Last Friday I purchased a copy of the new Mario Kart 8 game for the Wii U. It’s something that I’ve been anticipating for a long time. After all, I’ve played almost every single game in the series, with the exclusion of some of the older DS/DSi editions. Now the complaint I have isn’t something I was completely unaware of before I purchased the game, but I was hoping for a better experience with the Battle Mode than I’ve had so far.
The Short Version: On a Mac it seems that only the port on the right can be used but Windows users didn’t report the same problem. I had a calibration issue the first time I used the adapter with an original N64 controller but the next time I fired up Sixtyforce I set the axis deadzone to zero and it worked perfectly.
For Valentine’s Day my wife bought a couple of items from my Amazon Wish List along with some other cool gifts. One of the items was a May Flash N64 Controller Adapter for USB. While I haven’t had a chance to really put it to a good test I did get some time to hook it up to an N64 controller that I bought yesterday from a pawn shop for $5.
The USB adapter includes two N64 controller ports and it works with Windows and Mac OS X. There aren’t any drivers available. It seems to work via the standard HID interfaces.
Note that there is one important caveat for use with a Mac. So far it only appears to work with one controller. Specifically, only the N64 port on the right. I don’t know if this is specific to the OS X drivers or if it’s a software compatibility issue. Amazon review comments hint that it may just be a general problem when using the adapter with OS X. I’ve used it with Sixtyforce and that’s the only N64 emulator I’ve used on a Mac.
In Sixtyforce the button mappings worked well. I did have problems with the calibration of the stick on the controller. Its resting position caused the character to constantly move forward. At this point I don’t know if it’s just a sign of an old controller or if there’s something I can do on the OS side to fix the alignment. I’ll keep toying with it, but I don’t think it’s a problem with the adapter itself.
Overall, this is a cool little device. I also have their SNES adapter but I haven’t acquired SNES controllers yet.
Updated 02/18/2012: I tried the controller again and set the axis deadzone to zero in Sixtyforce. This time it worked perfectly.
The Short Version: Someone unfamiliar with the Pilotwings series might enjoy it more than those who have played the SNES and N64 versions. I think it’s overpriced at $40 but it’s not a bad game if you can get it for about $20.
Back in the days, when the SNES was still relatively new, one my favorite games was Pilotwings. The 3-D like graphics were high-tech (for a console) at the time and I was also somewhat fond of flight simulators. It combined a handful of different skills and craft: piloting a plane, jet pack, hang glider, and skydiving. The final level involved a mission that required piloting a military helicopter to take out various targets.
I never played the Pilotwings version for the N64 very much, but from what little I did play it seemed like a fun game (I especially had fun with the cannons).
I couldn’t resist purchasing the 3DS edition of Pilotwings. Surely, it would be at least as good as the original Pilotwings, right?
One day I went up to Wal-Mart with intention of buying a copy there but when I saw the price of $40 I decided to look on Amazon.com again because I thought I had seen it for less. Sure enough, it was sold for less than $20. I ordered a copy from Amazon while I was standing in front of the games at Wal-Mart (I already had Amazon Prime so I had 2-day shipping for no extra charge).
It turns out that Pilotwings Resort wasn’t quite the game I was expecting. Now, it’s not a bad game. In fact, if you’ve never played the Pilotwings series you might enjoy it more than I did. After all, I already had expectations for the game to live up to.
In my opinion it’s a mediocre game. I was expecting it to be a combination of the original SNES version and the N64 version, but it’s not. It is very similar to the SNES version with some additional craft and challenges, but as far as I can tell (I haven’t reached the final section) it’s missing the more fun elements from the N64 version.
I don’t think it’s worth $40. But it’s an OK game at $20.
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