This Odd Numpad Joystick (plus an NES version)
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- Опубликовано: 16 ноя 2021
- Checking out this weird little Japonika numpad joystick add-on for PC keyboards, along with a similar model for Nintendo Entertainment System controller d-pads. Yay Canada! 🍁
The “As Seen on TV” tag on the packaging just makes this item that much cooler.
If only you could make everything sound cooler that way
"Getting hit by a car - as seen on tv!"
Your cooler!
As seen on TV always screams "we made a product to solve a problem that didn't exist"
@@Cimone90 Yeah it's an easy way to tell when something is garbage. Things like this is fun to look back at though.
@@RisingRevengeance oh. Totally fun. I still have an as seen on TV store front in my town.
A father of my friend used a joystick akin to this one on his NES and later SNES because he couldn't use the D-Pad normally due to a lack of a thumb and a couple of fingers. Would also use a little wedge to put the controller at an angle. Combination of the two made it more comfortable for him to play a lot of RPGs and shmups back in the day until he could find an arcade stick.
Yeah, a lot of these things often end up being based on disability aids that get marketed to a wider audience to make them at least a little affordable.
I can really see the numpad one being good for traversing data entry or text documents (because the numpad used to be where all your editing/navigation buttons would be, before mice)
He could have used a nes advantage controller
@@lauram5905 Yeah I think that was it's intended purpose.
Jesus loves you all, have a wonderful day today my family
a father? does this mean your friend has 2 or more father?
I would say it’s more of an EVEN numpad joystick 😏
Har-har
May I EVEN say it's ODD that I see what you did there?
Hehehehehe
I suppose it’s for specifically the arrows alone wouldn’t have minded something like that on some dos games before wasd was standard
its an ODD numpad joystick because it sits on the 5 key
Any vintage computer product with "As Seen on TV" automatically gets a Blerb.
Just As seen on TV
As Seen on LGR
and then "Usually Gets Throw in Trash" lol
"They're so proud to be Canadian. It's really adorable."
To me it sounds like : Look, it’s like they have their own country or something.
National pride on commercial products is always a special kind of cute
@@LGRBlerbs I personally enjoyed the combination of clearly being really proud to be Canadian, while calling the company "Japonika".
@@jubuttib right??
5:22 It almost sounds like you said "aboat the same thickness"
I know people who would unironically use this in their NES pads, especially people who grew up on atari 2600. I know for a fact it was not uncommon to be baffled by the concept of a d-pad back in the day
Crazy lmao. I grew up with nes/snes, and remember being baffled when gaming was going BACK to joysticks with N64/PS1
@@Palendrome I grew up in that sweet spot during which Amiga AND NES were common in many households, so I feel comfortable with both, Joysticks and D-Pads. :D
@@LordHorst I destroyed n64 controllers cause i would strain the stick too much cause it felt so foreign to me
there were some gamepads which had little sticks like that as optional screw-in thingies.
Like the European Atari 7800 / 2600jr controller, or the later GRAVIS gamepad for PCs (which was heavily inspired by the SNES controller)
As somebody who grew up with that kind of joystick (not on the Atari 2600 but on the C64 and then the Amiga) I can tell that these "devices" were nothing more than marketing gimmiks to make d-pad controllers less intimidating to us but they never worked as such. They felt wrong for all sorts of reasons. An Atari joystick was usually held with the right hand, it doesn't work like an arcade stick or a left analog stick at all and there is no analogy to the way a d-pad is operated. These "adapters" were doomed to fail. They were right that some adjustment was needed if you weren't used to d-pad controllers, but these cheap pieces of plastic where not suited for that.
2:30 "GET TREATED LIKE A CHAMPION"
Oh nice, send these to Billy Mitchell and Todd Rogers.
I don't wanna get sued.
@@LGRBlerbs The lawsuit has been filed. You're going to have to pay a $3,333,360 fine.
@@chupathingy5862 Think of Billy and Todd, they need to pay bills and go to the supermarket like everyone else......
The french part on those packages are... ouf.
On the NES one, for some reason, they translate champion with "championnat" witch mean championship.
So the sentence is now: "GET TREATED LIKE CHAMPIONSHIP!"
Oh my.
We get that kind of translations all the time in Canada.
@@yukimoe Worst part is this one is pretty good lol.
The google translated manuals from china are unintelligible lol.
I had one, i believe for a drone, where i had to read both the english and french instructions to kind of put together something that almost made sense, since both where complete gibberish.
