RepairBox Replacement Joystick for N64

Christmas came early this year.It was a little nerve racking having to open the controller & replace the mechanism (especially as the product did not come with directions), but ultimately it went right in & works perfectly (upon initial start up I only had lateral movement, but after a quick restart it has been fully functional with no issues since).Most criticism for this product stems from it being more sensitive than the original. I *might* agree that it is a little more sensitive, but does anyone really have access to an original controller with a mint condition joystick to compare it to? Of course it seems sensitive when most of us have been using joysticks with little to no spring left for years.All I can say for sure is that I'm power sliding with precision that's been missing from my Kart for years, and for the first time in a long time there's actually a level playing field when I Smash & Kart with friends. I originally ordered 2 just to try them out on my two worst controllers (on which the joysticks just straight up were laying to the side), but would say the results are still better than even my other two controllers where the joystick is still reasonably live. I will be ordering several more of these to insure my n64 controllers can keep going as long as the system holds up (which I can only assume will be forever).

I have three serious problems with this joystick.One: WHY IS THE CABLE LENGTH SO LONG?I cannot find ANYWHERE inside this controller that I can put this cable without the controller itself smashing the cord and potentially damaging it. Look at your original joystick, and then look at this one. It is over twice the length. There's a REASON it's so short: There's no room for more!Two: The joystick is rough, it doesn't feel anywhere near as smooth as an original one that is in good shape (or fixed with some epoxy and grease).Three: This thing is almost impossible to put back together correctly if you so choose to open it up and put some grease in to fix the horrible rough feel. The original design is painless and extremely fast to put together. This requires some sort of sacrifice. Every time I thought I had it put back together correctly, if I moved the stick to the bottom left or very bottom, it gets stuck. It took something like 5 or 6 tries, each time obnoxious to get it together, for it to finally stop doing that. (Note that I installed and used it a bit before I ever opened it.)This is awful. I bought two of these because I thought they would feel and work just the same as the originals, I didn't want to use those really terrible ones that look like Gamcube sticks (Incorrect range, way too stiff), and I didn't feel like spending the time to fix my originals. Now I have to fix them.I'm about ready to throw these away. Waste of my time and money.

I purchased this to replace a broken control stick for an official N64 controller. Overall, I really like it and think it is worth replacing the control stick, rather than using a generic controller.Pros:The build quality surprised me and was better than expected. It differs from the official but still retains the quality. Despite having a different form it still fit exactly as an official would and was pretty easy to install. Once installed, it looks almost identical to the original control stick.The tension of the stick feels nice and tight, and is accompanied by very accurate dead zone, giving it a very strong illusion that you are using an official stick.Cons:Where the tension and dead zone feel great, the action and movement fall short. You won't have problems keeping the stick in the same spot but, I've found that making dynamic movements tend to falter, as if it would change tension in certain spots. The problem is very minor and hardly impacted my gameplay, but I feel that I should mention it.Another issue I have is with the installation of the Z button contact. The harness/slot for the contact was a little too loose for my liking and took some fiddling with to get a snug install. It might cause your Z button to be loose or mushy. You might have to use a paper shim or hot glue to really cement it in place.Despite the minor qualms I've had with this control stick, I would very much recommend it to someone who wants their original controller back. I have spent about 15 hours with it on Mario 64 and it performed well enough for my snobby video game taste. The install was very easy and only requires a size 0 screwdriver. It can be completed by a beginner in about 15 minutes with some help with a youtube tutorial.

I am very happy with this joystick. I would highly recommend replacing the spring that comes with this, with the original Nintendo spring. It took me a while to get the Nintendo spring situated right but after some trial and error it all came together nicely. This joystick does have a slightly larger dead zone than the factory joystick but in my opinion it is barely noticeable and still works perfectly for games like smash brothers. With the spring replaced the joystick feels very similar to the stock joystick and I am very happy with the replacement. As far as replacing joysticks go, I have tried many many methods, including rebuilding the stock joystick base with super glue and the joystick sanding method, and the tape method, and I must say it seems that buying this and replacing the spring on this joystick has achieved the closest to stock feeling joystick out of all the other options I have tried. You must understand that once a joystick has been damaged you will never get back that 100% perfect stock feeling but I would say this is as close as I have gotten for sure.