It all started with a joystick when we realised what a pain hunting for the right controller actually was. At QuantumStix we revere game playability and not the platform, so every machine from Pong consoles to the NES to the Megadrive to the PS5 needed to use the same arcade controller.

Teaming up with our friends at Fairgames Ltd in Barry Island meant we were in good company with their arcade manufacturing history and they produced several prototype control panels which we interfaced with numerous different consoles including Philips CDI, Colecovision and Vectrex.

Maybe it's an age thing but nothing beats playing Robotron on an Atari 7800 or XEGS with twin sticks or Asteroids with buttons - it just feels right.

What also becomes apparent when using the same controller on numerous different systems is how differently programmed a lot of the games are. Looking at Raiden for example it feels quite different on the Jaguar, Megadrive, FM Towns or the Playstation. Using the same controller on all different systems it becomes far more pronounced but without exception arcade conversions are better played on the QuantumStix controller.

For several years we have been developing a multi controller to allow simultaneous (and of course separate) use of both analogue and digital control with the same joystick lever. Although several prototypes were produced over the years none was ever considered acceptable for release.

When we worked with Roger John (a legendary designer involved with the Konix range of joysticks from way back in the day) and with the legal IPR protections in place the project took on rocket boosters and here we are now in a position to announce the controller to the world.

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