First, I should mention that this review is on the Microsoft Sidewinder Plug and Play Gamepad, not the Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad as you may think this review is on. The Plug and Play Gamepad is a completely different gamepad. I know, I know, I should be posting this somewhere else but Epinions doesn't accept any new product suggestions at the time of this review. I thought I should clear this up. Here is the link to its official webpage for more information and what it looks like: http://microsoft.com/products/hardware/sidewinder/devices/PlugPlay/default.htm

I bought this gamepad a month ago to see how it was like, since I had given my Sidewinder Gamepad to my cousin a while back (which I regret but at least I can try other gamepads on the market) and was in need of a standard gamepad. It cost 15 dollars due to a price drop recently from 20 dollars. Here are my thoughts after bringing it home:

Initial Impressions:

After taking everything out of the box, I was awed by the beauty of this gamepad. Like was mentioned, the gamepad comes in a nice translucent gray, iMac-like body with a eight-way digital pad, six face buttons, and two trigger buttons, which are all rendered in black. It features the same boomerang look as the Sidewinder Gamepad. I felt great in my hands since it was contoured nicely to fit one's hand. Aesthetically, the gamepad looks much sleeker than its older sibling, the Sidewinder Gamepad.

Installation:

The gamepad was a USB device, so I could just plug it in automatically. I plugged it into my USB port and Windows ME recognized it immediately and setup the drivers. A few seconds later the gamepad was installed. Now that was easy!

Software:

Well, there was absolutely no CD or disks included with the gamepad, since it is a plug and play gamepad that Windows can recognize on its own, but it is still quite a letdown since many gamepads include some games to try out the gamepad with or even some type of game profiler program like the program included with the Sidewinder Gamepad.

Gameplay:

I tested this gamepad on two games: Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and Super Mario 64 using the Nemu emulator. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 fared well with my gamepad as I was able to setup the gamepad correctly. I used the two trigger buttons to fire and jump, two face buttons to select and run, and the digital pad for movement. The game responded very well to the gamepad and I had a blast. So far so good.

Next I tried Super Mario 64. This game shows how little six buttons can be on a gamepad. With all the camera angle controls, digital/ analog controls, as well as action keys in Nemu, you couldn't possibly map all of them onto the gamepad. Six buttons was just not enough. Controlling Mario was smooth just like a regular N64 pad, but the lack of buttons limited how much I could do.

You can't play too many games with this, since there just aren't enough features on this to warrant good gameplay. Other gamepads come with analog joysticks, throttles, hat switches, more buttons (at least eight), etc. so this gamepad is very lacking for one to play games with.

Overall:

The Sidewinder Plug and Play is an okay gamepad that works, but I can't honestly recommend it to anyone because of the lack of features and plus there are better gamepads such as the Sidewinder Gamepad that can be had for the same price, contains many more features, and comes with dedicated software.



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 15