Joystick Review - Hyperkin Trooper

[chysn]

Joysticks, man. They've always been a pain. When I was a kid, I agonized over which joystick to get. My favorite was the Suncom TAC-2.

The thing with joysticks is that they lead rough lives. I've had a difficult time finding a 1980s-era joystick that's still in good shape. So, I figured I'd try a new one. When I needed a USB joystick for VICE, I bought the Hyperkin Trooper 2. It's styled after the old Atari joystick, the CX40, but with two buttons. It feels smoother and more precise than the Atari joystick. It made the experience of testing my new game on VICE better than playing it on a real VIC, with my small army of defeated 40-year-old controllers. That's no good!

Fortunately, Hyperkin makes the Trooper in the Atari format! The same feel and responsiveness of the USB version, the same two-button design. So now I can move between the Mac and the VIC with the same quality of control. The fire buttons are more clicky than mushy, but not loudly clicky, which is perfect.

The stick isn't rubberized, meaning you'll still get blisters if you play Omega Race for hours on end; but I think I'm beyond those days. My first game with the Trooper was 82,400 points.

The bottom line is, I'm done rolling the dice on finding a classic joystick in nice condition. These Troopers are fifteen U.S. bucks, and it seems like a lot of thoughtful design went into them. They make VIC-20 games more fun, so they'll be my joystick of choice for as long as they're available.

[doug_in_nc]

I have a couple of these joysticks, and while not perfect I much prefer using them to abusing some 40 year old hardware that I would rather preserve in it's current condition, especially as the plastic in old parts has embrittled. While using original hardware (vs emulators etc) is my preference, it doesn't stretch to joysticks.