PPJoy

PPJoy is a lightweight joystick emulator that allows all uses of Windows to use their keyboard or other external devices as reliable virtual joysticks. With a wide array of built-in tools and support for in-depth customization of each possible button, this application represents a perfect companion to every retro gamer who wants to take full advantage of his limited input hardware to control any sort of retro or modern game.

To help gamers to create custom virtual joysticks for every occasion, PPJoy also has a built-in driver pack that can successfully emulate a wide array of popular gamepad models such as those from SNES, Sega, Atari, PlayStation, and others.

PPjoy has a very simple user interface that any gamer will easily learn in minutes. The app features a single dashboard window that lists 16 different buttons, four direction arrows, and four analog axes that can be fully configured. That number of buttons and axis is enough to populate the functions of all modern and retro gamepads on the market.

To start customizing their own virtual joystick, users simply need to pick the preset at the top of the app and then start populating each of the button fields below. Each button can be assigned a function via either a dropdown menu or automatically detect any button press via the “Scan” option. The only advanced option available in the app is loading INI files for easier management of gamepads and loading of DLL files which are crucial for emulating specific gamepads. All in all, the app is fast, reliable, easy to use, and uses minimal hardware resources.

The app is distributed online in a small package that weighs in at just 1.5MB, making it a perfect choice even for users with very limited free storage space on their aging desktop or laptop PC. Many agree that this app is a perfect choice for getting old gamepads up and running on modern PCs. The app can detect gamepads connected via both USB and MIDI interfaces.

PPJoy is 100% FREE. While PPJoy has competition in form of several similar apps, many users around the world have noted and praised its extended compatibility with older legacy versions of Windows OS, such as Windows 98 and 2000. To use it reliably on newer versions of Windows OS, users are recommended to run it in a compatibility mode.