I recently installed a Brook Retro Board, and I am having issues with it that are similar to the issues described in this old thread. I am testing the joystick on the SNES using the Controller Test Cartridge. This test cartridge is a SNES game ROM that lights up the button being pressed on the SNES controller. It has a counter at the bottom that counts the number of seconds since the controller buttons being pressed has changed.
Each joystick direction and button press works, but if I hold a button or joystick direction for 10 seconds to 60 seconds, I can see the button register as being unpressed and repressed intermittently. The button press “flickers”. For many games that I have played, it is unnoticeable, but for certain platform games (such as Super Mario All Stars) it kills playability because if you stop holding a direction mid-jump, it stalls the jump, causing you to fall far shorter than intended.
What is the best way to ask Brook for customer service and support? They claim this board can have its firmware updated, but I do not see any firmware available for download for the Retro Board. I bought the board from Arcade Shock. Should I just approach them for customer support?
I am familiar with the Controller Test Cartridge. I use it my self for testing SNES controllers.
I know that someone from Brook @Brook_Engineer does post on the forums and sometimes answer questions. I just tagged them, so if they see it they might come and answer it for you .
I am very disappointed in the customer service from Brook. I went to their website and tried to report the issue, but their entire website does not contain any information for the Retro Board and they do not provide a way of reporting any issues for the Retro Board.
The board is targeted at high performance low latency joysticks. The fact that it drops button presses should be addressed by a firmware update more quickly than this. Apparently the issue has been known for several months.
I got a response from Brook and they said to contact Arcade Shock for assistance. I contacted Arcade Shock and they said:
Brook is going to do an update on this. They’ve just been busy the past month due to their recent launches, so we’ll push them to fix this.
Hopefully Brook follows through, but I am starting to get worried that Brook and Arcade Shock are pointing fingers at each other and no fix will be produced.
Plus in the US, jasenscustoms.com is the US partner in this board. Visit there for better English that is native.