20th Century Gamer

Since I was in the area, I figured why not stop by one of our local Play ‘n Trade franchises. This store is particularly well run, both clean and organized. I try not to visit too often because of the temptation to overspend. I told myself that a few Genesis games shouldn’t cost much, so with limitations in place my financial conscience was silenced and justification for the visit was complete.

The Play ‘n Trade was surprisingly busy for a Monday morning. I wondered why all of these people weren’t at work, then remembered that I wasn’t at work, either. For many their summer vacations would soon be over, so people were trying to squeeze in as much as they could. Vacation and gaming are a natural team.

I’m not sure if it was my attention deficit or the jostling customers, but perusing the merchandise was more difficult than usual. Even staking territory by kneeling in front of the Genesis case for several minutes had not been as effective as I had hoped. With legs asleep and no decisions made, I decided to walk around and get my circulation restarted.

My eye wandered between many games and systems. Then, as though guided by the powers that be, a throng of customers parted and revealed a PlayStation controller I didn’t recognize. I walked over to take a closer look.

The PlayStation Analog Joystick was shown on the box as a larger-than-average tabletop controller, with two flight-style joysticks and large buttons on the base. I moved to a less busy part of the store for inspection. What was this PlayStation beastie and why had I never seen one before?

The photo on the box didn’t do this controller justice. The 4 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, start, select, and analog/digital switch were on the base. Each joystick had triggers and buttons duplicating those on the base. The right joystick had an additional thumbstick. This controller was a sleek-yet-freakish exercise in redundancy, as though it was plucked from a Dr. Seuss story about buttons on top of buttons and joysticks on top of joysticks. What convinced me to buy it was the silky smooth joystick movement that felt well above average for console controls. I could forgo buying any Genesis games, instead spending the $20 on the boxed PlayStation Analog Joystick, and not feel guilty about the purchase.

It wasn’t until I got home and did some research that I realized how lucky I was to find this controller, especially for that price. The PlayStation Analog Joystick was popular in Japan, but it wasn’t available for as long in the US and comparatively few were sold. The original $70 retail price certainly didn’t help sales.

Instead of switches, potentiometers were used to detect joystick position. This created smooth and precise analog control, but more extreme movements were necessary when used in digital mode. Unfortunately, few PlayStation games at the time read analog input, so the clunky digital mode was necessary to play most games. A brief review of the Analog Joystick appears on page 20 of the September 1996 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Aside from the price, the biggest complaint was the limited selection of analog games. Dan Hsu’s conclusion was, “Wait for Sony to (hopefully) build a hand-sized analog controller like Nintendo and Sega.” Sony must have agreed, because the Analog Joystick was replaced by the Dual Analog Controller less than a year after its US release.

It may be only a minor footnote in gaming history, but playing the Analog Joystick is a great experience. The mid-1990s was when consoles were finally able to reproduce even the most sophisticated arcade titles. Home versions of the 3D arcade hits Ridge Racer and Virtua Fighter sold millions of PlayStation and Saturn consoles. Likewise, the PlayStation Analog Joystick brought the solid quality of arcade controls to the home in a crossover device that is unique to its time. Discovering comparatively unsuccessful oddities like this controller is part of what makes collecting fun.

Saturday brought some great spring weather, and we took advantage of it by getting out of the house and walking around one of the city’s shopping districts. There the folks at a Play ‘n Trade franchise had the right idea by setting up a display table on the sidewalk in front of their store. I had already spent my game allowance for the month, so I had no intentions of going into the store. The Play ‘n Trade was bound to have something I wanted and I was trying to behave myself. Even so, I couldn’t help but notice the sale items on their table.

There were several things in the sidewalk display that caught my eye, especially a boxed Sega Master System. Unlike others that I’ve seen locally, this Master System box was in surprisingly good shape. We didn’t need another Master System, so while the box was pretty it wasn’t too much of a temptation. Likewise, the NES next to the SMS was something already in our collection.

What stood out was a beautiful black PlayStation travel bag with embroidered color logos. The price was a meager $10, but I was behaving myself. If I was meant to have it, the bag would still be there next month when I had money in my budget again.

But that PlayStation bag wouldn’t leave my mind. Something about the large color logo on the black nylon had emblazoned into my memory. I was still thinking about that bag hours after we had arrived home. I researched the bag online to find one available on eBay, but there wasn’t any other information about this accessory anywhere. Surely the PlayStation Museum would have something about it, but no. The mystery of the bag fed my obsession. Several hours after first seeing it, the thought of possibly owning the bag made me as excited as a kid looking forward to Christmas.

Jennifer saw what was happening and took pity on me. Just buy the bag, she said. It’s only $10. Call them tomorrow when they open and we’ll go get it. So that’s what we did.

I can’t say exactly why I like this bag so much, but I do. I never would have bought this bag in the 90s when it was new, because I never considered traveling with my PlayStation console (and still wouldn’t, that’s what handhelds and laptops are for). There isn’t any nostalgia associated with it. I suspect that I appreciate the straightforward design, proportions, and colors. Regardless of why, it’s now one of my favorite things in our collection.

While leaving the Play ‘n Trade, a boxed PlayStation driving controller caught Jen’s eye. The box was beat up, but the controller and pedals were in great shape. Best of all, just like the bag it was only $10 — so naturally, the racing wheel was also added to our collection. As I suspected, we couldn’t go into the Play ‘n Trade and only get the bag without buying something else.