The iPad Arcade Stick

I'm not an iPad kid I'm an iPad man look

at these things iPad let's play a game

called who gives a anymore it's

going to be a quick game because I can't

find anybody I have a funny little

relationship with

iPads I shouldn't have said it because I

am pretty sure there are going to be no

jokes in this story iPads and tablets

throughout their lives I've always kind

of gone up and down in terms of their

usefulness if I really think they're

warranted I got remember when the iPad

was first announced in like early 2010

and I

remember not getting it what the hell is

the point of that it was literally just

a larger iPod Touch uh for $500 Apple

posed the question what is between a

smartphone and a laptop and uh if that

thing between them would be warranted

like is there a reason to own all three

and sometimes sure uh that time iPad 1

hell no uh there was no camera on it it

was 16 gbes I mean like what you're just

going to browse the web on that thing

check email I mean for that yeah sure it

works it does the job and the

touchscreen display does make it a

little more fun but if you're already

spending $500 on this thing I feel like

it it would probably be worth it to just

save up a little more and and get a

laptop uh because when you actually try

to start using your iPad as a computer

uh yeah the limitations start to show

but that was just with the iPad 1 I

didn't see much point of that thing back

in the day but when the iPad 2 got

announced with cameras and smart covers

that's when I was like oh boy I think

the main thing that kind of got me into

it was the fact that iMovie was

announced for iPad uh just just the idea

that you could edit video on on

something like this I just instantly

pictured being in the backseat of a car

uh just editing video on this very thin

uh tablet uh that that was really cool

and I think that kind of showed me a bit

of like why the iPad deserves to exist

because yeah you can do all the things

an iPad can do on an iPhone but God damn

you don't want to do it on a screen that

small so you take the ease of use of an

iPhone and uh um make it easy to use so

I was on board with iPad 2 my mom got

one for her birthday so I kind of

mooched off of her iPad 2 and uh yeah it

was yeah that was a lovely little device

I had a lot of fun on that thing

eventually I got my very own iPad and

iPad Mini first generation which I later

sold to afford Kirby and the Rainbow

Curse tough times now I really like

using that one too but man I mean I

eventually it just kind of you just kind

of had to ask like what are we doing

here smartphones were getting bigger

tablets were getting smaller and and

just like things were starting to bleed

together a little too much to the point

that for a bit there kind of felt like

you know when you have like a 6-in

screen

iPhone why what's the point of an iPad

Mini a laptops were becoming faster and

thinner smartphones were becoming more

capable with bigger screens uh iPads

started to feel weird but eventually you

know they brought in the iPad Pro with

the apple pencil and USBC port and uh

yeah then it started to feel pretty good

again uh and now it feels weird because

now they have like Final Cut Pro for

iPad and it feels like they introduced

that just to say like uh please God

consider the iPad a computer and uh yeah

I mean the Final Cut Pro on the iPad is

is a weird little bugger I tried using

it for 20 minutes and I realized this is

a total gimmick I will never actually

use this but it's cool that it exists my

apologies for rambling but my point is

here me and the iPad go way back how far

back well I recognize

this this is an iPad owner's equivalent

to a Purple Heart okay so I recognize

this thing but I've never owned one

until now and I am so happy to do so

because this is such an obscure little

bugger right here this is the iade now

what's the

iade I don't know I have a lot of

nostalgia for the uh 2008 to uh

20 13 2014 era of mobile games like I

have a couple games on my phone but

they're all the same uh they all kind of

have a very similar gameplay Loop of

like maybe it's like oddly satisfying

for for like a couple days and then you

get burnt out on it because it's just

the same damn thing over and over and

over again stuff like Monopoly go I see

this damn mobile game ad like every

single time an ad comes up of this

stupid ass King and he's about to get it

and I just know it's just going to be

the same thing for hours on end and it's

just there's going to be a bunch of

popup ads and all this garbage and I

look back at mobile games from back in

the day and like yeah sure there was a

lot of really shallow stuff on there uh

pretty much 60% of the iPhone app store

uh were fart apps Andy I'm not going to

act like this was a perfect era you know

even during the greatest Renaissance

throughout history and there were still

a couple cases of leprosy I man a lot of

these mobile games kind of got thrown

under the bus back then in a similar way

that mobile games do uh nowadays which

is H very unfair you know you look back

at stuff like Cut the Rope and like

Angry Birds and uh yeah you know like oh

man Scott's going to praise Angry Birds

like yeah I don't really give a damn

about Angry Birds but like you have to

admit like there's actual goddamn game

design going on there like it's an

actual video game there's actual things

going on there whereas like mobile games

these days like they all pretty much

play themselves but as good as some of

these old school mobile games were uh

what really attracted me back then uh

that I I got fooled by every single time

were all the actual video games

available on the App Store like I

remember seeing you know you had Sonic 1

Sonic 2 Mega Man 2 Street Fighter 4

Resident Evil 4 these were like actual

video games and they all said like oh

yeah yeah it'll work on the iPhone

here's the iPhone version of of this

game and I always bought them I bought

every single one of those damn games and

like played them for a little bit on the

I on my iPod touch and never played him

again I mean in a couple cases I

actually played through uh a couple of

these games a fair amount I remember

