I went looking for a Namco NeGcon for a while before finally tracking one down. It’s PlayStation’s first analog gamepad, and instead of a d-pad or stick for steering, the whole controller body twists — left for a left turn, right for a right turn.
What it is
It sounds like a gimmick until you actually play a supported game with it, and then it starts to feel like one of the smartest controller ideas of the era. Forty games support it in total — 36 on PS1, 4 on PS2 — mostly racers, and mostly from Namco itself: the Ridge Racer series (Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer Revolution, Rage Racer, Ridge Racer Type 4) all support the twist, and power-sliding through corners with analog counter-steer feels genuinely better than a d-pad ever could.
Support goes beyond Namco, too. Psygnosis’s Wipeout and Destruction Derby both work with it — Wipeout in particular is now my preferred way to play it, though Destruction Derby feels a bit too sensitive and twitchy. Sony’s own Crash Team Racing and Gran Turismo support it, and the original Need for Speed plays nicely too, with the twist giving the cars a weightier feel than a d-pad manages.
There are non-racers as well: Galaxian³ and Xevious 3D/G support the NeGcon but don’t actually use the twist, just the d-pad, while the Air/Ace Combat series uses the twist to turn and roll the aircraft — takes some getting used to, but it’s a real improvement over d-pad aiming.
The catch
You can’t use it in just any game — support has to be built in by the developer, and the controller is missing L2, R2, and Select entirely. When a game does support it, it auto-detects and swaps the on-screen prompts to the NeGcon’s own I, II, A, and B buttons. The feel varies a lot from game to game too: Wipeout uses the full 180 degrees of twist, Ridge Racer only uses 35. Most supported games include a calibration tool so you can dial in what feels right.
My take
It’s a genuinely great controller for the games that support it, and a good reminder that the original PlayStation ecosystem was broader and more experimental than people tend to remember it.
Pros
- analog twist steering feels far better than a d-pad in supported racers
- strong Namco and Psygnosis support, especially Ridge Racer and Wipeout
- per-game calibration tools let you tune the feel
- distinctive enough to be worth owning just for the novelty
Cons
- support is limited to specific games — nothing works without built-in support
- missing L2, R2, and Select entirely
- feel varies wildly by game, so there’s a learning curve each time