I don't mind being treated that way.
"A wagon full of pancakes? In the champeenship!?"
Clint, with an obscure sound card: “Let’s try it with some DOS games!”
Clint, with a piece of plastic: “Let’s try it with some DOS games!”
Clint, day that ends in Y: “Let’s try it with some DOS games!”
Clint with something not made for gaming in any way: let's try it with some dos games!
Clint, on a non-DOS machine: "Let's try it with some DOS games!"
I believe the exact quote with this peice of crap was "Let's try some DOS games I guess."
Back in the 80s Bandai made something called the NES Super Controller which snapped over the entire controller leaving only the buttons exposed. The D-pad was replaced with a disc shaped pad with the option to put a tiny joy stick in the center. Some of my cousins had them, I never really thought they were all that useful but they seemed to like them.
Disc d-pads are honestly fantastic for a lot of arcade ports, especially anything with 8 directional movement.
So if they played a lot of space shooters or beat-em-ups that totally woulda been a solid option.
And Konami sold the Hyper Boy, a shell for the Game Boy turning it into a small but clunky arcade cabinet and to turn the lighting on it needed something like 4 D-cells.
"Speed up database entry and word processing tasks" - unless, for example, you want to enter the number 7
Keep in mind, this came out before mice, and more importantly mice with scroll wheels, were a standard thing.
Having used a lot of 80's joysticks.. This isn't the worst I've seen 😜
My PTSD has resurfaced
Atari 2600 joysticks lasted 1 month on average for me.
The Wico joystick (with the big red stick) was one of the best joysticks I ever used.
@rastas _ Early 2000s had nothing on the worst of the worst 80s joysticks. Back when even first party joysticks could be bad... looking at the atari 5200 joystick.
@@bruwin I now have the AVGN's rant about that playing in head
I want to see someone try one of the crazier Doom speedruns using one of those keypad joysticks. While it'd be a terrible run, I think it'd be entertaining.
To be honest, it would probably work a lot better with a better fulcrum point...having it shoved on top of the 5 key hurts it.
It could be a new speedruning category!!!
The first D pad I used was on a Nintendo Game and Watch… I knew straight away, that was the future.
It’s so good it’s copied on 8bitdo controllers
I pity anyone who's first d-pad was a GameCube or Switch pro controller.
@Code Turtle I had a different experience. The 360 d-pad is not the best however the two I mentioned earlier are worse. PlayStation and Wii u are better.
@Code Turtle 360 d-pad is still better than the Genesis/Mega Drive
@@wolfetteplays8894 ah yeah, that one is just a big wobbly circle that barely moves you in the general direction you want to go
Tired of surviving your DOOM levels?
"Geeee golly I won again DANG"
Then do we have the solution for you!!!
The NES one reminds me of the master system controllers with their detachable joystick. Always ending up removed and lost.
I was about to say it reminds me of the Gravis Gamepad but Clint beat me to it
I think my dad actually used it. All I know is, I grew up with a master system that had a wooden dowel hot-glued to the D-pad.
Yes, with that little screw-in joystick, certain SMS games like Space Harrier seemed more responsive with less finger travel.
The exact kind of full plastic enclosure one that you showed in the video was sold here in Slovenia by Conrad Electronic back in the mid-to-late 90s. :)
Same in the Netherlands. Not sure from where I got it though.
Knowing Conrad, they probably still sell them ;)
In 30 Years from now: „As seen on LGR Blerbs“…
"it's working ... kind of"
Basically the summation of every "as seen on TV" product.
I know it was common for keyboard peripherals of the time to use adhesives, but this would have been a little classy to have come with a key cap puller and it's own replacement cap to mount onto the 5 key.
Also would the 'word processing' claim be legit for dos programs that utilize the numpad directions? Thanks to the donator, and also for the vid, Clint.
I remember them advertising this in between Saturday morning cartoons in the mid 80's here in Michigan. We had a Nintendo at the time and I wanted the one for the NES controller so bad. I lived out in the country about an hour from any place that would sell these and my parents wouldn't let me use a credit card for it. It was like $4.99 plus shipping and handling, which I don't know the exact amount because I never got to order them. Soon NES came out with a really cool joystick controller and this item was forgotten. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was hopping you would do a video about these soon after the mail call video. Thank you for making these videos. Also, the part where it said on the package about confusion for the d pad, that was for the parents at the time that had never seen a controller before, so the d pad was like 4 more buttons to them, I had to remind my parents that they were for directions, yea had to explain that one a few times.
