@sysop408@juanfr@timixretroplays SOME Spectrum games had redefinable keys. There were several joystick standards (around 3-4) and one of them ("cursor joystick") corresponded to keys 5-8. The biggest mystery to me is: How did the fire button work? This gizmo only seems to have access to keys 5-8 and fire button was mapped to "0". This specific joystick does not even seem to have the fire button...?!
@fuxoft wow, ok so this style of joystick wasn’t novel then. I guess just leaving the 0 key open makes sense, but awkward… but this arrangement already was to begin with.
I suppose you’d use your other hand for the first button or put the ZX in your lap and hit fire with your thumb like a cursed version of the Atari CX40.
@sysop408@juanfr@timixretroplays This style of joystick WAS novel because the usual joysticks worked by connecting to the back bus of ZX Spectrum and then EMULATING the keys, not physically touching them. I suspect this solution (physically touching the keys) did not work very well for actual gaming.
@sysop408@juanfr@timixretroplays I suppose this kind of gadget was cheaper to manufacture than the actual electronic circuits that connected to the bus...?
@fuxoft@sysop408@timixretroplays I remember having something similar in the 90s, it fitted over the cursors in a PC keyboard, it was just a mechanical thing (I'll try to post a pic later)
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