The Gravis PC GamePad is a game port game controller produced by

Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Advanced Gravis Computer Technology, Ltd. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals and hardware. The company was founded in 1982 in British Columbia, Canada. Their most famous products were the Gravis PC GamePad, at one time one of the most p ...

first released in 1991. It was the first gamepad for the

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

in a market then dominated by

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s. Included with the gamepad was a

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

'' Commander Keen'' game, episode 1, ''Marooned on Mars'', which was later replaced with the shareware episode 4, ''Secret of the Oracle'' which supported all 4 buttons. The gamepad is no longer manufactured, as Gravis was acquired in 1997 by Kensington Computer Products Group.

Features

The gamepad's design is similar to that of the stock

SNES controller The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

(more so the Japanese and European version with colored buttons), although it lacks the Start, Select and shoulder buttons, and the shape of the controller's chassis differs slightly, with an inverted curve on the left side. As originally found in some versions of the Sega Master System controller, the center of the Gravis GamePad's d-pad allows a small joystick to be inserted. The resulting

lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or ''fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is div ...

action provides increased directional sensitivity, desirable in

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

s for example. Both at the top and bottom of the gamepad are switches. One of them removes the normal functionality from 2 of the buttons, and turns them into autofire variants of the first 2. This gave all four buttons functionality even in PC games that only supported two buttons on joysticks or for scenarios when two gamepads are connected with a Y-splitter. The other allows for left-handed operation by turning the workings of the D-pad and buttons upside down.

Variations

For PC, two followup variations were made, called the ''GamePad Pro'', and ''GamePad Pro USB'', which resemble the original PlayStation Controller, with the addition of four shoulder buttons, as well as Select and Start buttons. The GamePad Pro utilized the 'button' signal lines on an analog PC joystick port to send digital signals (referred to as "GrIP") to allow for both the use of ten buttons and the simultaneous use of up to four controllers connected by the controller's built-in piggyback plug. A switch on the pack of the non-USB pad could be used to allow the pad to function as a standard analog four-button pad; otherwise, games could not detect the gamepad unless they were coded with the device in mind (DOS) or a specific driver was installed (Windows). The latter uses the

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

port and the USB Human Interface Device class standards, and is not intended for DOS use. Gravis launched other series of gamepads for the Mac, the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, and

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

as well. The Philips CD-i interactive multimedia CD player features a wired controller that is basically the original Gravis PC GamePad in a monochrome, grey color scheme. The Gravis logo is replaced with the Philips logo. There are only two button functions, and the switch at the bottom controls the cursor speed in menus.

Reception

According to ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'', "The Gravis Game Pad, one of the first and probably the best PC game pad, has enjoyed steady sales for several years."

Media

One icon from the

Nuvola Nuvola is a free software icon set under the GNU LGPL 2.1 license, created by David Vignoni. Originally created for desktop environments like KDE and GNOME, it is also available in packages for Windows and Mac. The final version, 1.0, contains ...

icon set resembles the GamePad. The GamePad was also the official gamepad of ''

Jazz Jackrabbit ''Jazz Jackrabbit'' is a series of platform games featuring the eponymous character, Jazz Jackrabbit, a green anthropomorphic hare, who fights with his nemesis, Devan Shell, in a science fiction parody of the fable, ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' ...

'', as noted in the shareware demo version of the game. The gamepad appears in the game as a

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

, and as an

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

in the background, which reads "All kids love Gravis GamePad".

References

External links