Canadian "As Seen on TV" commercials were usually the commercials we got on US networks (Canadian affiliates though) when they were re-broadcast up here. They'd insert Canadian ads in place of the US network's. Or they were part of infomercial telethons late at night.
I've been waiting for this since the mailbag episode!
Right! The mailbag episode!
I seriously thought i was having either terminal deja vu, or had traveled back in time.
Same here. Can't believe he got it to work. Not sure why it's not designed to snap onto the number 5 key.
I had the multicolored "joystick" in the clear enclosure growing up. Absolutely loved it, like the dummy I was.
edit:
Okay, in my defense, it's a world of a difference between that and the garbage in the video. The clear box one actually works.
How dare you call anything with the mighty words "as seen on TV" as garbage... :)
I had one of those translucent plastic one for the cursor keys. I don't remember it being too bad... the stick was small, and it had its own springs. It wasn't more accurate or anything, but i thought it was cool.
I’d love to find one to try, it really doesn’t look bad!
I had to comment because of your Basil profile pic, I love The Great Mouse Detective, lol.
@@Tardisntimbits Glad you like it. One of my favourite Disney movies :3
@@tonk82 Same! Always happy to see people repping the lesser loved movies and characters !
I wonder if anyone knows the dimensions of the parts, looks like a prime target for 3D printing.
imagine you wanting a joystick and your mom comes back with this
This reminds me a couple years back I asked my mom to get me a nice gaming mousepad for csgo . She got me the most basic office supply store mousepad they probably sold. Completely broke my heart for some reason. I still haven’t told her how disappointed I was. Especially considering I would have bought one my dang self and saved the two month wait for Christmas
Wow, I had the exact same other joystick you showed, that goes over the arrow keys. Like really the exact same one as in the picture - the clear housing and the same colors of the levers inside! And it actually worked pretty well. You glued metal pieces right and left of the up arrow and in the joystick were strong magnets. And I was so glad for it, cause it came with my first PC I bought and I came from an Amiga and I was used playing with a joystick.
I'd love to see the commercial too! Maybe a whole episode of old odd commercials lol
I can almost heart it.
"Greetings, and welcome to an LGR commercial thing"
It could be like Chadtronic's cursed commercials videos with funny commentary
I really needed more LGR in my life and I'm glad you made this channel.
I was looking forward to seeing this object in action after seeing you unbox it.
These bring back so many memories. In the early 90s i worked in data entry, i owe all my promotions and success to how much this joystick sped up my keyboard use
Been excited to see this one. The design is hilarious to me, and exactly the sort of thing I'd have wanted as a kid if I had known of it.
I remember getting something like this for my gameboy thinking it was gonna be like having a proper joystick. Young me quickly realized how wrong I was.
I was waiting for this one. I had one of these joysticks as a kid, played bomberman with it. A. LOT. :))
EDIT: you need to do two things: 1. get a similar pad, won't work without it and it won't work with the masked key coming off 2. you need to cut a spacer that goes under the key, blocking it from going down all the way (specifically, stops it from making contact). That's how it worked for me.
Weirdly enough, despite a similar package, and getting it from relatives in Canada... mine did not have the maple leaf. Weird.
Wow, I remember seeing this at KB toys northtown mall, MN as a little kid. I remember the clerk trying to convince my mother and I to buy it for my NES. So glad to see this in action years later, I always pondered if that would work good or not. Thank you and the donator for this one!
I noticed that gadget in your thumbnail and immediately remembered that I had the PC keyboard based one back when they came out and in the early days of DOS games. I likely picked it up at one of the computer stores here in Canada that I used to frequent but I don't think I ever saw it on TV in Canada. I think the adhesive pad only stuck for a limited time even with a keyboard that didn't have keycaps that were easy to remove, so not really the finest piece of Canadian engineering but an interesting piece none the less.
I can't wait until the day we can time travel so I can go back in to 1988 to be disappointed with this!
I seem to remember this around the mid 90s. It was presented on a tech show.. I swear I remember video. Also a print ad comes to mind. Maybe in the back of a computer magazine or Popular Mechanics.
I don't know how I ended up with one of those kits, back in 1990 or something, but; the sticker pad worked for about four hours. We thought it was pretty dumb, but still better than most third-party or PC controllers.
