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Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2012
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Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2021
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Party like it's 1991!
By Jake Turner on April 9, 2021
Item received as expected, new in box!
By Jake Turner on April 9, 2021
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Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2012
The last one that I purchased actually game with the original disk, a plastic bag package, instructions, and a blue 3.5 inch floppy disk containing Gravis Utilities. It appeared to have been unused. Overall, however, even if you don't get a complete version, these are relatively easy to clean and/or fix, and can be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled in just a few minutes. The original version fit into a PC game port - similar or identical to many serial ports - but you could easily (with some tinkering or creative sourcing) convert this item to a USB (or even wireless USB) device. There are adapters for USB on Amazon - and certainly you should consider one if this is going to be anything other than a vintage computing showpiece.
As for personal experience - my brother and I were pretty hardcore gamers back in the day. My original Gravispad (purchased in 1995 +/- a year) was manufactured in Canada as well, and it lasted more than ten years before I sold it at a yard-sale. Big mistake - these are a great piece to make those of us who are more familiar with older controllers play modern PC games with comfort and ease, utilizing the keyboard as necessary. The pad also came with a little cone-shaped screw-in joystick that enabled the directional pad to function as a joystick. While many units floating around probably don't have one, I enjoyed having this - particularly for games such as PacMan.
Overall a very dependable, simple, and clean little device that was well-engineered and designed in North America - and in many cases manufactured in Canada. They stand the test of time in functionality as well as form factor, and you would be hard pressed to find a controller that had such a measurable impact on the transition of PC gaming from niche-nerd-pasttime to the mainstream. From both a collector's point of view - and a gamer of either the modern or vintage sort - this is a great product. Like a "clicky" mechanical keyboard - that's seeing now its resurgence as a popular PC accessory - we may see the Gravispad come back, reigniting the interest in the quality of PC components from the early days.
Made in Canada if You're Lucky, Rugged, and Designed to Last
By W. Moncure on August 12, 2012
Many of the early Gravis PC Gamepads were actually manufactured in Canada by Gravis before sourcing product West of Hawaii became more popular for American manufacturers than working with domestic manufacturers of electronics. In the early nineties - just as PC gaming on the x86 platforms was catching up to the platform gaming systems - Gravis set the standard for a well-engineered, rugged, and ergonomically correct pad that gave you just a few more options (depending on how you use the Gamepad) than the NES controller. And interestingly enough, the feel of the controller is akin to the NES system - the de facto standard for gaming around the time the product was originally introduced.By W. Moncure on August 12, 2012
The last one that I purchased actually game with the original disk, a plastic bag package, instructions, and a blue 3.5 inch floppy disk containing Gravis Utilities. It appeared to have been unused. Overall, however, even if you don't get a complete version, these are relatively easy to clean and/or fix, and can be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled in just a few minutes. The original version fit into a PC game port - similar or identical to many serial ports - but you could easily (with some tinkering or creative sourcing) convert this item to a USB (or even wireless USB) device. There are adapters for USB on Amazon - and certainly you should consider one if this is going to be anything other than a vintage computing showpiece.
As for personal experience - my brother and I were pretty hardcore gamers back in the day. My original Gravispad (purchased in 1995 +/- a year) was manufactured in Canada as well, and it lasted more than ten years before I sold it at a yard-sale. Big mistake - these are a great piece to make those of us who are more familiar with older controllers play modern PC games with comfort and ease, utilizing the keyboard as necessary. The pad also came with a little cone-shaped screw-in joystick that enabled the directional pad to function as a joystick. While many units floating around probably don't have one, I enjoyed having this - particularly for games such as PacMan.
Overall a very dependable, simple, and clean little device that was well-engineered and designed in North America - and in many cases manufactured in Canada. They stand the test of time in functionality as well as form factor, and you would be hard pressed to find a controller that had such a measurable impact on the transition of PC gaming from niche-nerd-pasttime to the mainstream. From both a collector's point of view - and a gamer of either the modern or vintage sort - this is a great product. Like a "clicky" mechanical keyboard - that's seeing now its resurgence as a popular PC accessory - we may see the Gravispad come back, reigniting the interest in the quality of PC components from the early days.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2007
