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Author Topic: N64 Controller Order  (Read 8803 times)

« on: November 02, 2014, 12:26:29 PM »
Last night, I had a dinner party with the guys group from my church (all in their 20s and 30s). I have my N64 connected to the TV in my living room, and the guys noticed it and started talking about it. (This later led to some late night retrogaming).

A discussion came up since I have four controllers. One of the guys asked me if they were in order from "best" to "worst"--meaning how well the control sticks worked. Mine have always been in the same order--the order I bought them in. I didn't get them all at the same time and spread them out a few weeks after getting the N64. (I got my N64 new in April 1997).

Now I'm curious--if you bought your N64 new, what order do you have your controllers in? I'm also curious to see what the folks who got used N64s do with them.

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2014, 12:51:30 PM »
Ah, N64 controllers.  I've had more controllers for the N64 than any other system.  I recall a Super Pad 64, Super Pad 64 Plus, A PS2 looking thing, an SNES with added joystick, and some N64 styled controller with only the middle handle.  I also had a clear, clear purple, smoke, and yellow N64 controller. 

Although the official N64 controllers stick was always wearing out (I didn't even play Mario Party or Smash Bros.), I still think it was the best. 

I even went to the extreme of buying an iQue.  While I feel it is the best "N64" controller, I don't think it fits your question. 
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2014, 01:54:10 PM »
I've had about four total.

My clear controller, which alternates with the blue one as my main, is fully operational, with the exception of a slightly loose control stick, which is annoying. I've had it since elementary school.
The blue one has a better control stick, but the Z-button's kind of stuck. I got this one a year or two ago from a friend at school. He also gave me a GameShark for N64, but I'm afraid to use that because I'm scared it'll totally screw up my system.
When I got my N64 at the age of 6, it came with a grey controller (Along with NHL 99 and Ready-2-Rumble Boxing. I now have a pretty good N64 library, although I really wish I would've let that dude give me Conker's Bad Fur Day...), which I ended up throwing away because it stopped functioning. Good thing my uncle picked me up that clear one for me at some kind of place with lots of garbage! I used to be a jerk and make people use the grey one as the second controller when it was in its death throes and only half-functioning...
I got a second grey controller at some point, which I may or may not still have in my closet with my clear and blue ones. It was either DOA or died not long after I got it, but I'd already had my clear one to use at that point so it didn't bother me.

Man, I'm so lucky to have gotten an N64 and been able to experience Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie (which I can never manage to stop being stuck in), Mario Kart 64, Yoshi's Story, Star Fox 64, and other classics at a young age. Along with an affinity for DBZ and BOTVGH, as well as using Limewire often for my musical needs at that age, I got to almost slightly sort-of experience some of the charm (used loosely, given certain events) of the late 90s-early 00s era, and gained a sort of pseudo-nostalgia for that time.
Relics.

« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2014, 12:00:04 AM »
Wow, you folks have some interesting controllers.

I have four of the first-party Nintendo-branded controllers--the grey one that came with the system, a blue, a red, and a green. The green box may be floating around somewhere, but I know for certain I have the red and blue boxes (plus the N64's original box and every game box except Starfox since my mom stepped on it when I was a kid and it got pretty badly mutilated).

I'm curious as to whether the earlier Nintendo-branded controllers were better-made. As stated above, these controllers are practically ancient (got them in 1997). They still play like they did when I bought them.

Admittedly, I never had Mario Party 1, but I am a notorious power slide freak on MarioKart 64 and do have Smash Brothers.

Since we're talking libraries, mine is decent, although Ocaraina of Time is a sore point for me since I have yet to actually make Link grow up--and I got the game back in December 1998 when it came out!! I beat the first boss but have been stuck in that big field for way too long. It's the one where it goes from day to night and all the bad guys show up at night. I can never figure out what to do there, and yes, I did buy a strategy guide and have read a few walkthroughs on GameFAQs. I think I gave up on the game for good in 2007-2008ish after trying again from the start while in college and bored out of my mind during the summer months.

It's not like I'm an awful gamer--I've held my ground on most everything else and have beaten some games completely, but Ocarina of Time has always beaten me. Mario 64 and Starfox have to be my favorites for non-multiplayer, followed by DK 64. I was also a huge Triple Play guy in the day.

« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2014, 09:11:03 AM »
Go to that big castle, wait for it to be daytime again, go inside and find a little girl with red hair, go to the area where there's a big white castle in the background that takes you outside to a field with climbable vines nearby, talk to the little girl with red hair until you get an egg from her, sneak past the guards to get to the big white castle, wait until night passes and it's day again and the egg item will become a chicken, use the chicken to wake him up, push the blocks in a way so you can jump to the other side of the moat, crawl inside the castle through the little hole that's directly in front of/below you, sneak past the guards inside until you reach the garden with Zelda, talk to her until you get the Zelda's Letter item from her, talk to Impa and get Zelda's Lullaby from her, then go to that village that's across the little bridge in the field, find the gate with a guard next to it that's blocking the path to a mountain, give him the letter, go back into the big castle with the drawbridge (The area inside is the Market, by the way), go into the store with the bearded dude's face on it, buy the Hylian Shield but don't equip it yet (if you don't have the money just cut grass, there's some grass to cut in the Market), go back to Kokiri Forest, find the entrance to the Lost Woods, navigate through there (hint: listen for the music to not get quieter as you walk through an entrance), find the "Sacred Forest Meadow" area, fight through the enemies and navigate through the maze to find Saria after walking up some stairs and going through a corridor, talk to her and get Saria's Song, go all the way back to that mountain in that village (called Death Mountain by the way), go up it, find the door that shut, play Zelda's Lullaby while you're standing on the rug, then go inside and play Saria's Song to the guy in there and trigger a funny cutscene and get the Goron's Bracelet, find an area where there's a bomb flower and a goron curled up, throw the bomb down to blow up the rocks blocking the cave down below (If you mess up, just wait for the bomb flower to regrow, which doesn't take long), go back down, enter the cave, use a bomb flower to blow up the wall you see as soon as you're inside, and voila, you're at the second dungeon! Equip the Hylian Shield when you get inside, as lava and fire will burn your Kokiri Shield.


Got all that? I'm a little hazy at the part where you talk to the little redheaded girl (whose name is Malon), but otherwise that should be accurate.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2014, 08:20:02 PM by TheMightyThor »
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Koopaslaya

  • Kansas
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2014, 09:24:47 AM »
I've got 7 or 8 controllers for the N64. The third part ones didn't break as easily -- the joysticks possessed a bit more integrity -- yet they never felt as "natural" as the Nintendo controllers. Hardly, if ever, did I use them. For whatever reason, my first clear green controller is the best one I have, and it's closing in on 17 or 18 years.

I've heard that's its possible to harvest the joystick from the Gamecube controller and implant it in the N64 controller; but I don't know if I trust my skill with a project like that.

I also wonder if something like this would work. http://www.amazon.com/Redesigned-REPLACEMENT-Joystick-Controller-Thumbstick/dp/B009MRZAUC
Εὐθύνατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου

« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2014, 09:29:21 AM »
I bought my N64 used.. sometime 1998, I think. With Mario Kart 64 and another controller. They were both grey colored controls, and I'm going to assume they were used also. Upon playing the first Mario Party, the P1 controller had to be replaced (and I subsequently had to stop playing games for a week), so surprise, we got another grey one.

We eventually got two more controllers over the course of the N64's run: a green one (for my sister since that was her favorite color at the time) and a yellow one (my favorite color, and still one of my favorites). All the controllers have henceforth lasted through all the rough gaming we've done.
Kinopio is the ultimate video game character! Who else can drive a kart, host parties, play tennis, give good advice and items, and is almost always happy??

BriGuy92

  • Luck of the Irish
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2014, 05:58:00 PM »
I was way late to the N64 party; I got mine in 2004 for my twelfth birthday. It came with two controllers, one blue and one yellow, and they were both pretty awful, joystick-wise. After I used them for a few years, they hardly worked at all. I eventually took the yellow one apart for science, and the blue one is still kicking around somewhere. A few years ago I decided to get a new one. A used game store near my house sells some controllers that are near-identical to the original Nintendo ones, but I've used those before and I don't like how stiff the buttons are. Fortunately, I found someone selling some original ones online. I got a transparent purple one for about $15, and that's the only one that I use now.
Know the most important contribution of the organ Fund science girls type. It's true!

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2014, 06:54:03 PM »
My transparent purple N64 controller and GBC are still two of my favorite Nintendo items.  I'd love to see Nintendo go back to transparent systems and controllers. 
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

CrossEyed7

  • i can make this whatever i want; you're not my dad
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2014, 02:21:27 PM »


Only confirmed for Europe so far. But there's a Nintendo Direct tomorrow that'll probably have a segment about ORAS, so maybe?

My original N64 controller's analog stick is too loose to do pretty much anything now. I think we got some better ones a couple years ago when a friend of my brother's gave us Mario Kart, but I'm not sure; I haven't played in a while.

We didn't have many N64 games (no Zelda, no Mario Party, no Mario Kart, no Goldeneye), and I never had friends over to play anything (also, I never had friends), but the N64 does have some of the strongest nostalgic memories for me, mostly from the smell of the plastic of the third-party controller I usually used (I think it was called a SharkPad?), the crinkling sound of the futon-chair thing I usually sat in to play it, and the manuals -- the vibrant colors in the Banjo-Kazooie manual, the feel of the non-glossy paper manual for Yoshi's Story, and the descriptions of the planets in Star Wars Episode I Racer. And the time I made a team in NBA Jam 99 of all the kids who bullied me and made them all really short with 0 for all their stats and made them play a team comprising me (all stats at 100) and the handful of basketball players whose names I sort of recognized.
"Oh man, I wish being a part of a Mario fan community was the most embarrassing thing about my life." - Super-Jesse

« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2014, 01:24:49 AM »
Ah, yes, the funky smell of off-brand controllers.

