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I've found the Adaptoid to be a very useful product. It's simply a Nintendo 64 controller to USB adapter, but it is the best of any console controller USB adapter out there.

There are drivers for it for Windows at it's original manufaturer's site but they are only needed if you wish to use functions such as memory pak backup and force feedback. It is a standard HID compliant device and will work under Linux. It should also work with a USB enabled Mac, but I have not tested this personally.

If you are using it as a standard HID joystick, it's simple to setup. It will be detected as a 14(!) button analog joystick. The joystick functions can be swapped between the D-pad and the analog stick by holding L+R+Z and pressing up 3 times on whatever control you wish to use as default. The other control will become buttons 11-14. This function is performed by the adapter and requires no special drivers.

The unique setup of the N64 controller is great for many classic games and even allows easy playing of dual controller games like Robotron by using the analog stick with your right hand. With all of the extra buttons, you can map insert coin, start, service, and whatever else you like to the controller if you're just too lazy to reach for the keyboard. Finally, it's 6 face buttons (A, B, and the four C buttons make for an excellent Street Fighter style setup. I guess I should also add that most N64 emulators natively support it.

I strongly recommend it... and no, I have nothing to do with the sales of it or anything... I'm just a satisfied customer.

Which games exactly ? I've run a pair of N64 pads via USB adaptors for a few years now, and never found anything incompatible.

Er, ALL Windows games support USB/anything-else pads/sticks/anything-else just fine. If your Controller (USB or otherwise) appears in the "Game Controllers" Control Panel, then it'll work in your game. DirectX doesn't care how you connect things, or even what the things are. "Axis and Buttons" are "Axis and Buttons", whether you're using a Handlebar controller, an Aircraft Yoke, or an N64 Joypad.

I just thought on how cool it would be to play quake with the nintendo 64 controller.

Want cool? Buy it now.

I personally prefer using PS1 controllers with the EMS USB2 adapter.

Are you able to play a lot of games on Linux?

There are over 1,000 Game Boy games published in the United States. Just buy one, put it in a cart reader, copy it to your PC, and emulate it. Cart readers are easy to find for the GBA, harder for the classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color. I will admit that the right controller does make a difference.

Bah, I got a decent geforce2 w/tv-out card for my pc on ebay a year ago for $50.

Which means that if you want to change from playing your game on a TV to playing a game that requires a more advanced video card, you have to shut down your computer, open the case, take your TV out card out, put in your Geforce 4, close the case, turn on your computer, play your game, shut down your computer, open the case, take your Geforce 4 out, put in your TV out card, close the case, turn on your computer, and turn your computer back on. That is, unless your computer has two AGP ports.

the hard part is cramming a gc controller into your game port.

That's already been done well for Super NES controllers and N64 controllers. Both have enough buttons for GBA games.

You can get a game PC that will beat any console for well under $1,000.

Not if I want to run Sunshine or Smash Bros. They don't even make a PC that will emulate a GameCube yet. Game Boy Advance, on the other hand... buy the cartridge from Toys Ya Us, put it in the cartridge drive made by Visoly, and emulate away, provided that you have the right joypad.

I can download a GBA emulator and Yoshi's island if I so desired.

You can download a GBA emulator and buy a cart reader, but Yoshi's Island doesn't come out until tomorrow.

Tetris attack Zoop? I can buy a 12 dollar gravis gamepad that is almost exactly like the playstation controller, you know, with directional pads.

I own a Gravis GamePad Pro USB. It may look like a PSX pad, but it sure doesn't feel like one. Its directional control feels really cheap. The only way to play console-style games on a PC and have them feel right is to buy an authentic console controller and a console->USB adapter.

The point was that there are some games that don't work well with a keyboard, and that most of the joypads out for the PC just don't feel right for console games that are all timing and muscle memory.

you can get a cheap USB gamepad for the computer.

And it'll feel cheap. Better to get an N64 pad and an N64->USB adapter.

After all, playing the games on a TV w/ a controller is so much better than a computer keyboard.

My TV is 13" and doesn't take anything over a 480i NTSC (Never The Same Color) signal. My PC display is 17" and takes up to 768p RGB signal. My game controller is a Nintendo 64 controller connected through an adapter to my PC's USB port. NES games, Super NES games, and Game Boy Advance games feel just fine through my rig.

Back in the NES days I would use my index and middle fingers for the b and a buttons, the genesis controller was designed so I could do the same. But once shoulder buttons started to be on all controllers, from the SNES onwards, I couldnt pull that off.

Some Super NES games didn't use the shoulder buttons (Super Mario World). Some GBA games are the same (Super Mario Advance 1 and 2, Pinobee, Sonic). To this day, when playing SMB1, SMB2, SMB3, SMW, or SMW2 on original hardware (as opposed to plugging an N64 pad into Adaptoid and using NESten), I place my right index, middle, and ring fingers on Y, B, and A respectively. (Yes, Super NES pads are compatible with NES consoles through a trivial-to-construct adapter.)

Other games made L the same as R (Super Mario Kart (Super NES) and Tetris Worlds (GBA)), letting you wrap your left hand around the pad and use the right index fingers for the buttons, but for some reason I play those with my thumbs. The only games I use left thumb and right fingers on are platform games, especially those that require holding B and pressing A with precise timing.

Actually, the Genesis's 6-button pad had a right shoulder button labeled Mode, but few games used it. It was normally used for games that weren't 100% to spec in their pad reading code, as holding Mode while powering on the system would force the pad into 3-button mode.