Dream Pad
Score: 80% Developer: Mad Catz Device Type: Controller
Function: It seems that every time Mad Catz makes a ?standard? controller for a console system now, it has their ?signature? rubber treatment. How come console producers can?t figure out that comfortable is better? Until they do, a Mad Catz controller will always be a preferred replacement for the original equipment. The Mad Catz Dream Pad not only fits well in the hand, but feels good enough to stay there a while. The button layout and D-pad and analog stick are much like the original equipment, but the shoulder buttons are duplicated next to the standard button cluster on the right of the Dream Pad. This will please all the old-school gamers out there who prefer to use a ?fighting? style button setup than to employ the trigger buttons. The Dream Pad has Mad Catz? familiar rubber treatment liberally applied to the face. The analog stick has a rubber coating on the top, with the ?stick? itself bare plastic. The D-pad on the Dream Pad is not ?plus? shaped, like the original Dreamcast controller, but is a circle with a raised ?plus? shape. The whole D-pad is topped with the rubberized treatment, and gives a much better tactile response than the original Dreamcast controller. Even the six buttons in the button cluster on the right side of the controller are covered with rubber. All these, along with a rubberized ?grip? section under the base of your thumbs on each handle, make the Mad Catz Dream Pad a very comfortable controller to use.
Performance: The Mad Catz Dream Pad is very similar to the original Dreamcast controller, so the only thing that you have to get used to is the fact that it?s exponentially more comfortable. The Dream Pad does have a programmability feature, which allows you to ?re-map? the buttons function. This allows you to decide which button you want to fire, which one you want to jump, etc. The method used to re-map the button functions is extremely easy -- just hit the ?Program? button, hit the button you want to change, then hit the button you want it to act as. If you want to change the functions of the shoulder buttons as well, you have to hold the programming button for longer than one second when you start to program them. The Dream Pad?s programmability doesn?t allow for a button to be programmed as a combo, but allows for extremely easy re-mapping of the buttons. If you want to use the programming feature, you?ll find it easy to use, but the Dream Pad?s comfortable design is the real selling point on this controller. Just enjoy.
Features: Rubber coating around the controller Re-programmable button configuration
Drawbacks & Problems:: Mad Catz knows what they?re doing. Their affinity for rubber coatings always makes a more comfortable controller. I?m beginning to think that the more rubber they use, the better the controller. Based on this theory, I would like to see even more rubber, but then again, I don?t design controllers, so I guess they have their reasons. As it is, the Mad Catz Dream Pad is very nicely designed and constructed, with no real drawbacks or problems to mention. Mad Catz seems to have a flair for making controllers which are very similar to their original equipment counterparts, but perform much better. Instead of throwing out the design of the Dreamcast?s controllers, Mad Catz has shown that it can be done right. With rubber coatings in just the right spots, added functionality, and a durable, well thought-out design, Mad Catz shows what the original Dreamcast controller should have been like. My suggestion? Pick up one of these immediately. When you play against someone else, THEY get the original controller. Got it? Good...
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
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