Game port

This Microsoft joystick's output was the traditional game port, but was supplied with a game-port-to-USB adapter for connection to newer systems.

A "Y-splitter" cable used to connect multiple devices to the same game port

At the time IBM was developing its game port, there was no industry standard for controller ports, although the Atari joystick port was close. It was introduced in 1977 with the Atari Video Computer System, and was later used on the VIC-20 (1980), Commodore 64 (1982), and Amstrad's PC1512 (1986).

In contrast with the IBM design, the Atari port was primarily designed for digital inputs (including a pair of two-axis/four-contact digital joysticks, each with a single pushbutton trigger). Its only analog connections were intended for paddles[1] -- although, as there were two analog inputs per port, each port could theoretically support a two-axis analog joystick, touchpad, trackball, or mouse[1] (some of these being eventually developed for Atari systems).[2][3][4]

The Apple II,[5] BBC Micro,[6] TRS-80 Color Computer,[7] and other popular 8-bit machines all used different, incompatible, joysticks and ports. In most respects, the IBM design was similar to, or more advanced than, existing designs.

The IBM PC game port first appeared during the initial launch of the original IBM PC in 1981, in the form of an optional US$55 expansion card known as the Game Control Adapter.[8][9] The design allowed for four analog axes and four buttons on one port, allowing two joysticks or four paddles to be connected via a special "Y-splitter" cable.[10]

Originally available only as add-on that took up an entire slot,[8] game ports remained relatively rare in the early days of the IBM PC, and most games used the keyboard as an input. IBM did not release a joystick of its own for the PC, which did not help. The most common device available was the Kraft joystick, originally developed for the Apple II but easily adapted to the IBM with the addition of another button on the back of the case. When IBM finally did release a joystick, for the IBM PCjr, it was a version of the Kraft stick. However, it connected to the computer using two incompatible 7-pin connectors, which were mechanically connected together as part of a larger multi-pin connector on the back of the machine.[11] This eliminated the need for the Y-adapter.[12] Adapters for Atari-style "digital" sticks were also common during this era.[13]

The game port became somewhat more common in the mid-1980s, as improving electronic density began to produce expansion cards with ever-increasing functionality. By 1983, it was common to see cards combining memory, game ports, serial and parallel ports and a realtime clock on a single expansion card.[14] The era of combo expansion cards largely came to an end by the late 1980s, as many of the separate functions normally provided on plug-in boards became common features of the motherboard itself. Game ports were not always part of this supported set of ports.

However, the game port was given a major boost in usage in 1989, with the introduction of the first Sound Blaster. As sound cards were primarily used with computer games, Creative Labs took the opportunity to include a game port on the card, producing an all-in-one gaming solution. At the same time, they re-purposed two otherwise redundant pins on the port, 12 and 15, to produce a serial bus with enough performance to drive an external MIDI port adapter. Previous MIDI systems like the MPU-401 used their own separate expansion cards and a complex external adapter, whereas the Sound Blaster only required an inexpensive adapter to produce the same result.[15] By the end of the year the Sound Blaster was the best selling expansion card on the PC, and the game port was receiving widespread software support.

With the exception of laptops—for which companies released joystick adapters for parallel or serial ports, which needed custom software drivers[16]—through the early 1990s, the game port was universally supported on sound cards,[12] and increasingly became built-in features as motherboards added sound support of their own. This remained true through the second half of the 1990s, by which time integrated sound support had displaced the third-party sound card to a large degree. By the early 2000s, such support was so widespread that newer sound cards began to dispense with the game port as it was certain the machine they would be used in already had such support, including MIDI. Every Sound Blaster card from the first model up to August 2001 included a game port. In 2001 the Sound Blaster Audigy moved the game port to a second expansion slot, which connected to a header on the card.[17]

The introduction of the first USB standard in 1996, was aimed squarely at the sort of roles provided by the game port, but initially had little market impact. The introduction of the iMac, which was based almost entirely on USB expansion, began a rapid expansion of USB in the market.[18] This led both to new gaming devices using USB, as well as the profusion of adapters. For instance, the 1997 Microsoft Precision Pro joystick was re-introduced in a version that used a game port connector, but also included a USB adapter in the box.[19] The rapid takeover of USB meant that this was superfluous when the Precision Pro 2 was released the next year in 1998. By 2000, game ports were purely for backward compatibility with now outdated devices.

Microsoft Windows discontinued support for the game port with Windows Vista,[20] though USB converters can serve as a workaround.