Gamepad Games

[NooNoo]

I decided it was time Tim had a gamepad - so I dutifully bought one for his birthday - he is absolutely delighted with it, he ripped open the box and after a couple of minutes said... Mum, what is it for?

OK so I explained and he was very happy, it installed nicely on the 98 box BUT none of his freaking games will work with it!!!

His favourite game is a freebie from the cereal box - Treasure planet (disney rewrite of treasure island) which is 4 games in one (best value game I ever bought!!)

Other games include missile defence (it says it will use the game pad but it does not work correctly with it)

Rebound... a cheapie game from real arcade

So..... my question is....

Given that Tim is 5 years old but has developed very good mouse/keyboard skills for game play and now has a nice new game pad...

Which games would you recommend I get for him? If you recommend a game please link me to a playable demo if possible, I don't want to buy games he doesn't like!

[Rellik]

What gamepad did you get?

I find myself switching between a Gravis Gamepad Pro and a MS Sidewinder Gamepad Pro depending on if the game prefers a digital D-pad or an analog D-pad

Hmm, I really don't use a gamepad unless it's for old console emulation like the SNES or Sega Gen, so therefore, any console style game that has been ported to the PC might do better with a gamepad.

Other than fighter games and the occosianal 2d side scroller, which I end up often using the keypad/arrows and ctrl+shift+alt anyway; I am not sure what else a gamepad is useful for.

[Radical Dreamer]

Console EMU's without a doubt

[Stalemate]

Since I got the Nostromo n50, I've taken off my Gravis Gamepad and the kids haven't complained once.

I'd also recommend some classic arcade game EMUs like MAME.

[confus-ed]

Is there such a thing as a game controller that actually works with all games ???? ... I've found myself with a variety ... one works 'correctly' in one game, a different one 'good' in another & so on ... but no one controller that seems to work correctly in them all ... except perhaps my original 4 button gravis which seems to work 'good' with them all ... but I want all the buttons working please ... so I can handbrake around corners all that sort of stuff, which otherwise seems to involve impersonating an octopus to manage the more involved manovers !

I thought controller operation was a 'directx' thingee ... so if it works right in control panel it should work right in whatever directx "compatible" game ... huh ? experience tells me this ain't the case !

A further question ... is all this the fault of the game controller port you find on sound cards or built onto the motherboard ?, for other folks 'built' systems I've been ordering usb controllers lately & not one moan about 'it don't work with X !!' for quite a while ... either my customers are getting easy to please or they didn't want a game controller anyway !

[NooNoo]

It's the sidewinder gamepad.

What I am after is a list of specific games my 5 year old is likely to enjoy that can use a gamepad please!

[Rifleman @ Layman's PC]

is it the USB sidewinder? I have two for my boy's system and severaly of the games will not work with it unless the machine is booted with the gamepad hooked up. It is that way for the latest Need For Speed, and it is also the same for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. I'll ask the boys what other games it works well with (I don't even know what all they have)

[nekur0]

Try loking for an Options menu inside the game (or something of that nature.)

You will have to manually set-up the game pad in a large majority of the games out there. There are very few games that will just see the game pad and allow you to use it right off the bat.