guyjin, the Battle Pad was an official NEC-released pad. I'm not sure how many were produced (or why) but they really aren't all that spectacular other than their name.
I have one.
As you can see from the picture, it's shape is slightly reminiscent of a Genesis pad. It is extremely comfortable to hold. However, it suffers from two glaring issues and as a result it doesn't get used much in my house.
First, the retarded D-pad design. It would've been OK if it was just a regular crosshair-type D-pad, but they actually TAPERED the points of the cross. The end result is that it is nearly impossible to make diagonal movements with this pad unless you are the Jolly Green Giant and have a thumb the size of my fist. This is OK in overhead RPG-type games that don't allow diagonal movements anyway.
The other issue is the extremely un-innovative placement of the turbo switches along the top edge. This placement, while it streamlines the look of the controller, makes it virtually impossible to change turbo settings mid-play. You have to pause the game so you can reach up and change them without getting hit or something in the middle of a game. It's hard to tell from the picture but the switches are recessed which makes flipping them not an option even if you are Stretch Armstrong and have fingers as long as my forearm.
It's too bad, really, because the pad feels very good to hold and is kind of nice in all other aspects. Ultimately though, it's only usable in overhead RPGs and platformers that don't require diagonal movements or for you to change turbo settings mid-game.
Topic: Multi-region CoreGrafx II, SCD-ROM2 systems for sale: **SOLD** (Read 470 times)