*Games like Double Dragon, MW ULTRA and Wormhole already support additional buttons on the C64.
Always in top form
Have you had your favourite joystick or joypad lying around for a while without using it, but now it is no longer as responsive as it used to be? That is due to corrosion of the contacts. Say goodbye to this nuissance as our gold plated contacts are corrosion free - they will always work like they did on the first day!
Jumping with a Button
Many players today are not used to the C64 way of jumping by pressing up
and wish for a button to do just that. Here is the solution: our joypad
has a button that does the same as pressing up, so you can use it for any
C64 game where you wish you had a button instead of having to steer upwards.
Multi-Button Support
It has been our dream for a long time to have more than one button.
Many games such as Sam’s Journey would benefit with more buttons. Users of the Cheetah Annihilator joystick know it is possible: it has 2 additional buttons and a bunch of games is supporting them, especially GS game cartridges like Robocop 2, but also our own games like Wormhole and MW ULTRA. Protopad can do more, though: while retaining full compatibility with all games mentioned above, it supports up to 8 buttons that can be used in any way wanted by new games.
Zero Lag
Like all traditional C64 controllers, Protopad joypad is completely lag free, which means there is never any delay between your input and the moment the C64 can read the input. Beats any Windows system.
CIA Friendly
Usual joyticks/joypads can damage your CIA if you attach or detach them while the
Computer is powered on - but our joypad won't do that! Protopad has a dedicated protection and can be attached/detached at any time without ever harming your C64.
Free Protopads for Developers!
You are a developer keen on supporting Protopad? That's great, because we are giving away Protopads for free to anyone who works on a cool product. Get in touch via our general contact form, please.
How does Protopad work, though?
Protopad has two internal work modes. Initially it behaves like a regular joypad, but with support for two additional buttons (via potx/poty) and a button that emulates 'up' - and is therefore fully compatible to all existing games. However, if the C64 sends a certain signal to Protopad, it switches into native mode. In native mode, all buttons can be used freely. The interpretation of the results are entirely individual to each game. Also for example the button that imitates an 'up' movement can now be used in a different way.
Compatibility to other platforms
Protopad in its normal mode is of course compatible to any computer that can use standard Atari-style joysticks. We are trying to optimize support for additional computer systems so that also more buttons can be used. It is not yet sure, though, which systems we will be able to support.
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