In this section, I want to comment on how the DualStik performs in terms of gameplay. Of cause, the list of games which I will consider is by no means complete, and all comments just reflect my personal, possibly biased opinions. Although the advantages of the DualStik design will be sort of emphasized in the following, I found a minor drawback as well:
On a PC, the controller can only be used in addition to the usual keyboard, it is not capable to replace this. Whereas the MAME- interface is fairly usable with a joystick, browsing the games list or changing settings in the <TAB>- menu is difficult to do with optical controls alone. In order to achieve actions like these, some buttons should be assigned to the arrow keys (on the I-PAC) and to the mouse buttons (on the Opti-PAC). I never intended to do so, but I think that some administrative buttons had to be added to the DualStik's design for this.
Whenever you see in the following the "quick resume feature" being mentioned, please think of the coin- insert and the player- start buttons, which are placed within comfortable reach of the left hand, like I told you before in the Design section.
The original Arkanoid spinner uses gears to speed up the encoder wheel thus generating 486 pulses for every turn of the spinner knob. This is about ten times as much as the Tornado spinner with an encoder wheel of 42 teeth is able to do. Therefore, the "dial sensitivity" in MAME has to be adjusted to a very high value of over 200. Apart from this, the Arkanoid family of breakout games can be played equally well with any spinner- based controller. There is no need for a separate player- two unit, because the dual player mode is alternating- turns- based. A lost level can't be continued, so the quick resume feature doesn't matter either. The same holds for the follower "Revenge of DOH"; but in "Arkanoid Returns" a simultaneous dual player mode was introduced so that the second player could benefit from the slave unit here.
That's my second favourite breakout game after Off The Wall. Most versions support a spinner, and their dual player mode is simultaneous, which makes this game a perfect application for the DualStik. Whenever you lose the third ball, the quick resume feature helps to continue the level with little interruption of the gameplay.
This game demands the use of a spinner, although my daughter insists that a mouse works satisfactorily, too. There is no simultaneous dual player mode, which means that only the master controller is needed. The excellent bearings of the Tornado spinner provide for an easy rotation of the maze and a quick stop when needed. Occasionally the marble has to jump or accelerate, for which the left hand's control is adequate enough. Whenever a game is lost, the quick resume feature allows for an immediate replay.
No, I didn't conceal a light gun feature in the controller design
Golf and bowling games usually are equipped with a trackball, which makes them good
candidates for being played with the DualStik. However, golf and bowling games neither
feature simultaneous dual player modes nor allow levels to be resumed. This means, there is
no benefit from the quick resume feature or from the slave console for a second player. The
3" trackball provides for the necessary substantial feeling when rolling the bowling ball.
A curved path can easily be chosen with the buttons, but unfortunately for this game, the
DualStik's buttons no.1 and no.2 are placed the wrong way: Button no.1 (placed to the right)
lets the path bend left and vice versa
To my knowledge, this is the only dedicated trackball game with a simultaneous dual player
mode, so this is an excellent occasion to use master and the slave controller together. Lost
levels can't be resumed, which means there is no benefit from the quick resume feature. My
3" trackballs are of the same size as those used in the Marble Madness cabinet, therefore
my constant failure to reach the third level is obviously due to my inferior gaming skills
This is one of my favourite spinner games. Of cause, the paddles can decently be moved
with the Tornado spinner. The quick resume feature comes in very handy, because a new coin
allows you to proceed within the levels after too many balls are lost. The slave-
controller- option is a must here, since this game is designed for a simultaneous
competitive play of two or three people. O.k., there is a single player mode, too
Real good conspiration theories are persistently kept alive by ever-new generations of supporters. Occasionally, they grow even more substantial over time, as it happend to the alleged arcade game "Polybius". According to an urban legend, this game was manufactured by a mysterious company "Sinneslöschen", which released very few machines in Portland / Oregon in the year 1981. The game was said to be extremely addictive to kids which loved to play it until bizarre rumors spreaded about unpleasant side- effects like nightmares, amnesia or even one player committing suicide. Moreover, it was told that from time to time Men in Black stepped into the arcades and collected arcane data from the game's logs, which in turn gave rise to the suspicion that this game was a mind- control experiment of the U.S. government. Recently in 2007, the website www.sinnesloschen.com appeared out of the blue featuring a "reverse-engineered" version of Polybius for download. This is a Tempest- style game, in which a dated arcade- like appearance is combined with "overwhelming" psychedelic effects that would have been the cutting edge of graphics technology back then. During the gameplay the background revolves around a more or less stationary spaceship, which suggests that, like Cameltry, Polybius would make a fairly nice spinner game. Of cause, I wanted to test Polybius against the DualStik, but unfortunately, this clone is designed for joystick control and therefore lacks mouse support. The people at Sinneslöschen suggested me to find some mapping software which translates mouse movements into something Polybius understands. Finally I found a solution in "PPJoy", a free Windows driver which implements an interface for a variety of joysticks. Among other things, PPJoy lets you redirect the mouse input through a virtual joystick port, which Polybius recognizes as soon as in the settings "joystick support" is toggled "on". After having adjusted the sensitivity in PPJoy I was able to control the turning of the spacestation rather fluently with the spinner, shoot a fair amount of polygons back into the station and proceed through the first few levels. To be honest, Polybius actually might be better playable with a joystick, which lets you control the revolution of the spacestation and the back and forth movement of the ship with one hand. For there is no way to resume after losing the last ship and Polybius is single player only, the special features of the DualStik are of little value here. By the way, after having tested the game I still feel mentally healthy, however, most of the time I had the sound switched off, just to play safe...
"Say again? Puzzle Bobble never had a spinner!" some people might rightfully object. Well, but on the other hand, a spinner would be the perfect control for this series of games. Thankfully, the recent versions of MAME (> 0.106?) allow to aim the bubble- cannon with a mouse, which transforms this game into one of the most addictive spinner games ever. The gameplay is very nicely supported by the stick's design: The spinner makes the cannon revolve in a very controlled manner, and the fire button can comfortably be triggered. The quick resume feature lets you immediately replay a lost level, and the slave controller is big fun in the simultaneous dual player mode. The gameplay experience might even exceed that of the original arcade cabinets, which use joysticks. As a drawback, the initial choice of the level or the game character has to be done with the keyboard.
This game was equipped with a single trackball and no buttons, which means that regardless of its design, every controller with a trackball is appropriate. The quick resume feature doesn't help here, because a lost level can't be resumed. The dual player mode is alternating- turns- based, which makes the slave unit unnecessary. I'm looking forward to learn the orbit trick someday...
The Tornado spinner from SlikStik provides for a smooth and fast control of the spaceship
claw. The fire and superzapper button can be pressed intuitively with the forefinger and
the middle finger of the left hand. If you lose your third ship, the game starts all over
with the next coin, so the quick resume feature is irrelevant here. The dual player mode
is based on alternating turns, which renders the slave controller obsolete. Perhaps the
early prototype with rotating tubes and a stationary spaceship made better use of both
features... this one had allegedly been field-tested under its alias name "Polybius"