Thanks for entertaining us again Clint, cheers mate
“This isn’t bad…so far” - LGR, describing basically this product in 5 words
can't forget the master system's screw-on stick
I did forget! That's a system I've never had
In the late 80s a friend of mine (whose brother's wife worked for Nintendo... allegedly) had a thumb stick adapter for the NES controller but it didn't glue on but was a plastic shell that went over the pad. He wouldn't let me touch it because he was one of those kinds of people.
Ooh, we had that one! I don't think I ever used it. I used the Master controller (the big thing) or the pads as they came shipped.
Very useful having a joystick for an office application, navigating through big spreadsheets, text documents... maybe less frequent.
Keep in mind, this was before scroll wheels became a thing...
I remember these things! I had a wrap-around device similar to this for my NES... actually wasn't bad. Made those falcon punches easier to execute!
0:41 I was laughing at that, too, but suddenly the Amstrad PCW came to mind: it was conceived as a word processor, but it did have a significant number of games ported to it. Of course, that doesn't make the "... or word processor" thingy that much less ridiculous, since I seriously doubt those guys ever heard of that essentially European-only machine.
I absolutely love the little maple leaf on there. I'm from Ontario and it's just awesome to see something like this that actually came from here.
Ah the universal directions on a joystick. Left right up CANADA
This reminds me of when I was a kid, I screwed a wood screw into a Sega Genesis controller and put a ball of tape on the end so my mom would play Mrs Pac-Man with me. She didn't have any coordination on the d-pad and needed something more like the arcade or Atari.
I'll bet when d-pads were new, some people took one look and said "What is this cheap garbage! I want a real joystick!", this product, and others like it, probably sold to them.
Wow! I never saw this on TV but in the back of magazines, I always wanted one! And I had completely forgotten about them until this video, thank you so much.
I always imagined how it would feel to play Street Fighter 2 with it, how easy it would be to do a dragon punch. After watching this video I don't think it would be possible with this device.
This thing is so silly, don't think I've even seen this on TV back in the days! Oh... Canada... We try :P
You NEED the foam style double sided tape for the numbpad one. The foam gives the slack to move the joystick around without moving the 5 key very much. Find you some foam tape and try again. The velcro stuff you tied at first obviously isn't what you need.
The 1, 2, 3 are the steps for assembly! Without that you can't put it together!
I'm wracking my brain trying to remember if I ever saw these when I was younger on TV. This is exactly the kind of stuff I would have wanted back in the day, lol.
well this was a nice oddblerbware
Damn, you own the FPGA Mister? You gotta make a video about it!
Cool. I made one of these out of junk back in the day (couldn't find anywhere selling one). Flimsy but sorta fun.
Good job buddy, keep it up. I love this stuff
i literally cant even mad this is kinda charming and clever
The packaging is so 80s lol
You use a joystick for games
I use a joystick for word processing
We are not the same
Happy you showed these off. Knew they would be bad but worth the laugh.
"They're so proud to be Canadian, it's adorable." Pretty much sums up all Canadians.
Clint, That “joystick” has about as much control as I do when it comes to buying vintage tech (I’ve filled many rooms of my house) 😅
Sounds like you need a bigger house.
As someone from Ontario, just want to say sorry for this product existing.
YES! Finally... Clint, you're the man.
One of your funniest Blerbs! 🤣
Just in case you want actual advice, I suspect on a Model M the best thing to do would be to remove the outer keycap on the 5 and just stick it to the lower one. That would also avoid damaging the "5" print on the key with whatever glue they used.
If the model m is anything like as good as the model f, a nuclear apocalypse, flooding or tornados won't damage those key prints. Only the fires of Mount doom.
Having the nub on the NES pad like that reminds me of those old PC controllers back in the day. Gravis PC Gamepad and such? They had these detachable joysticks you'd screw into the dpad. Though in that case, the dpad was also just atrocious, especially if you're used to the standards of first-party console controllers at the time, so maybe it really did made games a lot better to play.
He mentioned one of those in the video, right around when he enters 1-2
litterally said in the video
Canadian here - a year or two ago I saw a big box of these things at a flea market. Didn’t realize it was a Canadian product until I saw this video though!
The d-pad was such a step up from the joystick controls that were common place in systems prior to the NES. It's funny how adding a joystick element was seen as an improvement by some back then, probably because it was just so ingrained with gaming at the time.
I hope one day you'll be able to show off one of those playskool pc playset games. I used to love playing with the easy bake oven and store versions. It was a pc game that uses a big plastic playset you plop onto your keyboard that lines up with certain keys on the keyboard to do functions in the game.
lol canada eh now this make sense ...
