NES Product Review: Camerica Supersonic Joystick and Freedom Connection

Camerica/Codemasters worked to produce a great line-up of unlicensed games for the NES. Many of them are considered by some to be tops in their genre, such as Micro Machines. Not only did Camerica produce games, but they also put their foot in the door of the rapidly growing third-party NES accessory market. Most popular of these accessories would be their Game Genie, the game “enhancer” that provided for cheating ones way through difficult games. In this review, I chose to focus on two of their lesser-known (and under appreciated) accessories-the Supersonic Joystick, and the Freedom Connection. Both of these accessories allow for wireless play on your NES. I will attempt to outline some of the great features and also the negatives of these accessories.

The Supersonic Joystick is quite unusual in form. It is triangular in shape, and places the joystick itself right in the center of the device. It also has ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons on both sides of the joystick. This is designed to make it comfortable for both right-handed and left-handed people to play. There is a switch to flip for the set of buttons you wish to use. There is also a switch for first and second players if you wish to pass the joystick in a two-player (non-simultaneous) game. Whenever you push the buttons, a row of lights flashes, which seems to be an unnecessary gimmick. The joystick overall is well built, and the wireless transmitter has a good range of distance. The main complaint I have about the Supersonic is that the joystick itself is way too stiff. It does not smoothly move in any direction, and would not be good for a more action-packed game. For rounds of Galaga, Pac-Man, or Dig Dug II, it provides an excellent substitute for the standard controller. Would I recommend a purchase? Well, yes and no. First off, these are pretty hard to find, I found one at Funco a few months ago and paid about $6 for it, but I don’t see them often on eBay or elsewhere. It also requires 4 AA batteries, which is a pain in the ass, but they seem to last pretty long because I have yet to replace them. If you are just looking for an NES joystick that will give you a little nostalgia when you play some of the slower-paced arcade classics, I say you can’t go wrong. Overall, the Supersonic gets a 7.5.

The next Camerica accessory up for review is the Freedom Connection. This device allows you to turn any controller into a wireless controller. This is done by plugging your controller into the main piece, and aiming it at the sensor, which you plug in your NES. The sensor is the same one as the Supersonic uses, but they each have their respective model name on them. It also has a 1P/2P switch that allows for passing the controller as well. The main advantage I see in this product is getting the wires away from the TV. In my NES setup, I have the system sitting on top of the TV, and when I grab the controller, the wire dangles over the screen, which can be annoying when playing a game. The Freedom Connection solves this problem nicely. The other advantage is that you can still use your favorite controller (dogbone for me) and turn it into a wireless. This eliminates having to adapt to a different style of controller, such as the Acclaim wireless NES controllers. This device seems to have good range as well, as long as the base is pointed in the general direction of the NES. Build quality seems to be decent, but I did have a problem with mine. One of the battery terminals (it takes 4 AAA batteries) was completely corroded away. I can’t totally blame the product, because it might have just been a leaky battery that a prior owner installed in it. I repaired it with some little metal chunks I had sitting around, and it now works fine. I can’t say if this is a common problem with all Freedom Connections or not. Also, I don’t know the battery life, because I just purchased it last week. I tested the Freedom Connection out with a dogbone controller and Ninja Gaiden, and it performed wonderfully. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this product to anyone looking for a wireless controller, and I think they can be found relatively cheap. The Freedom Connection scores a 9.

These two products surprised me. Most of the third-party accessories I own are complete piles of crap, and it was refreshing to see some that actually work well. If this becomes a permanent section, count on me giving you more of the good, bad, and ugly concerning the world of NES accessories.

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