GameCube ASCII Keyboard Controller

What are these worth nowadays? On ebay, in forums, overall average......?


Looks so dorky!

 

I saw some boxed ones last summer in Japan- I don't recall the price exactly, but it wasn't anything significant. Maybe $50 or so?

I was tempted, but they look incredibly uncomfortable to use. What's the practical purpose anyway? are there games that rely on text input? (typing games...?!)

 

Well, on Yahoo Japan they are around $25, but I thought the Western value may be a bit higher because of its curiosity status.

I haven't used one (yet), but they are supposed to be very light and feel exactly like the original GC controllers but with a keyboard in between. They were made exclusively to play Phantasy Star Online so you wouldn't have to switch back and forth from keyboard to pad like you did on Dreamcast. I believe due to the unique (two controller ports used, one each for pad and keyboard component), they were never compatible to any game but PSOI+II and PSOIII, which they were made for.

Another batch of these was released when PSOIII came out, but that time it was distributed by Sammy. Except for being much rarer than the ASCII-version, the Sammy controller is 99.9% the same, just the logo on the top says Sammy instead of ASCII.

 

Hmm. Specifically for two games? Nope, I'll take the small inconvenience thank you.

 

Well, there were no other keyboards available for Gamecube though Basically every PSO-player in Japan had to get one, hence they didn't sell too bad.

 

Datel made one, it was a purple PS/2 keyboard with a Gamecube to PS/2 adapter. You could also use it for typing in cheats to the action replay.

 

i remember these being really expensive when Phantasy Star came out. Not sure on the value now though

 

I bought one of those. Was a piece of crap.

 

Bought one of these a few years back on eBay for £35 boxed complete IIRC.

 

I bought mine for about 50 with shipping from japan to USA.

 

The reason I bought mine was for Action Replay. You can use the keyboard to enter in the titles and codes! Trust me it is way easier this way!