Can the SideWinder Game Pad, Microsoft’s first game controller, work on modern PCs? I bought three of them to find out

1996 gave us two incredible gifts. The first was me. The second, arguably more impactful on the course of human civilisation, was the Microsoft SideWinder Game Pad 1.0.

Chances are you might not have heard of the SideWinder brand. Launched in 1995 with the 3D Pro and Standard joysticks, the hardware family would eventually comprise gamepads, racing wheels, a game voice device to talk with friends and vocally control your game, and a massive mouse with more buttons than my nana’s vest. A genuinely cool collection of peripherals.

However, and perhaps prophetic of how they would eventually set about dismantling a gaming industry they had helped built, Microsoft shuttered the SideWinder brand in 2003, supposedly due to poor sales. An especially funny comment, in hindsight, came from Microsoft Canada’s then marketing manager, Kim McWhinnie:

“While SideWinder devices are very popular, the majority of PC games today are built for a mouse and keyboard interface.”

Well…