“It’s so bad.”
Three words that meant something very different in 1989.
But if you were a rebellious pre-teen looking to dominate a video game tournament in Las
Vegas, you had to have a Power Glove.
Gesture-based gaming never looked so... actually, I can’t even talk smack.
Though it really, really, really hurts to use this thing for an extended period of time,
the Power Glove makes significantly more sense as an input device as, say, the woeful U-Force.
Up, down, left, and right are tracked by three sensors that cradle the top-right of your
TV and communicate with your gauntlet by ultrasonic frequencies.
The action buttons are handled by your hand itself, where by default the A button is your
thumb and B is your index finger.
On the back of the glove itself are a battery of buttons, including a complete copy of an
NES controller, a centering button to calibrate the mitt, and a bevy of program buttons that
control input mapping and rapid-fire capability.
But how does it work?
LET THE SCIENCE BEGIN.
No peripheral should be made that can’t at least deal with the iconic NES platformer.
The Power Glove makes controlling Mario fairly handy, with a fist clutch to jump and fairly
comfortable lateral control.
1-1 was a breeze, though I ran out of time in 1-2 when I got cocky and tried to jump
to the top of the screen.
Shotgunning goombas with the trigger-style control on the fireball was kinda cool, though.
This puzzler was a bit tougher, since the command to jump is on the up button.
It almost felt like I was throwing Dana around the maze, though the pain in my arm was beginning
to creep up on me.
Still, cleared the first two stages pretty easily, though the timing in the third was
more than I could manage.
While the Power Glove was responsive in all four directions, as well as kicking and passing,
the difficulty here is in keeping your arm still in mid-air if you want to, y’know,
keep your Kunio-kun dude actually still on the field.
I’d call for a pass, try to rest my hand as the ball made its way to me, and all of
a sudden I’m in Zagreb or Minsk or somewhere geographical.
It’s at this point that I wanted an icepack.
Kirby’s Adventure is a very late, very detailed game, and the difficulty in maneuvering the
pink puffball with the Glove is quickly apparent.
Especially in the underwater sections, the difficulty in standing still makes itself
known, and with everything you have to do simultaneously, you’re better off just playing
it on your arm if need be.
Yeah, I know the Power Glove has its failings, but... honestly, Paperboy felt the best out
of all these games.
Raise arm to speed up, lower to slow down, thumb to fling a paper...
the mechanics of the game actually work well with the device.
I shall now report my findings to Bryan S. of Pennsylvania, who will probably use the
document to prop up his massive Virtual Boy collection.
Which he’s totally gonna lend me sometime.
Right?