actually getting like really far in the

iPhone version of Mega Man 2 uh this

version got like two out of 10 on IGN at

the time uh it it was not a great

controlling version and it was all

because of the touchcreen controls which

is why I respect the hell out of this

era of like traditional mobile games uh

like Cut the Rope because like a lot of

these were designed fully with touch

screens in mind like they took full

advantage of the hardware uh whereas

Resident Evil 4 on the iPhone that took

advantage of me most of these

traditional video games ported to the

iPhone suffered from the dreaded

touchscreen d-pad and buttons if only

there was an audio company that came to

the rescue and made an arcade device for

the iPad yes ion they make record

players and uh they decided to come up

with an April Fool's Day joke about the

iade an iPad arcade setup uh and then

people seem to like it enough that they

uh eventually turned it into its own

thing like a year later uh that's like

one of the worst April Fool's Day jokes

of all time when it's like something

people actually wanted and people are

like that's a great idea and then

they're like oh we should actually

make that now I mean like yeah they're

actually pretty good April Fool's Day

jokes at the end of the day if it you

know actually came up with something

cool uh but uh but as a joke uh yeah

yeah pretty dog boom here it is so this

came out during like the iPad 2 iPad 3

era and they're advertising this

alongside Atari Greatest Hits on the App

Store I remember this app uh I was

actually very interested in this back in

the day because this was a free app and

it came with Missile Command pre-loaded

on it but for the other hundreds of

Atari games uh you'd have to pay uh

either for them like within packs for

like a buck or two uh or you just get

them all for $10 and I very much

considered this I remember scrounging up

change uh to give to my parents whenever

I wanted to buy uh an app or like an

iTunes TV show episode or a movie or

anything uh so I was like trying to find

like all this loose change that I could

then give to them in exchange to uh you

know to buy something with their credit

card on on the App Store I really

considered it with Atari Greatest Hits I

mean like hundreds of games hundreds of

classic games I like classic games I'm

pretty happy I didn't do that because I

did that recently to test this out

sometimes I just forget Atari games are

Atari games of course Atari games have

their place in history but but you know

like actually playing them these

days what do you want me to say and keep

in mind I like this kind of garbage but

even I have my limits guari

golf off definitely interesting how

they cross-promoted this app uh with the

icade considering that the iade has a

very traditional six buttons like a

fighting game layout and a pretty

standard arcade joystick uh because uh a

lot of the Atari arcade games here uh

don't use

a standard joystick and standard arcade

buttons a lot of these are games that

use like a spinner or something like

that and a lot of these are track ball

games and then you move over to the

Atari 2600 games and like man an arcade

joystick ain't really going to do much

to make these better it's still really

cool to be able to play these classic

games uh with traditional arcade style

controls uh and the fact that you can

still do it is incredible I was still

lable to download this app on a modern

iPad like this iPad's only like 2 years

old or so yeah I was still able to buy

the $10 game pack uh I'm not sure if

it's actively available on the app store

or if I was just still able to access it

because I downloaded it back in the day

so it was still like on my account I

could redownload it but still everything

just works so smoothly there which I can

say about other games that support the

iade yeah so not a lot of games

officially supported the iade but it's

just a Bluetooth controller so it should

work but uh yeah I I have some

difficulty getting it to work in games

like uh you know the Sonic mobile ports

here Temple Run of all games supports

the

iade at least the left and right buttons

yeah for some reason uh down doesn't

work in temperun here uh which is weird

because down Works in other games I've

tested with the iade and for some reason

the arade only works in Temple Run Plus

on Apple arcade uh regular old Temple

Run here uh it it doesn't work in it

doesn't work in which is strange I'd

assume the original version of Temple

Run which is what that is uh would

support the iade since you know it's

older with Temple Run plus being like

the premium original Temple Run

available on the Apple arcade

Subscription Service I'd assume like it

wouldn't work in that cuz it's a newer

version of of Temple

Run I don't know you know what a real

great one Miss Pac-Man uh Miss Pac-Man

works with the iade uh which is like

yeah that that's obviously like one

that's like

oh yeah but of course I don't think the

original like iPad iPhone version of

Miss Pac-Man is available on the App

Store anymore I was able to download it

because you know I had to download it

from back in the day if you want regular

Pac-Man I don't know what's going on

here you know the the the uh version of

Pac-Man they have on the app store right

now like they mobile fi it like you just

have these weird ass little challenge

rooms and stuff you you know you want to

go through all the challenges every day

and everything like what what the hell

is going on here you know what's even

worse no iade support you know what

strange uh we're actually going to be a

two for two in terms of Apple arcade

games that support the iade here we have

a Frogger in toy town and yeah you know

this works with the icade I'm

controlling it right now with the ik

this this iPad controller from 2011

still works in some games which is

pretty crazy to be fair you know it is

just a Bluetooth controller uh but the

fact that it's a little spotty in some

games and works flawlessly with others

is is pretty crazy to me man I've always

just found this thing really really cool

this is probably like one of the coolest

