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Review: NES Advantage
I thought that I would start out Joystick week with a review of my favorite joystick of all time. The NES Advantage.
The NES Advantage is without a doubt the closest thing to a perfect joystick ever made for a home game system. It is that good.
Ah now you are probably asking what makes this so damn good? Allow me to break it down for you.
The unit is erganomic even though it dosen't look it. Your hands rest along the angles on the unit and it is properly weighted in the bottom to keep it stable in your lap or in front of you. The angle of the button are curved like an split erganomic keyboard rather than perpendicular to the joystick.
The buttons have a good click to them and are responsive not to mention the kick ass turbo feature that features speed control knobs so you can adjust the rate for games like Megaman and the slot machine in Mario 2. Also the lights that would visually show you the speed of the pulse was very cool.
The look of it is pure 80s and the diagonal straight groves make it look like it was made by Apple in the Mid 80s bit it matches the design of the NES perfectly.
See if you had a NES Advantage you could be cool like these kids wearing shirts with collars underneath their brightly colored sweat-shirts.
It also had slow motion and it was the only controller that had an extra plug for player 2 so if you were playing an alternating game you could trade off the controller using the flip flop switch.
Now the only real problem with it is that you can remove the ball of the joystick and if lost it could be a pain to use without the stick's ball. But the unit really has stood the test of time and I have two just in case. But if you can try the thing out to see if it works before you buy a used controller.
Luckily not only is this the best damn controller for the NES it is also the easiest to find. Just about ever use game store will have one of these bad boys in stock and there are about twenty of these for sale right now on eBay at the time that I am writing this. Gamestop says they are out of stock but every time check out their stores in person they have at least one NES Advantage.
Games that benefit from this: Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Super Mario 2, Metroid
I actually was considering making this site's logo based off this stick
If you have a NES you owe to to yourself to get one of these puppies. There really need to be more first party arcade sticks made be cause the NES advantage shows you just how good a joystick can be. 10 out of 10!
Jake at December 16, 2002 
Reviews
Comments
I'm glad I never lost the balls that came with my joystick.
Posted by: BBQ at December 16, 2002 4:21 PM
It is also important to hold firmly on to the shaft of your joystick for maximum enjoyment durring game play.
Posted by: Jake at December 16, 2002 4:32 PM
Did you know that those 2 kids were in the picture because they won a nintendo game tounament? I bet you didnt. ALL HAIL THE GEEK KNOWLEDGE!!!!!
Posted by: PETER PETER THE METER READER at December 17, 2002 9:32 PM
You mean the one back around 91?
Posted by: Sam at October 27, 2003 6:54 PM
this REALLY sucks without the ball attached. I lost the ball in around the 5th grade and now, when I try to play games (Deadly Towers, etc.) its damn near impossible
Posted by: hardy at April 26, 2004 9:47 AM
I think the fact that you can lay the Advantage on a table or the floor and really work the A and B buttons with your whole arm - like an actual arcade game - is key. Try whaling on a handheld controller like that. A well-deserved tribute, Jake.
Posted by: Justin Baeder at May 23, 2004 2:21 PM
this is indeed one of the best sticks ever to come out..
BUT (theres always a but, eh?) what about the ASCII made SNES advantage? it was modelled incredibly well, looked just like the SNES (albeit, with the more S. famicom color scheme) it had little slider switches for the turbo speed of each of its 6 buttons, and the big purple start and select buttons looked just like the power and reset buttons on the snes! too cool!
for me, the award goes to the agetech dreamcast branded arcade stick. it has the japanese "ball" stick, and japanese convex arcase buttons. its just perfect.
Posted by: WiL at November 11, 2004 8:35 AM
let me tell you i just found the joystick in my grandma`s house and i think it rules!!
Posted by: sauce at May 2, 2006 9:08 PM
I just bought an NES Advantage for $7.50 at a flea market, and, in less than six hours, it's already proven itself to me. I've wanted one of these sumbitches for years now, and I can finally kick serious tail at games I struggled at before (re: Star Soldier [does that game even have an ending?]). Also, thanks to the uber-responsive stick and can't-miss A/B buttons, my TETRIS game (which was already more than decent) has VASTLY improved. In short, probably the best accessory I've ever purchased for a game system (and MUCH better than that stupid VRU for the N64).
Posted by: Jarkota at May 6, 2006 8:59 PM
You should add Pro Wrestling and Contra to the games that benefit from the NES Advantage. Plus it's dramatically easier for my 3 year old son to play the games with this vs the standard control pad.
Posted by: Doug at July 28, 2006 4:24 AM
Bunch of bleeding hearts.
If this wasn't in your revery and viewed through rose colored glasses you would easily see the econo-stick Fisher Price quality that this stick is made with.
Posted by: clockwise at February 11, 2007 11:09 AM
should i get this controller off amazon for 5.67
Posted by: shitholeTEDandLad at March 17, 2007 7:15 AM
Does anyone know if there is a PAL version, or whether the US Advantage will simply pug into a PAL NES? thanx.
Posted by: charlie at May 13, 2008 9:07 PM
Yes I do believe the PAL and NTSC Nintendo system can use the same controllers.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at May 15, 2008 12:52 AM
Just bought one for 1$ at a local used store. Quite the collectible!
Posted by: TM at July 11, 2008 8:43 AM
