IT'S A STICK-UP

Whatever happened to the days of all joysticks being a small base with a stick in the middle and a fire button that never worked? Today they look more like something from the control panel of an F-16 and get bigger and sillier all the while. Nick Roberts and Mark Caswell delve into the CRASH joystick bin to discover whether the joystick really is a gamesplayer's best friend...

Suncom
£24.99

NICK: The Command Control has a classic joystick design - a sturdy base with a long stick coming from the centre and fire buttons on both the base and the top of the stick. Unfortunately the size and shape of the base make it very uncomfortable to hold in your hand. A good feature is the inclusion of three interchangeable grips that slide onto the stick to suit all gamesplayers. There are some bad faults though. The grips do not come far enought down the stick, thus leaving a gap at the bottom. This can easily pinch a chunk our of your hand while you're playing, making the baddy who's torturing you on screen seem more realistic! The top fire button is also annoying as it needs a hard push to make it work.

IT'S A STICK-UP

Whatever happened to the days of all joysticks being a small base with a stick in the middle and a fire button that never worked? Today they look more like something from the control panel of an F-16 and get bigger and sillier all the while. Nick Roberts and Mark Caswell delve into the CRASH joystick bin to discover whether the joystick really is a gamesplayer's best friend...

Suncom
£18.99

NICK: This is a real winner with me. It's similar in size, shape and design to the Konix Speedking but has one important difference: instead of being made from hard plastic, the Ergostick has a rubber covering which makes it much easier on your hands. The rubber also stops the stick slipping and sliding about. The only problem is a knobbly bit on the end, it really begins to hurt after a long playing session! An excellent joystick I would recommend to all byte bandits out there!

America's favourite deluxe controller (or, as they call them in the US, "gourmet stick'!) is the Wico range of sticks.

It's easy to see why these sticks have been such a success across the water. They are sturdy, responsive, and built to last.

The top of the Wico range is the Red Ball controller at £27.95. This is one of the most responsive sticks we tested - with a steel shaft, and fire buttons mounted on the base and the ball at the top of the shaft.

Slightly cheaper than the Red Ball is the Wico Extended Lever stick, This has an extremely long control shaft, though unlike the Red Ball it only has a fire button on the base.

The cheapest of the Wico sticks is the £16.00 Boss. It has a moulded grip which makes it comfortable to use. A well sprung fire button is mounted at the top of the shaft.

THE VERDICT

Wico sticks are generally regarded as the "Rolls-Royce" of video game controllers. If you can afford to fork out £27.95, you'll get no finer stick than the Red Ball - the Extended Lever and Boss are also excellent sticks at a slightly more affordable price.

PRICE: £22.95
SUPPLIER: Silica Shop

Top of the Wico range is the 3 Way Command Control. This is essentially the same thing as the ordinary Command Control but has three different grips 'ergonomically designed to fit your hand and mind.' Not bad, eh? The choice is between a grip with finger mouldings, a narrow smooth one and a thin smooth one.

You should be able to accommodate just about everybody with this range. As well as this choice of grips the 3 Way also has the edge over the ordinary Command Control in responsiveness and robustness.

Getting the right joystick tor your TV games centre is becoming as difficult as choosing the right squash racquet or set at golf clubs.

Adverts claim all sorts at things for sticks - that they will increase your scores and turn you into a pro-player.

We have already reported on the latest batch of souped-up sticks now being imported into this country from the States and this month the C&VG staff sat down at our Atari VCS and played a few games using the sticks - purely for research you'll understand!

Here we bring you the results at our bench-tests on four of the new sticks - plus the novel Wico Trackball and the simple but effective Byte Stick-Stand.

Our general impression was that these sticks add a great deal to your game and will prove a valuable addition to your games centre.

Most of the sticks we tested were in the £15 - £25 price range - less than one at the top at the range VCS cartridges. Pretty good value in our humble opinion.

We would like to thank Silica Shop, at Sidcup, Kent, who supplied the sticks we tested, and import them from the States.

The Wico Command Control range of joysticks are the best known "gourmet sticks" as they are termed in the U.S., where they are currently the number one sellers.

There are two sticks in the range - the Red Ball stick and the Extended Lever stick.

Both are highly responsive and offer you a choice of two fire buttons. One is mounted at the top of the joystick itself and the other at the base for those of for those of you used to blasting away with Atari sticks.

The Red Ball joystick is the dearer of the two at £27.95. The Lever stick is £6 less - which I feel was not reflected in extra responsiveness.

Both Wico sticks are compatible with Atari VCS, Atari 400 and 800 and the Commodore Vic-20.

An adapfor enables the sticks to be plugged into the Ti99/4a, Apple and TRS-80 home computers. Wico also produce an extension lead for their sticks which is useful for those people who like to sit in their armchair and play. It sells for £5.95.