Not in a game, but the biggest gaming-related own I have ever experienced.
My brother got me a reproduction N64 controller for Christmas. Some of the buttons felt odd, and the joystick would get stuck if you moved it to the left. I decided that I'd attempt to fix it myself before dealing with the inconvenience of returning it and locating another one.
First of all, I discover that one of my miniature screwdrivers is broken- the edges of the Phillips tip were worn away and couldn't grab screws. I had a flathead that still fit the screws though. I couldn't get enough torque to turn the screws with my bare hands, so I had to turn the screwdriver with pliers while also pressing down on the top of it.
Next, I had to take apart the joystick assembly. It's made of three parts: the stick itself, the electronics, and the spring + plastic bit that pushes the stick back to the center after it's moved.
This is where the real nightmare begins. As soon as I unscrew the two halves of the assembly and separate the stick from the electronics, the spring forces the pieces apart like a bloody hand grenade. This is a problem, because I didn't see the way the parts were originally assembled. I apply a small dot of lubricant to the ball of the stick and set to reverse engineering.
The stick connects to the electronics by means of two half-circle bits that form a plus shape, pieces which rotate to create the stick's range of motion. These have slots for the bottom of the stick to fit into. However, the slots are exclusive: You have to put the stick in one, then rotate it 90 degrees to fit it into the other one. First problem solved.
Next, there's this mysterious plastic ring. I didn't see where this originally was, because the spring blew all the pieces apart before I could look. It turns out, this goes immediately in between the stick assembly and the electronics. When you move the stick, the rotation of the half-circle bits mentioned earlier forces this plastic ring out of place. Because the spring is pushing back on the plastic bit which is pushing on the half-circles, the plastic bit will force the half-circles back into their center position, which returns the stick to the center. I figured this out with much trial and error.
Next came the Herculean task of putting the entire thing back together. This took many, many tries because you literally do have to do it all at once: I had to line up the spring, the plastic bit and the sensors, force the two halves of the assembly together, rotate the stick so that it locks into the half-circles, and then hold the entire thing together as I replaced the screw, all while making sure that the spring doesn't slip out of place.
Finally, I got it done. The stick is still a bit mushy, but it's usable and infinitely better than it was prior to my fixing it. All the buttons work fine. I learned many things during this little adventure, but the most important lesson was:
CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY THAT IT WORKED AND DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN.
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Topic: How did you last *own*? (Read 1353743 times)