Analogue Test Utility

Analogue Test Utility is a N64 homebrew demo by WT Riker which was released on 26 April 1999 for the Presence of Mind 99 competition. It was meant to be used as a tool with which you could test your analogue stick to see how well your stick is holding up.

You can get the ROM from its download page by using the password testyourstick.

About the Analogue Test Utility

This is a bit of a different demo than what you’ll usually find from the demo scene around this time. It’s not a rotating 3D model and it’s not a marquee that scrolls over a picture. Rather, it’s something that can be used practically to measure controller wear and tear.

Even by early 1999, it was common for the Nintendo 64 joystick to slowly lose its ‘grip’. There were a lot of urban legends about how to fix them such as adding talcum powder or disassembling the controller putting tape around the joystick to fill in the wear. They didn’t work because any reduced friction from the powder would not matter at that point and it would just be another abrasive, and the tape would just get ‘stuck’ on the non-eroded parts of the joystick.

So the Analogue Test Utility is useful as a way to determine whether you controller is truly busted or whether it is all in your head. It’s pretty simple to work with, all you need to do is select the testing mode and tilt your joystick all the way in each direction and press A.

WT_Riker says that there is a complex formula to determine a tightness rating for how well your controller performs in the test. There isn’t any information about what the actual formula is though.

Controllers have a range from -128 to +127 in each axis, but most games adapt for the wearing down in software by considering anything over, say, -64 to +63 to be ‘fully tilted’. So it doesn’t matter that much if it’s worn down a little bit.

Nowadays there are aftermarket controllers that use modern designs that don’t loosen up (as much) after use so this isn’t nearly as much of an issue today as it was back then.

Transcripts

This program is designed to test the accuracy of the analogue stick

About

Code, Sound, 2D/3D graphics, & 3D models by WT_RIKER ©April 1999

Credits

Wilz, JL_Picard, Jeb, TS_Garp, Sy, Majicom, Netizen, Kemuri, Refried, [SOS], Angelo, Subice, Silver, Sage, Motion, ^Voodoo^. Count0, Steve–, Spaman, Zilmar, FXMCCloud, Tuff^, Duddie, Nil_, Cyryx, Osi-C1P, Alter-ego, LaC, Madeira-G, Locke^, Nagra, Rider, Demo, BPoint, Hektic, Actraiser, Cyberco, Jesper, Hartec, The Crazy 1, ^Voodoo^

And those who I forgot

Greets