Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
That bizarre triangle shape is not just a strange design choice, it exists because Nintendo took Camerica to court. Camerica, a company also tied to the well known NES Game Genie business, originally made a wired joystick called Turbotronic that looked almost identical to Nintendo's own official NES Advantage controller. In 1988 they turned it wireless with a product called Freedom Stick, which still kept that same NES Advantage style shape, and Nintendo sued them over how similar it looked.
To get around that legal pressure, Camerica completely redesigned the controller into an unorthodox triangular base meant to work comfortably for both right handed and left handed players, renamed it Supersonic the Joystick, and stuck suction cups on the bottom to keep it stable on a table. It ran wirelessly using infrared signals to a small receiver plugged into the NES, needed four AA batteries to operate, and while the build quality held up reasonably well, the actual joystick mechanism was widely criticized for feeling stiff, making it a much better fit for slower paced arcade games like Galaga or Pac-Man than anything fast or action heavy.
Camerica also released a companion accessory called Freedom Connection around the same time, which let you plug in any standard controller and turn it wireless using the exact same receiver, giving players who preferred their normal controller a way to cut the cord without switching to the unusual triangle design.
Let me know in the comments if you have ever actually held one of these things. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#supersonicjoystick #camerica #nes #nintendo #retrogaming #classicgaming #90sgaming #retrocollecting #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #nintendoclassic #retrocontrollers #consoleaccessories #youtubeshorts #gaming
That bizarre triangle shape is not just a strange design choice, it exists because Nintendo took Camerica to court. Camerica, a company also tied to the well known NES Game Genie business, originally made a wired joystick called Turbotronic that looked almost identical to Nintendo's own official NES Advantage controller. In 1988 they turned it wireless with a product called Freedom Stick, which still kept that same NES Advantage style shape, and Nintendo sued them over how similar it looked.
To get around that legal pressure, Camerica completely redesigned the controller into an unorthodox triangular base meant to work comfortably for both right handed and left handed players, renamed it Supersonic the Joystick, and stuck suction cups on the bottom to keep it stable on a table. It ran wirelessly using infrared signals to a small receiver plugged into the NES, needed four AA batteries to operate, and while the build quality held up reasonably well, the actual joystick mechanism was widely criticized for feeling stiff, making it a much better fit for slower paced arcade games like Galaga or Pac-Man than anything fast or action heavy.
Camerica also released a companion accessory called Freedom Connection around the same time, which let you plug in any standard controller and turn it wireless using the exact same receiver, giving players who preferred their normal controller a way to cut the cord without switching to the unusual triangle design.
Let me know in the comments if you have ever actually held one of these things. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#supersonicjoystick #camerica #nes #nintendo #retrogaming #classicgaming #90sgaming #retrocollecting #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #nintendoclassic #retrocontrollers #consoleaccessories #youtubeshorts #gaming
