NES Advantage
The NES Advantage is a video game controller for the NES styled after an arcade joystick. It was created by Asciiware and sold by Nintendo in 1987 along side the NES Max. It uses an arcade style digital joystick instead of a D-pad, has turbo buttons with adjustable rates, a slow button, and the ability to switch between either player's controller port.
The NES Advantage is included in the Controller Font.
Personal
My brother got an NES Advantage as a gift in the late 1980s. While I thought the controller was really cool looking, I didn't actually enjoy using it, and preferred a standard NES controller. I was excited to see it in the Ghostbusters II movie though.
Review
Good
- It looks pretty cool, has nice packaging, and is solidly built.
- The slow button, when it works, is really useful.
- Turbo buttons save a lot of wear and tear on your thumbs in games like Contra or Life Force, and it's nice that you can adjust the speed, although I don't know of any games where I didn't have it set to full speed.
- Having two plugs that allow you to switch between player 1 and 2 and the flip of a switch was a very convenient way to let players share the controller in hot-seat games.
Bad
- The slow feature only works for player 1, and doesn't work on a lot of games. For a game to work, it must use the start button to pause the game (which excludes games like The Legend of Zelda and Mega Man 2), and cannot have delays involved in the pause process (which excludes games like Super Mario Bros.).
- Because the turbo buttons are adjustable, it's very difficult to get them in sync, even when they're both set to the highest or lowest levels. This makes it very hard to perform actions which require the player to push both A and B at the same time like the flying knee kick in Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
- The directional joystick isn't as clean as the standard controller's digital D-pad, and it makes it harder to control your player in many games.
- In order to allow it to be serviced, the ball on the joystick is removable by unscrewing it. However, because it so easily unscrews, it is often lost.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Media
The NES Advantage controller.
The front of the box.
Manual.
Manual - Revision.
Nintendo Power advertisement.
Nintendo Fun Club, 1986-Q2 - Review.
Games
This is a table of how the slow feature of the NES Advantage reacts to games.
| Game | Works | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Battletoads | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Bionic Commando | No | Uses select for pause. |
| Blaster Master | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia | Yes | Status bar flashes. |
| Bubble Bobble | Yes | |
| Castlevania | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Contra | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Déjà Vu | No | No pause. |
| Double Dribble | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Dragon Warrior | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Duck Hunt | No | Doesn't pause. |
| DuckTales | Yes | Annoying sound. Status bar flashes. |
| Excitebike | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Felix the Cat | Yes | Annoying sound. Status bar flashes. |
| Final Fantasy | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Gauntlet | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Gauntlet II | Yes | |
| The Goonies | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| The Goonies II | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Guerilla War | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Ice Hockey | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Life Force | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| The Legend of Zelda | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man II | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man III | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man IV | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man V | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Mega Man VI | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Metroid | Yes | |
| Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! | No | No pause. |
| Pinball Quest | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Puss N Boots: Pero's Great Adventure | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Rad Racer | Yes | Annoying sound. Status bar flashes. |
| Rampage | No | Doesn't un-pause. |
| River City Ransom | Yes | Annoying sound. Status bar flashes. |
| Section-Z | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Shadowgate | No | Reads hint. |
| Spy Hunter | No | No pause. |
| Super C | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Super Mario Bros. | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Super Mario Bros. 2 | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | No | Delay between pauses. |
| Tecmo Bowl | No | No pause. |
| Tecmo Super Bowl | No | No pause. |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | No | Long delay between pauses. |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Times of Lore | No | Opens / closes menu. |
| Toki | Yes | Annoying sound. |
| Ultima: Exodus | No | No pause. |
| Uninvited | No | No pause. |
| Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | No | Opens / closes menu. |
Links
