The QuickShot II joystick from RGL

So, I ordered two of these, lets take a look and see what I think of these .........

The "Pre-Order" and then the delivery woes

Let's start with the first part of this, I pre-ordered a pair of these within a couple of days of these becoming available, and the pre-order process on Amazon was simple, like it always is

My order status said "Arriving 31st January" ............ but on the day? it suddenly changed to "Delayed: Expected 11th February" with no explanation.

I was seeing friends post online they'd got theirs on 31st Jan, so I was properly disappointed, but also I wanted these before LAG so I could take them along with one of my suitable bits of RGL kit (probably TheSpectrum or TheC64 "Maxi")

Anyway, they turned up on 5th February anyway, and I'm happy that they did

The Package

Well, the box looks almost exactly like the original QuickShot 2 box, it's like a total time warp. Getting the joystick out of the box and it looked and felt just like the real deal from back in the day, I am super impressed with it. The unboxing was exactly as I expected.

The feel of the joystick

Ok, so using it pretty much feels like what a QuickShot 2 did back in the day - as in, it does feel a bit cheap, but then so did the original. However, these are microswitched instead of the leaf switches of the original, and that makes them feel a lot better to use.

Using the joysticks

So, being as my TheSpectrum was already hooked up, I decided to plug one into that, and I tested it there. It worked perfectly and as expected.

I do think the button layout may cause confusion for some though. The top button and the trigger button are mapped as separate buttons (unlike the original) and the trigger button is fire 1, the top button is fire 2, so this may not be as expected. However, this is pretty much a non-issue as the buttons are able to be remapped on a per game basis in the UI on the RGL consoles, so really, it doesn't matter that much.

The buttons at the bottom for the additional functions are exactly where I'd expect them and they are easily reachable. I've had no issues using the joystick

The "C64 Mode"

So whilst the joystick is designed to work with all the RGL consoles, apparently there's some weird button mapping issues on TheC64, TheC64 Mini and TheVIC-20, and as a result, there's a button combination to switch it to a different mode more suitable for these platform. RGL's instructions are as follows:

TheQuickshot II has been designed to maximise compatibility with all of Retro Games’ products as well as other popular games and computer systems.

For use with THEC64, THEC64 Mini and THEVIC20, a compatibility mode as been added which swaps some of the button assignments so that the buttons function as expected. This is only necessary when being paired with THEC64 range of products, which includes THEVIC20 and Black Edition.

To switch TheQuickshot II into THEC64 and THEC64 Mini compatibility mode, simultaneously press and hold buttons X+Y+L+R for three seconds.

You can see this information here which also shows the button mappings in C64 Mode: C64 Mode 

Personally, I'm not sure why a C64 mode is needed, surely this could be done automatically with the USB protocol and either the joystick detect what it's plugged in to, or a firmware update supplied for the C64 (and other related machines)

I have not tested on my TheC64 yet, but will do at some point, I will update here

Issues with sensitivity

Having looked around online, I discovered some people were claiming to have had issues with the QuickShot II being oversensitive, and at first I thought "I'm having no problems here" - but, at the time i'd only tested on TheSpectrum.

At LAG 94, I took a few systems and I tested this joystick on the TheC64 Maxi, and this is where I discovered the oversensitivity - this is only an issue on TheC64 series, and the joystick works find on TheSpectrum and TheA500 Mini - maybe this is something that needs adjusting with a customer controller mapping file or with a firmware update to TheC64 series of machines

Conclusion

Well, I think it's a decent joystick that recreates the classic controller that many of us had on our Spectrum, Commodore 64 or Amstrad CPC back in the day (or even on our Amiga or ST) - hats off to the people at RGL for making this

Some disclosure about my review

So, when I was at Crash Live 2025 in November, the RGL people where there and I got my hands on one of these to test, so I had already had experience - however, this does not affect my review, as if I hadn't liked it then, I would not have purchased it.