I really like my Saitek controllers.
Not as much as I like my Logitech Dual Action controllers, but the Saitek controllers are what I use for my Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, 32X and TurboGrafx-16 emulators. They’re decently built and feel comfortable in my large hands.
So I was rather peeved when my oldest of these controllers started to fuck up on me. The buttons seemed not to work all the time, and then the analog stick would, well, stick. Not physically, but I’d see the effect in racing games. I’d steer left and let go of the stick. The stick would return to the center position, but my car or bike on screen would keep steering left.
Time to get a new controller I thought. But then I remembered watching the odd video or two about how to fix unresponsive or just dirty console controllers. Cleaning the electrical contacts inside my Saitek might just do the trick, I thought.
So I opened it up. And I saw hot glue and solder everywhere. If I wanted to get at those electrical contacts to clean them, I would have to break some solder points, cut apart some hot glue, and then solder and glue everything back together again. Fuck that.
I gave up and decided to just put everything back together on the off chance that it would just magically work like new again anyway, and you know what? It did! I’ve only play tested about an hour with it, but the problems I had with it seem to be gone. Maybe I freed a poltergeist out of it, or something.