This is what Jason Burns of Able Solutions (Australia,)
has to say about this subject.

Notes to Developers/Writers/Users


The idea of this section is to start a discussion about what will soon be
an important subject in the gaming world. A NEW GAMEPAD STANDARD.

It's clear to me, and to many I've talked to, that today's input devices
are coping with the current level of games, but in many cases are slowing
development of new techniques. The limited no. of buttons on standard
joysticks seems to bee the biggest hurdle.

What I'm trying to promote is a level of discussion between games authors,
developers and game players. All of these groups have an important role
in setting up a new standard.

Anyone with thoughts on the subject is welcome to put their ideas on to
floppy disk and send it to the address on the Main Menu. Once per month
I will be mailing out a compilation of opinions and discussions I've
received, on floppy disk. A BBS, however, would be a better option. Those
that are seriously interested in this information may write to me for more
details.

Following are several subjects which will require discussion, as well as
some ideas of my own for a standard based around the current SNES gamepads.


A. Do we need a new STANDARD?
B. Do we invent a totally new Standard?
C. If so, 1) at what cost?, 2) Will it get support of manufacturers?
D. If not, will an existing one, modified, keep pace with future
game development?
E. Work out what demands are likely to be placed on a controller in the
near future. 1) No. of buttons, 2) Analog or Digital or both ?
F. What will USERS Prefer?


ABLE SOLUTIONS GAMEPAD STANDARD

My Opinion is to use existing SNES devices, already on the market, combined
with a either A) a dedicated interface that plugs into a PC or B) an
adapter that plugs into one of the PC's standard ports.

My reasoning follows;

A. Using an existing gamepad eliminates the NEED to invent one.

B. Distribution chains/Suppliers already exist.

C. It's a recognised gamepad and already has tremendous support from both
third party manufacturers and users. Many gamepad makers in the Asia
Pacific region manufacture variations on the original SNES.

D. The standard can be easily extended. Due to the way data is read from
the SNES gamepad, a manufacturer could add extra buttons to the gamepad
with NO HARDWARE changes to your PC's card or adapter. Games writers
could easily support these by allowing extended functions to users with
the extended gamepads.

E. Games writers will find the code very simple. The time spent reading
the gamepad is minimal, especially compared to the Analog joystick.

F. Writers can include an option in the SETUP section of a games to
indicate 1) the port address of the gamepad and 2) the amount of buttons
to read. This doesn't complicate things to much and will allow users
the choice of buying a dedicated plug-in card or buying an adapter to
run off the parallel port.

G. Users of the new gamepads will maintain compatibility with their old
games through a device driver like SNES PRO!.

H. The new dedicated ports could be 1) on their own separate interface
card or preferably 2) built into a standard Multi I/O interface card.
Two SNES connectors fit onto a standard PC rear slot. Each of these
can accommodate three gamepads with the addition of a 'Y' adapter.

I. The Existing SNES Gamepad operation is simple. The PC;

1) Resets the gamepad.
2) Reads the status of each button, serially.
The order being B,Y,SELECT,START,UP,DN,LEFT,RIGHT,A,X,L,R.

This format could be extended to include more buttons, or the
X,Y,Z value of any pointing device(say analog joystick). A standard
format could be agreed upon, and a STANDARD implemented without
complication.


* * E N D O F F I L E * *

This excerpt was taken from the SNES Pro archive itself.