Retro-bit, Retro Fighters, and Krikzz are a few more manufacturers I can think of making controllers with original ports.

In particular, Retro-bit’s Saturn Pro pad is…interesting, let’s say. I have also used Retro Fighters Striker Dreamcast pads - they’re quite nice.

In yonder days, a few companies like ASCII and Hori come up a lot for reliable stuff.

32X Doom tried to be like the original PC game, but it was rushed through development as a launch title with a small team. The result is…tragic. Specifically: half the maps were missing, both the game window and resolution are reduced to get playable framerates, the original soundtrack famously sounds a bit like a farts at times, several visual effects like parallax texture scrolling, transparency, and lighting effects are gone. (there’s a room in E1M5 near the end that the lights alternate between on/off, but the monsters on 32x are always visible.) This also means no invisibility power-up, or Spectre monsters.

My favorite jank is after the credits when you finish the game, it dumps you into a fake DOS prompt. It just shows C:\DOOM> and you are unable to interact with it in any way.

I noticed a few things while playing the N64 campaign.

It’s not 1:1 parity with the console version, and it’s not meant to be (and that’s a good thing, actually).

How it works is they use N64 textures, OST, and maps. Everything else is from the new engine - including the new enemy AI changes and balance adjustments, etc.

A good portion of the game is spent in anti-gravity. You may not have the rocket launcher, or much ammo for it yet, relying on grenades to take down bigger baddies like enforcers or tanks. The trajectory of a grenade on authentic hardware is net positive, so it’s about impossible to aim. On Q2 Enhanced, it just means the grenade fires straight out of the barrel. Little things like that stand out.

The Nintendo 64 campaign on Hard, with deaths, took me about 3 hours. This is how I have always wanted to play this version of the game. It’s indescribably better than trying to play it on an actual Nintendo 64 or even emulated.

I’ve played it for about two hours, and the only hitch I’ve noticed is the midi ost can stutter. If you swap it for OPL, it’s fine, though.

You might be thinking Sega CD, which had re-releases of Ecco, but not the 32X.

When Retro-bit announced their licensing partnership with Sega, I was really excited. I got their first wave Saturn USB pad, and I now have a Big 6 that combined a 6-button pad with the style of the 3-button Genesis pad. Still waiting for that dual analog variant they promised though…

It was around the same time I think that Retro Fighters came out with a new original port Dreamcast controller, the Striker. Awesome controller. I got a Raphnet adapter just to use it on pc from time to time.

Then there’s the arcade stick I custom built for the specific purpose of authentic arcade gaming at home. Uses a Suzo Happ lever (even though they used to be made by Industrias Lorenzo), and Industrias Lorenzo buttons.

If a don’t need an analog stick, my go-to has been the Hori Fighting Commander Octa. It has a stick, but I don’t use it often. The buttons are microswitched and it feels great.

If I do need the sticks, Series X controllers are fine, generally.