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From the archive: this hardware review first ran on the Mac Gaming Alliance (MGA), the Mac games site that lived here on DimensionZ in the late 1990s. It was published around 1998 and is reproduced as originally written, with the original screenshots (click to enlarge). More in the Mac Gaming Alliance archive.
| Publisher | CH Products |
|---|---|
| Tested on | Performa 5260/ 100 MHz |
| Overall | 4 / 5 apples |
| Reviewed by | Jonathan Dreyer |
F-16 Fighterstick
The F-16 Fighterstick belongs to the high end of Macintosh joysticks. Therefore when reviewing it I was much more unforgiving then when I review lower end joysticks, I look to get your money’s worth.
Ease of Use/Setup, Driver software
Pluging in the joystick and installing the driver software was easy. I liked the ADB Y plug on this better than the Mousestick’s because there was a 6 inch cord coming out of the male plug, on the end of the 6″ cord is another female plug, this keeps a long stick from forming out of your ADB port.
The software uses a pretty much standard installer that puts the driver parts where they belong in the System Folder and installs a comprehensive electronic manual. The software it’s self is another matter, for the games the software already has sets for it runs great, automatically selecting the set when you launch the game but, if the game you have doesn’t have a pre-installed set or came with a set on it’s disc, programming a set for the game is very very difficult. Learning to program sets for the driver software has a steep learning curve but, once you learn how to do that you can do a lot more with the F-16’s software than the Mousestick’s
Button Use, Quality
The quality of this stick is great, the buttons have never stuck on me and have a nice “click” feeling. I moved the stick around and hit the buttons harder than I would in normal use to test it and found no flaws in their design except if you have small hands/short fingers.
Bugs
There was only one major bug, every once in a while the software says the stick is not connected and I should connect it then restart even though the stick was plugged in.
Overall
Overall this joystick has proved itself worthy of it’s price. The manual should include easier instructions on how to program sets.
Find one today
The F-16 Fighterstick hasn’t been made for years, but used units still turn up for collectors restoring vintage Macs. Search for the F-16 Fighterstick on Amazon.
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