Closing thoughts
Bear in mind, it wouldn't be impossible to design a new Virtual On game meant for a controller or single joystick. Senko no Ronde has shown that the same dash-vectoring gameplay can work in a 2D arena with shmup-based controls, while the obscure Dreamcast game Frame Gride had an appreciably similar close-combat system using a standard controller. But we're not playing a new Virtual On game–we're about to be playing an exquisitely tweaked and balanced game designed from the ground up around twin sticks.
It's possible to play the game with a controller mapping, but it locks off higher levels of control. It's like replacing an F1 racer's steering wheel with a keyboard. Or like playing Quake without mouselook. Or like a PC FPS fan playing Halo…but I repeat myself. We love Twin Sticks because we love the game, and we want to play it how it was designed to be played.
At the time of this writing, a blog post from the Japanese developers indicates their awareness of the Twin Stick demand, but they cannot guarantee anything. Homebrew sticks are already in progress from the most dedicated.
At the end of the show, people can change, but we don't want to leave our sticks behind.
At least, not yet.
Damn, that was a good article!
Scott, thanks!
Whew! *applauds* Dude…this is a masterpiece. I am a controller player[but I plan on getting some sticks eventually]and i’ve always wondered why the sticks were such a big deal. I understand now. To truly live the game you need sticks…with a pad you’re just playing it. Great article.
That was an awesome article. I am looking forward to the XBLA re-release regardless, but having twin sticks would be cool.
I still remember the shop I bought your Twin Sticks from, right outside the Makino train station in Kyoto.
Very compelling article!
Scott & Menthol: Thanks! I was afraid that I might have gotten some of the finer points mixed up, but both your seals of approval mean a lot to me!
Neal: Thanks for the kind words! I hope I didn’t scare anybody away from at least giving the XBLA version a try with pads to see if they like it. After all, Sega at least loves us enough to reissue it..
Trevor: Haha, awesome! (I kept the shipping label for the longest time, I have no idea why) Those sticks are still sitting in my living room, and if Sega decides not to bring out 360 ’sticks, I’ll probably use them to build a 360-compatible version.
This is a great article. I actually posted it over at gfaqs for some of the nubcakes to peruse, since VO can be so damn complicated.
I still have my Saturn twinsticks (and my Netlink!) so I’m hoping to maybe mod them for 360, but still retain the Saturn functionality. I’m hoping that I can hook up some 360 controller guts directly to the microswitches, so the Saturn stuff is left untouched.
[...] flattered that the previous article has been showing up in a few blogs and forums. Interestingly, it’s being used as an insight [...]