as a video game developer Namco has
produced some of the best video games
around but one really crazy weird thing
that they did a lot of back in the 90s
and even into the early 2000s was make
really unique video game controllers
sometimes one offs that only got used in
like one or two games and this is one of
them this is the Namco niji con nee
kanji me eg GaN Ngong G Nakano knee G
con my god that's a hard name to
pronounce at first glance this just
looks like a very strange controller
with no real unique features but at the
very center the entire controller
completely twists to 135 degrees this is
a very interesting design because up
until this point I had never seen any
other controller quite like it it's
compatible with a lot of different games
but most notably racing games like toon
Grand Prix - and even Gran Turismo if
you're a longtime subscriber of rear Eze
you may have remembered a game I covered
in the past called speed King which is
pretty much a Metal Gear Solid and
snatch or themed racer well that game
also utilized this controller as you can
clearly see in the manual for the rest
of this video though you're going to be
seeing me play one specific game Ridge
Racer type 4 which I think works really
well with this controller now I know the
concept of this controller is very weird
the idea of just turning it like that is
kind of strange but there is a reason
why they did this seat back when they
were designing this controller there
really wasn't a lot of analog technology
around to be used with d-pads so the
concept of driving a car and turning it
left and right but giving pinpoint
precision on how much you're actually
turning well unless you had a steering
wheel in front of you there really
wasn't any other way to kind of transmit
that to the game but with an eg con
controller its analog input is so
precise that even a tiny little turn
completely changes the car to that exact
same specific degree that you are moving
it at that's the kind of stuff and kind
of precision that Namco wanted for a lot
of their racing games which is really
neat because no one else was making a
controller quite like this at the time
compared to original playstation
controller this one has a couple of key
differences for one all the buttons to
the right of the controller the
Circle Square triangle and X well those
buttons are gone now you have DNA and
Roman numeral 1 and Roman numeral 2 now
BNA are normal buttons but the Roman
numeral buttons have a lot of travel
like they're really really long and it's
kind of interesting because I've never
really seen this used in another
controller so if you're playing a racing
game by pushing that one button you have
a lot more precise input for how much
gas you're applying or how much of the
brake you're applying it's cool and I
actually wish they did this with more
controllers that same kind of travel is
evident in the left and right triggers
and well the d-pad isn't really the same
PlayStation d-pad you find on a
traditional PlayStation now it's a
shield the button on this controller
that's most peculiar of all though is
just the lone start button for some
reason they didn't include a select
button and on a normal PlayStation
controller where you'd find l2 and r2
those are also missing this controller
cannot be used with pretty much any
other game because well it's missing
buttons and most games that were made on
the playstation made use of everything
that was on the controller this
controller was made for racing games and
honestly while all these other buttons
are really neat that one thing that
stands out beyond everything else is the
way that you twist it because this makes
it one of the most unique controllers
I've ever used believe it or not this
controller isn't even limited to the
PlayStation 1 this also works on certain
PlayStation 2 games like Tokyo Road
Police wipeouts fusion and Ridge Racer 5
the nijikawa controller is a really cool
design guys I absolutely love this the
whole concept of turning the controller
and twisting it like that made it really
fun there's really not many controllers
out there that give you that kind of
precise control while driving a car
unless you're using an analog stick
nowadays but this concept here I think
plays a lot better innocence far more
enjoyable in the racing games that you
actually raise with the only sad part is
because of unlimited use of buttons that
they put on this thing it can't use it
with other racing games and that kind of
sucks so if you are a big fan of Namco
racers and you want to try out a
controller that is just gonna blow your
mind you've got to get the niji con big
special thanks to NC games at a toronto
ontario for letting us borrow that copy
of Ridge Racer type 4 thanks guys