Welcome back to this week’s free Goto 10 post. First, it’s time for a quick poll:

The poll is open for 3 days. Be sure to check back for the results.

Now on to the main topic!

I wanted to test out some games in a couple emulators, but I couldn’t find my old USB gamepad. Gamepads are fine but I grew up on Atari and I’m used to a joystick anyway.

So I did a little research and the only USB joystick I could find that was not some crazy big arcade-style joystick was the Trooper 2 ($20 on Amazon).

The first one I ordered did not work properly. On my Mac it would sometimes work for a few minutes and then stop working. I noticed the power light indicator on my USB hub where it was plugged in would also turn off when that happened.

When I tried it on Windows I would usually get an error message about a non-functioning driver.

So I returned it for a replacement and the new one has been working fine for the past month or so.

I’ve used the Trooper 2 with the Stella emulator and the Atari 800 Mac X emulator, both on my Mac mini. The joystick itself works fine without an issue, although it is a bit “sloppier” than a regular Atari joystick. With the Trooper 2, you have to move the stick further to get it to register and the same with the buttons. This is not a big deal to me since the main joystick I use with my Ataris is the Wico Command Stick (Bat model) and it also has lots of movement.

I do like that there are several extra buttons available for mapping. There is the standard button on the top left, an another on the top right. There are also left/right buttons on the back and Select/Start buttons on the front.

Reviews on Amazon indicate this may not be the most reliably joystick and that it can break easily with enthusiastic gaming. I do think I could easily snap the stick if I pushed it too hard.

Anyway, it’s been working fine for me and I enjoy using it for a quick game break when I’m at my Mac.