What were they thinking? - Weird 90s Controllers

Is that a toilet seat being used as a game controller?

I had a dual strike, probably still do somewhere, got it for 25 cents on Ebay back in the day. I absolutely loved it for Halo, I have no Idea why but it just clicked

"half life clips distributed by Sierra Online" take me back

Who remembers Microsoft Flight Simulator X and the 12 DVDS that it took to install

Nice, dude!

One of my local small computer stores has a Sidewinder. I'm tempted to get it solely for preservation 😬

I remember seeing the sidewinder in the shops, I never bought it because I thought it looked weird. The exact same box was there for YEARS, I think everyone else thought the exact same thing.

I recently tried to make my old sidewinder work with Warthunder just for the kicks. What a coincidence.

i had the sidewinder worked real good for driving game, sadly it broke on me

In DOS times, mice were an unneeded luxury item, so games didn't depend on the mouse being a thing, everything could be done with keyboard. Arrow keys to walk, Ctrl to shoot, Space to jump (when available) or interact, Alt for secondary function. They you could have z and x or , and . to look up and down, stuff like that. Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, they were all full keyboard games, and they used the arrow keys for direction, not WASD. WASD become a thing because the mouse became a thing. Now your right hand was busy, and using the arrow keys with your left was uncomfortable, so they looked for the keys on the left side of the keyboard with the most universal and similar distribution of the arrow keys, and that's WASD. Fuck, even Need for Speed Underground (and perhaps Underground II) still used the arrow keys by default!

"Push a button to go forward?!"

How's that different from pressing W on a keyboard?

I hate that I actually want the dual strike

That's actually a scam they take something free and sell it for a subscription, 😂 if you don't trust your antivirus program, you can go to virus total and upload suspicious files to be scanned with most of the known av engines for free 😂

I wonder if you could control a submarine with the sidewinder

This video is truly horrifying.

Sega MEGA Drive(non us ppl) sore thumb after abc cycle kick in all mortal kombat games or worlds hardest game, Truxton!

flight, but never seen type before

When you are trying to impress your boss

Boss: I like the D button
Employee: I have a button!

Man, these sorts of videos are equal parts nostalgia and culture shock to me, because even though I grew up in the 90s, I was a console kid, so I never learned about any of these pc peripherals or gimmicks.

I used tp have a Microsoft Strategic commander. It was still useable on windows 10, possibly on windows 11.

I had the Sidewinder.
I hated it.
But the intro video was always awesome.
Stuck to using Page Up and Page Down in FPS games though...

All 90s into 2000s gaming peripherals are designed and act like they were released out of Area 51

Dude! I owned that janky FPS controller back in the day. Holy cow, was that thing hot garbage.

Oh man, the keyboard arrows... I used to game on pc when i was VERY little using keyboard arrows. then, i was full console gamer for nearly two decades. imagine how much my friends laughed at me when i built my gaming rig and i tried to play a game using the keyboard buttons... let me tell you i continue to play with joystick on pc.

....linus still didt tell ppl about there sponcer in this video it was someone else (sry cant remember everyones name XD know the face not the name)

"i think we just call it kiting" wow linus really managed to sound more out of touch than the box.

with all these gadgets it's very much a habit thing. I've been playing video games for 25 years, but give me a PS controller and I won't be able to shoot a wall in front of me with those thumbsticks.

I feel the main issue with these controllers is that they're meant to be more ergonomic, but they force very specific postures that utilize most of your body. With a mouse, you can use your entire arm, or just the tips of your fingers, and it'll still move.

Seeing the Sidewinder unlocked a core memory from my childhood of having used my Dad's (which I have no idea why he had, anything other than M&K for shooters is utterly alien to him). I was pretty sure he still had it, and sure enough it was in his box of old racing wheels and keyboards. Gonna have to see if I can get this baby working in a modern shooter just for the hell of it.

I owned that sidewinder, it was amazing once you learned how to use it. I miss it so much :(

Dear Linus T. Tips, I, as a homosexual, give you express permission to refer to the FragMaster controller a the F-slur Master once

I can't stop laughing at that absolute abomination of that first controller 🤣

like any of those 3 nerd had friends to make fun of

Damn. I allways thoug the Nintendo 64 gamepad was the worst ever. Like, come on, just by its shape you need 3 hands to reach all the buttons and it doesn't even have 2 sticks... (Was the first stick i ever had, one of the first that ever existed, and nobody told me how to use it... so i use to grab it like a lever more than a stick, with a dedicated hand only for it O_o, like... What kind of mad god puts a stick right in the center of a gamepad?...)
But you opened my eyes, Linus xD

I got to say that second controller actually looks good

When I was a kid the real pros learned to mouse left handed so they could use the arrow keys more effectively... Since must games back then couldn't remap controls

all these controller spouted when keyboard and mouse were just better.. always. even before wasd was born haha

Thrustmaster. That name! xD

It is that kind of controller that your grandma buys you, because it looks futuristic and must be good for "those video game".
It surely was expensive back then and you dont want to ruin christmas by telling grandma that this abomination "Santa" shat out under the christmas tree sucks balls.
To see this on the positive site: It may be an early indicator for senility. So don't be surprised when next year there is not only Santas crap under the tree.

Thrustmaster: the master of thrust.

The Microsoft sidewinder lived on as a keyboard. I was still using mine until a few months ago. It was a great keyboard.

seeing the sidewinder being used in older fps games reminds me a lot of how Nintendo has controls set up for the Splatoon series

sure your aiming isn't quite as precise as a mouse, but it's leagues better than using a regular controller since it gives you both quick pans, and finer control when you need them

it's a shame these types of control setups are so rare in games, because it's such a great way to improve the camera in fast paced over the shoulder and first person games

JNCO are still 😎

Plural of "aircraft" is "aircraft". Without the "s".

I had a Dual Strike from somewhere. Wasn't that bad, actually...

This other guy does not understand personal space.

"If I was blaming my tools, I would blame you". That was actually a bad joke, you could feel how awkward the employees felt. Even Linus's face afterward showed that he knew that was a bit much. The employee is working the with boss, feeling good like the boss is his buddy, and then one bad joke reminds him that he's just a tool that the boss uses to make money. Its true that this is what employees actually are, but damn, what an awkward thing to say.

The SpaceOrb 360 was the worst! I returned it to the store literally 30 minutes after buying it and attempting to use it. Such garbage.

I remember seeing boxes of these things in a few stores.. They did not sell well at all. Basically just about everyone looked at it and went.. "What is this crap?" and moved on. I know of one person who did buy the sidewinder though. I do not recall what the person said about it but I do know it was rare for them to use it.