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Has anyone else noticed the US market Turbopad has variants? The one on the left is supposedly NOS from feebay and the one on the right came with my console. The "NOS" one feels a lot cheaper with softer/less responsive buttons, is lighter weight, and has a less glossy style plastic. The dpad and other buttons are a little different sizes too. What gives? Different production facilities? Did NEC get stingy as they went along? I need answers!

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Yes. Both are legit. I've had both since the items were originally released.

The buttons feel so much more responsive on the shinier/heavier one... WHY NEC WHY?

Yeah, I've noticed color/texture variations with mine as well.

Common variations, many game control goes through quiet revisions to be made cheaper.

That's more or less what I figured. Thanks guys!

 Damn, I wonder which ones I have. I mostly obey using some nos tg16 pads I got from red frog or whatever way back when, they are nice but I always felt like the controller that came with my og duo was better. Could be my imagination.

Check the imprinted label on the back; that seems to be the give away. The superior controllers have the larger size info box.

when I was a Kid mine shipped with the heavier larger stamp one, it has always felt more solid.
I too always just assumed it was them making it cheaper over the years. With all the different PCE pads thou I can never tell which of those is a better quality or I prefer.

Mine are all the inferior kind. Boo!

Probably two different production runs at different manufacturing plants.

Interesting. I'll have to check mines tonight.

Interesting, I never knew there was a variant and it sounds like there's considerable differences.  I always thought some of my pads felt more worn, but that might not be the case.  I got to check mine too.

I'm simultaneously sorry and glad I can bring this to everyone's attention. Let me know what you find.

Sounds like the story of the original PlayStation controllers, which were made by three different manufacturers with differing build quality, according to NFGworld. He told the bad ones came from ALPS and can be distinguished by the "A" near the model no. molded into the controller's underside.

I wonder if similar things were done with the PCE/Turbo/Duo pads?

They still do that. I picked up a Ps3 super slim and the controller it came with feels significantly cheaper than the one that came with my old slim, and I am told those are also inferior to the original Dual Shock 3s.

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The controller on the left with the smaller screws is the newer model. Buttons work better with this one and it's cable is also hot swap able with a PC engine/DUO cable.

The controller on the right with the larger screws is the one most known for the pins pulling out of the cable and the D-pad sticking due to inferior D contact pads. Cable is NOT hot swap able with PC engine/DUO controllers.

So basically you can tell the two apart without openning them by the size of the screws

I have experienced the sticky d-pad on the controller you mentioned. I will have to try the other out more and see if I notice the button response. To me the one on the right's buttons feel more snappy and rebound quicker...

For sega genesis. From my observation the controllers that came pack-in with sega genesis were much sturdier and better quality then the controllers that came sold separately. But I might have been hallucinating. Either way I win!

Quote from: Psycho Alt-Nintega on 09/17/2015, 09:09 PMFor sega genesis. From my observation the controllers that came pack-in with sega genesis were much sturdier and better quality then the controllers that came sold separately. But I might have been hallucinating. Either way I win!

There were a lot of different generations of Genesis pads as the platform was on the market for such a long time with a lot of different variations. The six button ones made by Majesco are nearly identical to certain third party pads for example.

All of the turbopads that were packed in are different than the ones that were sold as accessories.

I was taking a few TurboPads apart to clean them a few years back and noticed one of them had the dpad rubber piece split in two parts at an angle (I did not look cut) when I put it back together that one felt slightly odd and I'm pretty sure I could pick it out of a TurboPad line up.

For anyone that has 'em all, how do the two Turbob pads compare to TurbobDuo or various PCE pads?

That's a question I'd like to know the answer to!

Confirming what KC said a few post back
I checked the weird feeling pad and sure enough I picked it out of 5 others and looked inside
It looks like it was the HES model (large screw)(older one) that has the split dpad - pic

(https://www.ektophase.com/TG16/TP01.jpg)

non HES
(https://www.ektophase.com/TG16/TP02.jpg)

The HES pad has the odd d pad feel especially when pressing diagonal it feels wonky

Also, you cannot swap the circuit boards from one version to another.

Very interesting info. Thanks for adding~

Just saw the back of a Japanese Duo pad and it's made in Japan... Anyone have both to compare quality wise? I bet the MIJ slays the Taiwan stuff.

I am bumping this for posterity. I should make a page about it. Lots of great info in here.

Also: As someone asked earlier, has this comparison expanded to the JAPANESE PCE pads? What about NA Duo pads vs. JP Duo pads?

Yeah, I know it would be a lot of work to make such an extensive comparison. Especially because there were many production runs of the Japanese hardware/pads over the years. The same can't be said for any of the NA hardware.

There is a definite difference in feel between these two. The HES pad buttons feel less squishy, the slider switches more pronounced and the dpad has more of a pivot point in the center. Thank you for the great read and the pictures folks.