12 replies to this topic

[The Eidolon]

If this hasn't been done before, I was wondering how many
controller ports the various game consoles came with.

The ones I know:
Atari 2600: 2 (4 if you use paddles)
Atari 5200: 4, then reduced to 2
Atari 800: 4
Atari 1200XL: 2
Atari ST: 2?

NES: 2 (multitap?)
SNES: 2 (5 with multitap)

Playstation 1: 2 (? with multitap)

GameCube: 4

It seems like 4 controllers is an unlucky number, with the Atari 5200 and
8-bit systems both abandoning 4 ports for 2. 2 is the most common
number for the "dominant" system of each generation, although some
systems allow multi-tap adapters to expand to 4 or 5 controllers.

For some reason, many of my all time favorites allow 4 players
(2600 Warlords, MULE, Bomberman, etc.) which is what got me thinking
on this. Any info on other systems is welcomed!

--The Eidolon

[joeybastard]

Colecovision: 2
SMS: 2
Genesis: 2
TG-16: 1!
N64: 4
Dreamcast: 4

That's all I can think of at the moment

[Adrian M]

joeybastard said:

Colecovision: 2
SMS: 2
Genesis: 2
TG-16: 1!
N64: 4
Dreamcast: 4

That's all I can think of at the moment

XBOX = 4

TG-16 (PC Engine) = 1 (5 with multitap)

Sega Saturn = 2 (up to 10(!!!) with two multitaps...remember the 10 player Bomberman madness?)

Genesis = 2 (4 with multitap)

[Ze_ro]

Vectrex: 2
INTV: 2 (built-in on some models)
Odyssey^2: 2 (built-in on some models)
Jaguar: 2 (Multitap expanded one plug into four)
Commodore 64/128: 2
Vic-20: 1 (Yes, only one)
Amiga (computer and CD32): 2

The Genesis, unfortunately, had two different, incompatible 4-player adaptors. EA and Sega each released one. A few games can actually use either one of them I think, but most will only work with one.

On a similar note, how about portable system linking capability?

Gameboy: 2 (four with adaptor)
Gameboy Advance: 4 (sometimes with a single cart)
Game Gear: 2
Lynx: 8 (possibly more?)
Game.com: 2 (although I'm not sure if the link cable was actually released)
Virtual Boy: 2
Turbo Express: 2 (although it only works with certain TG-16 games I think)
Nomad: 2 (not really a link... it has a joystick port on the bottom)

--Zero

[Raijin Z]

There is at least one EIGHT PLAYERS SIMULTANEOUSLY-capable game for PSX, the one I can remember being Micro Maniacs Racing. PSX takes second place behind Saturn.

[Famicoman]

Virtal Boy only has 1 controler port. Only one set of "shades". It also can't link with other systems.

[Ze_ro]

I was pretty sure that Nintendo made a link cable for the Virtual Boy... but all I can seem to find on the internet are homebrew link cables like on this page (scroll down past the Arkanoid stuff).

--Zero

[Famicoman]

Nintendo didn't make a link cable, that homebrew one looks awesome!!!!!

[JB]

Yah. There's a link port, and Nintendo had planned to make a link cable, but it wasn't available at launch, which means that none ever made it out the door.

[Ze_ro]

Well damn. There goes my dreams of playing Mario Tennis against friends.

--Zero

[candiru]

Ze_ro said:

Lynx: 8 (possibly more?)

--Zero

Seems like I read somewhere (loonygames.com maybe) that "Todd's Adventures in Slime World" could support up to 16 players.

[ApolloBoy]

candiru said:

Ze_ro said:

Lynx: 8 (possibly more?)

--Zero

Seems like I read somewhere (loonygames.com maybe) that "Todd's Adventures in Slime World" could support up to 16 players.

[Ze_ro]

candiru said:

Ze_ro said:

Lynx: 8 (possibly more?)

Seems like I read somewhere (loonygames.com maybe) that "Todd's Adventures in Slime World" could support up to 16 players.

From what I've seen, Slime World only supports 8 players (Unfortunately, I don't actually have this game, nor to I know 8 other people with Lynx's, so I can't test whether this can be exceeded).

Anyways, I found this in Robert Jung's Lynx FAQ on GameFAQs:

Robert Jung said:

There is a limit of 18 players via ComLynx. In practice it may be possible to connect more units together, but to operate within    specifications, the drivers in the Lynx cannot drive over more than 17 units with pull-ups on the serial ports.  It's easier for the Lynx to manage fewer players, however, since each Lynx has to track all of the others, and having more players means more data must be exchanged (growth is exponential).  Also, tracking more than 8 players requires an extra byte to encode the Lynx unit number with each data packet.

Basically, this means the only limiting factor is due to the fact that actually maintaining a voltage along the ComLynx cables is too difficult for the Lynx once you connect to many of them together. As far as I know, no game has exceeded 8 players... probably because of the difficulty of actually communicating all the necessary data, and the unlikelihood of people actually playing with more than 8 players.

--Zero