I have a buddy who bought two knockoff Game Cube controllers for his Wii. He got these about a year ago and I was there when he opened the box. Suddenly, the entire room smelled like a huge swimming pool. These things reeked of chlorine. A few months later, they still smelled that way. I haven't played a game with him in a while so I can't tell you how they are one year later, but my pals and I still talk about those controllers now and then.

I'm not sure they even had a brand on them. They weren't terrible; I've seen worse third party controllers, but it was obvious they weren't genuine Nintendo.

In regard to the better quality joystick: I believe I heard somewhere you can find one that fits perfectly on an N64 controller if you can somehow track down one of those Lodge Net controllers that used to be in all the hotel rooms. Remember those services where you'd pay a pretty high fee for an hour or so of games? I'm pretty sure they used a much more durable stick on those, and I'm also positive most of those didn't get played with much. Those controllers don't fit a regular N64, so you'll have to do some surgery.

True story--when a bunch of my friends and I went to Chicago in high school, we brought along an N64. We had an all night gaming tournament in the guys hotel room, but first had to buy an RF mod at some random Game Stop type place which I believe was on North Michigan Avenue. I actually was the one who bought this and still have it to this day. I think it cost about ten bucks. The TVs in the hotel rooms back then only had the cable jacks on the back, and the one in this particular hotel room was really tight. We wound up borrowing a set of tweezers from one of the girls' makeup sets and eventually got it hooked up. I don't remember if they had the Lodge Net controller or not.

TheMightyThor: Easy, tiger!! That's definitely a great walkthrough, but I'm an older guy and will have to parse that into chunks!! :) I just may have to try it sometime when I get a spare evening--who knows, maybe I can finally make Link grow up after 16 years of having the game? Just for kicks, I should invite the guy who beat the first boss with me back in middle school over for old times sake. (He's actually still a pretty avid gamer whereas I'm more of a nostalgic/casual guy these days since I own a business now...but that doesn't stop me from getting into the action now and then!) I think I remember talking to that Malon girl at some point in the game--ironically, she looks a TON like the girl my aforementioned buddy had a crush on in sixth grade!!!

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2014, 04:01:22 PM »
True story--when a bunch of my friends and I went to Chicago in high school, we brought along an N64. We had an all night gaming tournament in the guys hotel room, but first had to buy an RF mod at some random Game Stop type place which I believe was on North Michigan Avenue. I actually was the one who bought this and still have it to this day. I think it cost about ten bucks. The TVs in the hotel rooms back then only had the cable jacks on the back, and the one in this particular hotel room was really tight. We wound up borrowing a set of tweezers from one of the girls' makeup sets and eventually got it hooked up. I don't remember if they had the Lodge Net controller or not.
That reminds me of the E3 trip in which I took a TV to a hotel so we could play GCN.  Good times. 
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2014, 08:32:07 PM »
This one time when I went to my grandpa's apartment (Around 2007), I brought my Wii there but his TV was old so I couldn't hook it up, as it only had a cable jack in the back, and no AV cable support. My dad stopped by and picked me up a cheap AV-to-RF converter at RadioShack or something. It had a rather long delay, which prevented me from playing any Guitar Hero, which was one game I brought. The sound was awful on that TV...Fortunately, my grandpa ended up getting a new TV (A widescreen CRT EDTV [Those are fairly elusive now, I think], which seems like the ultimate TV for playing pre-7th gen games), so I could bring and play whatever games I wanted.

Bringing over Brawl was an interesting experience. When he lived with my dad, he got me Melee in Christmas of 2004, which I would often bring over often to play on my dad's GameCube there (I got my home GameCube that same day). My grandpa loved watching me play Melee; even though he thought fighting games were dumb, he was awestruck at how many characters, stages, trophies, and modes there were, as well as how graphically impressive the game was at the time. He thought the lottery thing which you can use to get trophies was really, really neat, and he would read me trophy descriptions, which gave me a much more advanced vocabulary than most of my peers which has persisted to this day. He stubbornly insisted that Brawl just wasn't as good a game as Melee.

Perhaps if he were born much later, he'd be a competitive Smash player.
Relics.

« Reply #13 on: November 15, 2014, 08:50:58 PM »
Widescreen CRT? I approve and hope you or someone in your family still has that set!!

All of my TVs are CRTs. I just don't like the eye strain from newer sets that I seem to get, so I'm holding onto my old ones as long as I can.

Great story about your Grandpa!! My Grandpa actually has a joystick on his computer so he can play air combat games. Not sure offhand what he plays, but I know he is into them (or at least was, now he seems to do more genealogy than anything). Still, he's young enough he could enjoy games (he's only 85, and nobody's too old for a good game). I got him hooked up with Star Fox 64 once and he really liked it.

I'd better hurry up and find someone to marry so they can have gamer grandparents (that would be both of my parents--as ridiculous as it sounds, my 61 year old father wants to buy a Wii U this Christmas--for himself).

« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2014, 12:34:14 PM »
I'd better hurry up and find someone to marry

Understanding large fighting game rosters may not be universal across age ranges...but one thing certainly is.



>tfw no gf
« Last Edit: November 16, 2014, 02:28:35 PM by TheMightyThor »
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