For many years, since the introduction of the Archimedes series of computers, the words Acorn and Joystick have rarely been used in the same sentence.
There have, on occasion, been attempts by companies to introduce joysticks or, more recently, joypads (made popular by Sega and Nintendo consoles), but these have usually met with failure. Most Acorn games-players seem to find the keyboard and mouse a much more viable alternative.
Previous products have usually been flawed in a number of ways:
1) The joystick or joypad is of poor quality, invariably making life harder for the user!
2) You are restricted to using the joystick supplied by the company, as the interface is built into the joystick itself.
3) The software support is poor, and the joystick fails to work with many games.
However, the single biggest flaw has been the digital nature of the joysticks Ö each button or direction being either on or off. You canæt move the joystick just a small distance to get a small movement on screen.
You may not consider this much of a problem, but take the example where you want to move your character fractionally to the left, perhaps to position a jump. On the keyboard, you would simply tap the appropriate key very quickly. However, with the joystick you can only move a fixed distance, sometimes making the move almost impossible.
The problem is accentuated in flight simulators, where the degree of movement is critical to avoid collisions and allow accurate aiming.
Introducing the Analogue Joystick
This problem has been solved for a long time for PC owners Ö the analogue approach allows the joystick to return the amount of movement that has been applied. The more movement, the greater the effect in the game.
As far as I know, the Falcon interface from Magnetic Image is the first Acorn product to allow the use of such PC joysticks!
Not only does the interface solve the problem, but it does so in style, avoiding most of the problems found with competing products.
For example, there is no joystick supplied with the product, allowing the user freedom of choice as to what quality of device to use. You can pick up a suitable joystick from a PC dealer for less than ú10, but for ú5 or ú10 more, youæll get a high quality joystick which is bang up-to-date.
Software support
The Falcon is supplied with various modules to allow the product to be used with any Acorn machine. Iæve tested it on a Risc PC and A5000 with no problems.
The modules are supported by a configuration and calibration application. This may sound complex, and indeed the software took a little effort to master, but this is time well spent. You set the extent of movement given by your particular joystick, and the software will then calculate the degree of movement proportionally.
You are given a choice whether or not the extra analogue information should be used or not Ö some arcade games are better played with a digital-type joystick, so the software allows the analogue device to be treated as digital for such games.
I encountered no incompatibilities Ö testing the joystick with titles such as Star Fighter 3000 and Chocks Away. It brought new life into these games, as I suddenly became able to swoop and dive just as if I were controlling a real flight stick.
Arcade games, such as Burn ÉOut and Hamsters, also worked without any difficulties.
The hardware interface
The Falcon interface itself is well produced and provides a neat and compact solution. However, it has one major disadvantage Ö it connects to the printer port of your machine. This is a popular interface for such devices, with developers seeming to forget that users might actually have a printer connected to the printer port.
The solution is a printer port splitting device which is best bought from a local PC dealer. At the flick of a switch, you can swap between your printer and your joystick Ö I canæt see you using both at once!
Fortunately, the interface worked on the end of both Artworks and Impression dongles, which will please anyone who doesnæt just use their Acorn as an expensive alternative to a console!
Conclusions
Costing around ú25 (contact Magnetic Image for current pricing and possible joystick bundles), the Falcon interface isnæt cheap when you consider that youæll have to buy a joystick and printer port splitter on top of that (budget for around ú55 in total). However, it is a classy product and provides a complete solution to all your game control needs.
Bear in mind that, on a PC, youæd have to pay around ú80, as the interface tends to be only available as part of a sound system (apparently the sound card is the single multimedia / leisure solution).
The Falcon interface outclasses any of the other joystick and joypad solutions available for Acorn users (although which companies will sell you such a product varies by the month!) and if you like the idea of a joystick, itæs your best bet for connecting one to your Acorn.
Me? Iæm going back to practise stunt flying in Star Fighter 3000, now that I can fly the thing with my spanking new analogue joystick (and interface!).áuá
