to CRT TV are worked just fine it should.

So I had a go with the Logic 3 Predator Gun on my Saturn to play Virtua Cop 2 and I spend over an hour to see if this worked better than the official light-gun controller, the answer is yes I am not joking everyone this is really damn good light-gun controller.

It's a dual format automatic gun which gives you an option to use auto-function bullet reload and autofire speed select which these features aren't presented on the 1st-party light-gun controller.

It worked absolutely well for light-gun shooters with tight-targeting accuracies and responsive firing shot shows no signs of latency which I am so glad that I had a massive blast of shooting all the bad guys with the auto-function options that worked pretty good, and yes it also compatible with the PS1 as well for games like Time Crisis thanks to 2-ways plug option. 

I also loved the sleek design of the light-gun controller which gives me a Robocop vibe to it with bulky looking dual-pistol and it feel comfortable to hold with just single hand is what I loved about the gun itself making you feel like an action-film star.

This is one of the best looking gun I've seen so far which Logic 3 did a solid job of creating a badass gun that worked effectively for most light-gun shooters games, so hook up your Saturn or PS1 to your old-fashioned CRT TV, plug the light gun controller into your system, and go for the shooting action mayhem is why I loved playing light gun shooters.

1 - Mad Catz Arcade Fight Stick (Wii)

              

    

Back then we all seen many of arcade machines mostly in theme parks where you see several of people spending quarters to play various of arcade games, so what makes the arcade cabinet so appealing is the own arcade stick packed with 8-way joystick control and 6 or 8 buttons, depending which game you're playing, which is quite unique for each genres such as Shoot-em-ups, Beat-em-ups, Hack N Slash, Run N Gun, and of course the Fighting games which many of people had much preferred to play with the arcade stick for full arcade experience which is why several of 3rd party companies had created their own version of arcade stick mainly for the home consoles platform.    

Here is Mad Catz Arcade Fight Stick for Wii which is a video game arcade controller created by Mad Catz Interactive Inc. where they been commissioned by Capcom to produce a limited number of arcadesticks to coincide with the launch of Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars exclusively for Wii in 2010.

Its quite similar to the past ones that we seen before such as SNK Neo Geo Arcade Stick, SEGA Dreamcast Arcade Stick, SNES Advantage, SEGA Genesis/MD Arcade Power Stick II, SEGA Saturn Virtua Stick, and PS1 Namco Arcade Stick.     

        

I got it off from one of the electronic stores in 5 years ago for worth £40 to see if this is any better to play some of the Wii games that are suitable to play with the arcade stick, so the most obvious choice I go for is the Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars which is a fighting game that are actually decent to play especially with using with the arcade stick controller that enhanced the full arcade experience with precise fighting controls and smoother to pull off special moves worked absolutely well with it, and also I did had a go for other fighting games titles such as Arc System Works's Gulity Gear XX: Accent Core are also played just as perfect as the Capcom's 2D fighting game, and finally I tested out with the Nintendo's best fighting game title such as Super Smash Bros Brawl which I am so glad the game works fantastic with the arcade stick controller.

From outside of the fighting games, it also worked with different kinds of games like EA's NBA Jam, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 -13, SEGA Superstars Tennis, SNK's Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown Anthology, SNK's Arcade Classics Vol.1, and Hudson Soft's Tetris Party Deluxe. 

What made me like about the arcade stick is the overall design which is nice and big as it looks, and I also liked the art-cover of the Tatsunoko vs Capcom on the front plate featuring 4 fighting rosters in colors and the all rest in transparency backgrounds is looking damn remarkable in terms of art design.

The arcade controller itself has 8-ways joystick control and 8 buttons which feels nice and clicky giving a responsive feedback for its input command such as being able to pull-off fighting moves and combos without causing any delays and lags which I am glad that this arcade stick worked pretty well for fighting games. 

It also had the turbo function button which allows you to use turbo by holding any of the 8 buttons which saves you from keep mashing the button frequently are useful for other genres including Shoot-em-ups and Run N Gun, and the best part of it that it has the control stick switch which gives you an option to enable any of these control function such as left or right analog stick, and D-Pad which is the main reason why I used this controller to test out games like Nintendo's Super Smash Bros Brawl. 

I also did the experiment on this arcade stick where I had the software called GlovePIE which allows any of Wii's controllers connected to PCs (via Bluetooth) functions as keyboard and mouse controls, so I've plugged the arcade stick's cable plug into Wii Remote's connector port, then registering the Wii Remote into PCs bluetooth connection, then opening up GlovePIE software and create the configuration codes to match the commands inputs between Wii's controllers and PCs keyboard and mouse, and finally hit run to enable so that I can able to play and enjoy arcade games on the MAME emulator with the Wii's arcade stick which is the bestest thing that I ever did back then. 

I consider this as one of my top favourite video game accessories by far which I never regret getting this from the store for £40, so this became very handy when I start playing any type of fighting games and other arcade titles for Wii or even with PCs using GlovePIE software.

If any of you are interested in playing the game with the arcade stick, then this is for you to give a massive try outs.                 

Honorable Mention:

DK Bongos (Gamecube)

PS Move Controller (PS3)

PSVR (PS4)

SNES Mouse (SNES)

Wii MotionPlus Adapter (Wii)      

Game Genie (Various)

Action Replay (Various)

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.  

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.