PCE pet peeves

[DragonmasterDan]

Yeah, I've had two die on me and I was the original owner of one.  I take pretty good care of my stuff and I've never had any other controller failures since I got my first NES 23 years ago.  These days I keep my usual Turbopad permanently connected to an official NEC extension cord and that works well.

Just on a side note, I've not had problems with Duo/PCE pads. It's the original giant TurboGrafx connectors that have been a source of pain. And I was also the original owner. I think I had two where the pins bent and once where the metal piece that holds the connector in place came out entirely when being removed from a turbo tap.

[Black Tiger]

The Turbo connectors were perfect, but the Duo/PCE ones are kinda flimsy in comparison. The heavy Turbo-style grip bar on the Duo connections really weighs them down and keeps them wiggling and straining the port on the console. The Turbo connectors actually connect sturdy and the only time I experienced one separate from the cord, was when an ignorant overweight person walked across the four foot space between myself and the TV to walk into a wall and the force ripped the cable off the connector. But it's no different than when I stepped on the AC connector of my TurboDuo and damaged the console or dropped my Express with Turbo Vision connected onto a cement floor and it cracked the base of the antena. All cases were human error.

The Turbo and Duo Taps collecting dust inside were a bigger issue, but not hard to fix if you figured out the problem. But like some of the other peeves mentioned, it seemed to be an issue that took years to develop. I don't think that there's anything wrong with hardware having issues like the capacitors giving out after a decade or two.

[esteban]

My pet peeve would be similar to what guyjin said. I always felt one of the advantages to the 16 bit consoles was more buttons providing deeper game play. Now don't flame me. I'm aware that more buttons does not automatically mean better game. I just wish nec and partners made more games taking advantage of the extra buttons controllers for a wider variation.

If you buy a 3 button controller, either the Blaster or Avenue 3 button, Button III will assume the function of whatever the Run or Select button does in the games that use them for different functions.

In Legendary Axe 2, for example, Run throws the star bombs. On a 3 button pad, Button III can throw star bombs as well. Or in any of the Soldier games, Select changes ship speed. Button III can do that for you, too.

Hell yes.

And since we are disinterring ancient threads, maybe I'll get folks to contribute a few games to the TBFG FAQ before it dies (again):

Three-Button-Friendly Games (TBFG* FAQ)

AVENUE Pad 3 (NAPD-1001) (NEC AVENUE)	PC BLASTER (ACP-01) (シュールド・ウェーブ/タケル)	*Yes, "TBFG" sounds ludicrous.

NOTE TO SELF: I gotta add Legendary Axe 2 to the TBFG FAQ now! Three-Button-Friendly Games (TBFG* FAQ)