Controllers. Joypads. Joysticks. The past forty-plus years of mainstream gaming have seen thousands of weird and wonderful ways of controlling our games hit the market. As Hot Fuzz might have termed it, everyone and their mums were making video game input peripherals.
Over the past five years, I’ve become quite the collector and fan of the weird and wonderful world of joypads and joysticks, especially ones for the PS1/2, Mega Drive, C64 and Amiga home computers. Being this passionate about the curios end of the controller market means that you’re in for some real duds, but even if they’re not all that great a controller, so long as they’re interesting then that’s enough for them to win a place in my heart. And in this series of articles, I’ll showcase some of my favourites.
Okay, let’s get this show on the road with…
Cyber Connect Rensha Controller 2 (PS2)
Goddamn, this is one sexy controller. Easily one of the most premium third-party controllers I’ve ever used. Alas, it’s also one of those I can find the least about its origin and history. If you search for the company associated with it, Cyber Connect, you’ll more than likely turn up information about CyberConnect2 of Dot Hack fame and little else.
I’m always on the hunt for cool new PlayStation 1 and 2 controllers, especially when they’re Japan-exclusive ones like this, so I was very excited to showcase it on BlueSky when it arrived.
Just look at it. Okay, ignore those face button symbols that have edgy variations on the official Sony ones and the vibes of something that Mad Catz would put out. Focus instead on the glossy red chrome shell and the dieselpunk-ish start, select, turbo, and macro buttons aligned along the top. And how about those triggers? Situated on the back of the controller. This is the most successful attempt so far in my collecting experience to move them elsewhere from the top.
Everything about this controller drips quality. The shell is smooth and glossy with a metallic feeling; this one has escaped being scratched over the decades, which I was very glad to see. A pleasing heft speaks of quality construction and not a mostly hollow shell. The sticks are pleasant to use and sport a slightly raised circular frame that gives it a feeling closer to the concave controllers I treasure than those of the Dualshock 2.
And those rear triggers, what you might consider to be the ‘gimmick’ of these controllers, are placed in just the right position to be comfortable. I’ve seen several attempts to move triggers elsewhere and the Rensha 2’s is easily the best one of its generation.
The other feature that sets the Rensha 2 apart is the sensitivity slider. Unlike some others I’ve seen with similar ones, this doesn’t control vibration but analog stick sensitivity. And curiously, not in the usual dead zone adjustment way, either. The game I first tried it out with was Robotech Battlecry, an arcade flight sim based in the Macross/Robotech ‘verse. To my surprise, I found out the switch affected not how far I needed to push the stick before an input would register, but how fast my variable fighter turned and the speed at which the crosshair moved up, down, left, and right. Turning speed was cut roughly 50% at the lowest sensitivity setting – ideal for when you’re lining up your sights on an enemy craft! And I can see it being useful for on-the-fly aiming adjustment in FPS games. Not all games responded to it. Adjusting the slider made no difference at all in camera panning speed in Sly Racoon 2, so it may be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Ah, right, the dpad. It looks like it might be a wee bit stiff, but it’s anything but and surprisingly pleasant to use, sporting a faint red tint to its translucency to match the overall colour scheme.
The face buttons, despite their Sony lawsuit-avoiding irregular symbols that clash with the otherwise classy design, are solidly tactile and are housed beneath a flatly rounded outer transparent shell that doesn’t interfere with their sensitivity and adds that extra bit of design flair.
So yeah, this is one of those third-party controllers that feel in a class of its own and absolutely not a ‘Player Two’ controller, racing past and ahead the official Dualshock 2 and its third-party peers as my go-to PS2 controller by a country mile.
Scanline Artifacts 