possible accessories created for an iPad

and they created it like within the

first year or two of the iPad's

existence I just think this thing Nails

what it sets out to do uh of course like

it its compatibility is a bit spotty at

least with what I've tried it with

however there's one app that does work

with it that makes it all worth it

there's this vectrix ass app that plays

vectrex games do you know the vectrex

yeah here's footage of my vectrex and

here's footage of the iPad and the iade

playing vectrex games now the vectrex is

very unique it's it's a very cool old

ass game system uh that uses vector

graphics and there's nothing really else

like it like the the graphics are so

smooth like it it it's unreal it just

looks cool in person and uh it's it's

really fun to play you know like really

fun H yeah Scott tell me more listen man

I'm not telling you to put your beer

down to play a vectrex but what I'm

trying to say is uh as far as games from

this era you know early 80s uh the vect

tricks is very special it's a very cool

thing that I think most people if you

turn one on can really appreciate uh

mainly because you know it's a it's a

game console with a built-in screen you

can immediately turn on it it turns on

instantly and you're just in there

playing a very unique kind of retro game

uh you know with with very cool vector

graphics and uh you know they're very

simple games but you know they're

instantly understandable you can

instantly just pop in you know you know

move around play have some fun uh it

it's cool it's very cool but uh vectrex

games haven't really ever been

re-released outside of this damn iPad

app that works flawlessly with the iade

and turns your iPad into like the the

best Recreation of a vectrex I've ever

seen in my damn life I've only seen one

Recreation of a vectrex and it's this

but still it's really cool unfortunately

this app is like a subscription based

thing and I'm pretty sure I forgot to

unsubscribe uh I'm not playing this

thing more than once but still pretty

damn cool and so is the ik just based on

like the fact that it it does very much

make your iPad feel like a mini arcade

cabinet of course these days I don't

really think it has much use at all I

feel like you're much better off uh

getting like like a mini an actual mini

arcade cabinet like a multik like

tabletop looking thing I don't know like

I feel like you're going to get all the

games you want on that whereas with this

uh you're kind of stuck with the table

scraps from 10 years ago like what

whatever still will work with the iade

uh you know new games still might

support it they might not I don't know

but this just brings me back to uh kind

of a fun era where it felt like like

these devices were were capable of

everything they could replace everything

in your life the iPad can replace any

arcade cabinet watch it and and uh you

know overall I'm happy that uh they they

didn't end up doing that I think we've

kind of come back to an Era where we

realized like hey let's not let our

phone do absolutely everything it's nice

to have like a camera uh separate from

our phone it's nice to collect vinyl uh

and not rely on our phone for absolutely

everything or or whatever you know um

but back then uh these devices genuinely

felt magical like like they could do

literally anything and it felt like you

know like I it I I don't really remember

a time where i' I've felt that since you

know it felt like we were truly stepping

into the future uh with with you know

these these devices and uh you know

things like the iade really did show

that they were they were Jacks of all

trads they could do anything and

honestly I'm pretty bummed out that uh

you know they're still not making uh

stuff like this of course there's

Bluetooth controllers all over the place

oh but would you look at that that looks

familiar the iade did it first and they

had a couple of spin-off products for

the iade Brand This is the iade mobile

so you know this would work with uh you

know iPhone iPod Touch at the time and

uh yeah it it's just it's just a

Bluetooth

controller uh I don't really think this

will fit these days phones have gotten

awfully bigger but uh yeah you know this

is a Bluetooth controller for your

iPhone it's not necessarily that great

like it's fine uh all the buttons feel

tolerable uh I I this is probably better

than nothing but honestly I would take

nothing over this because I am not

lugging this in my slacks there's also

the iade core uh which is pretty much

just a slim down version of the iade

yeah I got to be honest this is

miserable isn't that the point of the

iade to do this funny little thing look

it's an arcade machine if I tell you

this is an arcade machine you're going

to respond with is everything all right

I mean something like this would

definitely be cheaper and uh you know it

definitely takes up less room so I think

it has its place but overall I'm still

all about the original iade arcade style

dock for your iPad uh I love this thing

I'm never going to use it again but I

love this thing again like I said it

kind of brings me back to like that 2011

Nostalgia which makes me sound like the

youngest little twerp of all time just

saying I'm nostalgia for 2011 like

that was nearly 15 years

ago let me be like I remember seeing

reviews for this thing seeing this thing

online and thinking like damn that that

would be so cool to own and uh you know

I had the iPad and that that was really

great so uh you know it all kind of

comes together and it's just it's it's

such a cool thing they did back then

that still works like you can use this

very effectively with a standard siiz

modern iPads the fact is this doesn't

have like an old ass iPad dock connector

in here like it it it's pretty

futureproof there's like a hole here

where you can fit a charger to charge

your iPad while you're playing uh but uh

the fact is like they didn't they could

have put like the actual dock connector

in there completely made it obsolete

once Apple changed their dock

connector twice but no this thing still

works to this day and I'm so happy I

finally own something nobody else gives

a about crazy it took me this long