Its really not a good idea, and certainly, if you really
like to play the game, then you will just pickup a cheap
analog controller. Even if its a $12 gameplay with analog
thumb pads.
Imagine this:
You have to control a Marble with a Joytick. Both
direction and speed need analog control... but you want
to try to use a digital joystick.
If you adjust the speed and direction to a low setting...
you can control the marble well to navigate tight sharp
turns without falling off the edges.
But then how do you make the marble go fast suddenly, so
that you can quickly escape the enemy that jumps right at
you?
If you adjust the setting for high speed, you can dodge
things easily.. but when you get to the part of the game
where you have to be very careful... you will be going too
fast, and fly off the level over and over again.
If you provide a set level of acceleration... it
still does not help. If a wall was about to fall on you,
and the acceleration ramp was too slow.. you could never
escape the wall from crushing you.
If the acceleration ramp was too quick, then you again
have the problem of lacking fine control needed for tight
and accurate steering & slow speeds.
I know all this, because I was helping to develop a
Marble Madness sequel. The programmer never could make
the realization that Digital control in such a game was a
stupid idea.
I had designed a brilliant digital compromise, which would
allow a player to use a button as sort of a virtual roll
of the trackball. If you tapped the button rapidly, it
would accelerate quickly. If you pulsed slowly, you stayed
moving slowly. You were not allowed to hold the button
down like a gas pedal, because that would again require an
acceleration ramp. In my method, it was truly analog.
Though of course never as accurate as a real trackball..
and of course there was no real fix for missing steering
detail. There was an idea for an analog steering simulation
formula.. but it didnt work well in practice. (to be fair,
the programmer didnt follow the design to spec, which might
have at least made it at least acceptably decent)
Anyways, as you can see.. controlling a Marble is
no easy feat with a digital controller... and a game
like marble madness is very easy compared to the Insane
difficulty, speed, accuracy of a game like Sinistar.
Even with perfect arcade controls, that game will Stomp
all over you. (I think my best was 5th level, and that
was a miracle to get there, for me)
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