I had this great set for the nes gamepad that clasped over the controller and had an excellent round thumb stick that sat atop the dpad. It was excellent. Yes the nes rocked and rolled very great on the dpad, but the thing I had was just awesome.
Back in the 80's I had a clip-on joystick for my NES controller that wrapped around the controller instead of using adhesive (so easily removable). This was great for when my Nintendo thumb would flare up.
16:08 I see it useful for turning a standard gamepad into an arcade-style gamepad, and placed on a surface rather than held. Eh.
Definitely Oddware. Seeing you play DooM on UV and trying to be 'dainty' with the flimsy plastic joystick had me laughing in cringe. It was funny and hard to watch at the same time, lolz
I was going to post something similar to this, laying the NES pad flat and operating it like arcade controls would be the way to go in my book, might be quite good for contra
@@The_Beverage_Stand ...Contra was definitely something I thought of.
This just screams 80's when people didn't understand controlling something without a joystick 😂 ... Joysticks are so rare these days. It's funny to remember that because they were first people just got used to them and probably held onto using them for too long.
Would you call the sticks on Xbox or PlayStation controllers a Joystick??
@@MavericksHangar Thumbsticks are used in a different way than old-school joysticks. In a way, they're a lot closer to using the d-pad than they are to a full joystick.
I consider digital joysticks still the best input method for some games, like platformers.
@@VulpisFoxfire Definitely. Could you imagine playing Street Fighter 2 on a 2600 style joystick? The thing would be flying everywhere. Arcade sticks require a big heavy base for stability. A luxurious investment for the dedicated.
@@BMoser-bv6kn Depends on your grip, really. I could see playing SF1 on an Atari stick...except for the lack of buttons, of course. Personally, I held the base in my left hand, using my thumb to hit the fire button, while my other hand gripped the stick near the base. Someone who tries using one of those by grabbing the top like you would an arcade stick, yeah, that would be sliding all over the place. Plus, the 2600 stick is a 4-way stick, so it's not that great on the diagonals.
finally now i can look at the notations while using the joystick at the same time
this recalls so many memories i didn't have
JoyBlerb !
They are still making stuff like this 😅
damn, it's so much fun in the video. thanks a lot man...
my granddad had an joystick adapter for the arrow keys with an magnet to attach it. It was called the Logistick from the company Plawa. awesome thing to have to play as a kid ^^
Hey! Is there a way to scan it into a 3D modeling program so you can 3D print new ones? I'll bet someone has already made one somewhere out there. 😉
I actually ran across a number of 3D printed keyboard joysticks while trying to find photos of related products
@@LGRBlerbs Interesting. I'm not surprised. It seems like it would be something people would try to refine/perfect. 😉
I just kept waiting you to use it to play Doom2016 on Windows with MouseKeys enabled (the feature in Windows that lets you use the numpad as a mouse)
I remember having those speakers as a kid, good days.
Reduces Confusion of Thumb Controller by Making You Even More Confused at Something Else
Many word processors had Tetris built in back then. Big enough market to mention it on the front of the packaging I guess?
I've wanted this.... FOR 30 YEARS.
its always fun to revisit the days when our default keybinds for movement were the arrow keys.
Ultima Underworld basically had some sort of WASD in 1992... but it was more like SZXC, with A and D for turning and W for running while S let you walk.
I always preferred the mouse control though.
Btw. there was an Atari gamepad for the 7800 where you also could screw on an attachment to the D-pad, the Atari CX78.
Those things were made in a little shop just outside of Oshawa, just north of Bowmanville. I met the inventor at a computer show here in St. Catharines/Thorold in the 80s, and he had sooo much of this sort of stuff, just tonnes of injection molded computer adjacent stuff. I picked up one of the Key Joysticks back then, and I think I still have it in it's packaging. This is really a local close to home sort of thing, and the guy used to sell them himself in flea markets and computer shows (I caught up with him several years later at a show in Toronto), just as much as ship them around the world.
"I dont know if i have enough thickness in the sticky bits"
heh.
I had one of these for my Genesis, and I actually liked it
I had a molded joystick where you opened the controller and replaced the directional pad, not sticking something on, and it worked perfectly.
I really like the Dankpods style drop at the beginning.
Heat from a hairdryer can be used to soften the adhesive on this type if packaging for minimal damage/resealability
I was expecting it to just be one of those weird 3D printed things you find online late at night, but this is even better
I remember a friend showing off the coolness of the plastic enclosure version 😀