ASCII Pad 64

There are very few differences between the ASCII Pad 64 and the official Nintendo 64 controller. The most obvious difference is the panel on the upper face of the controller that has selectable function buttons for L, R, Z, B, A. These functions include turbo, autofire and hold, and each one has five different speed settings. The adjustability is probably far more than you'll ever need but it's been well implemented and the function buttons don't impede on any of the standard controller buttons.

Being so similar to the official controller means this controller will be likely to suffer from the same faults. The analogue stick is exactly the same design and will, no doubt, suffer from the same problem of wear to the base. As the shape and button layout of the standard N64 controller is unchanged in ASCII's design the problem of button accessibility also remains.

But the ASCII pad also shares all the good points of Nintendo's official design. So, the controller is comfortable and the analogue stick is precise. The quality is good and all the buttons are responsive. And you won't need to re-ajust to a different button layout.

ASCII's controller comes in a two tone color scheme. In my own pad the upper half is a dark metallic grey and the lower half is a lighter shade of grey (the same shade as the standard charcoal grey Nintendo 64 console). The pads come in a range of colors though, as shown here:

A “control stick grip” also comes packaged in the box but it’s really just a sponge cover not unlike the kind you get with in-ear headphones (this can be seen on the blue controller above).

The ASCII pad does everything the official controller does... because it IS the official controller but with turbo functions added to it. Whether you like or dislike turbo functions is something you can make your own mind up about. However, their inclusion in the ASCII controller means that it is slightly more flexible than Nintendo's original design and that needs to be reflected in the score.

Overall: 9 out of 10 – Exactly the same as the official controller except that it gives the user turbo and autofire options.