Back in the days when you just had a stick and a fire button.
It was one of those type with a short shaft with a ball on top for the stick and two fire buttons that did the same function but were there for left or right handers.
The Zipsticks were a copy of it...same design but with square, yellow fire buttons and big, suction cup feet. Inferior though, I always felt the shaft had too much travel and the buttons too stiff and again too much travel.
Most people said micro-switches were best but I'd always go with the more sensitive leaf switch.
The Competition Pro was accurate but robust.
Far better than a joystick shaped like a fighter pilots control.
I'd like joysticks to make a comeback - They have to be handheld, not like those PSX or SNES tabletop jobbies, and buttons on the left. I like to move the stick with my right hand and press the buttons with my left thumb. I guess the Japanese prefer it the other way round as their joysticks always have the buttons on the right.
Quoting from Reuters article - "The efforts are not always met with universal praise. Some gamers complain that modern controllers, which sport multiple thumbsticks, triggers and buttons, mean the old games don't feel like they used to."
I think my Kempston joystick broke on me for good and being a cash strapped 11 year old, had to learn how to use the keyboard controls on my Spectrum 48k+ I think I did buy another joystick as for some games with 2 dozen functions, it was necessary, like Afterburner!
