Retro Joystick Support?

[chirovette]

Hi, I have bought or gotten free (legal) downloads of Ms. Pacman game over the years on many consoles. I bought various Pac Man packages for the PS2, XBox, and even the Dreamcast, oddly enough lol. As well as when they were available for PC retro games, some free, some paid.

Anyway, the one common denominator is that I REALLY LOVE the nosalgia of the game and would love to play it again, but I can't EVER get good control using modern controllers with analog sticks or D-Pads or using a kayboard. Oh, and lol, yeah, I have purchased the games for my iPad an phones as well, and have no luck getting used to the virtual controls anymore than my PS4/PS3/360/XBone or Logitech controllers.

For me, at least, the ONLY way I can play this game at all and do decently is with a joystick, like those old Atari sticks I used to use for the 2600 and even those old Atari 800 systems.

I have read that there was no "joystick" support for these games, but that was a while back. So I was wondering if a USB Joystick, like this one, for instance, would work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Retrolink-6-Feet-Wired-Atari-Style-Joystick-Controller-For-PC-And-Mac-Black-NEW/172732964559?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649


"Retrolink 6 Feet Wired Atari Style Joystick Controller For PC And Mac" In case Steam blocks the eBay link.

Or is that not compatible with the game?

Thanks!

[Hidron]

I wish that page said for sure which standard it uses. My guess is that it is DirectInput. Unfortunately, this series of games seem to only support XInput controllers natively, and even that isn't very good. My USB interfaces that allow me to use my original Atari/Commodore joysticks all seem to be DirectInput.

Because this series of games uses keyboard control though, an external program like joy2key may work with DirectInput devices. I haven't tested that yet.

[chirovette]

Thanks for the answer, Hidron. Is there any solution to allow joystick control for this game? I don't want to waste money, even small amounts, on continuously trying (and failing) to play this game on a PC, console, or iPad with an actual stick. Never heardof Joy2Key, but I will look into it. I did a search on Amazon for XInput joysticks.

This is one of the lesser expensive Joysticks I was able to find:

https://www.amazon.com/Mayflash-F300-Arcade-Joystick-SWITCH/dp/B019MFPLC0/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1515521136&sr=8-12&keywords=xinput+joystick

Not sure I am willing to pay even the low end for these kinds of arcade "console" controllers, lol just to play Ms Pacman. I guess I have to think about it or just forget about the nostalgia fun of Ms Pac-Man.


Edit: Also, I have been using XPadder for old school GTA games on PC (III, VC, and SA) since 2010. Will Xpadder work for mapping incompatible Joysticks for this Ms. Pac-Man?