Avenue Pad 3

Avenue Pad 3
Made for: PC Engine
Manufacturer: NEC Avenue
Type: Control pad
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-01-31 ¥2,9802,980 NAPD-1001

The Avenue Pad 3 (アベニューパッド3) is an officially licensed three button controller for the PC Engine released by NEC Avenue in 1991. It was initially sold by itself, but was later packaged with Forgotten Worlds as part of a special bundle.

It adds a third fire button (Ⅲ) in addition to the standard Ⅰ and Ⅱ buttons. Unlike the later Avenue Pad 6, the added button doesn't provide any unique functionality of its own but simply duplicates the effect of the  SELECT  or  RUN  keys, which is assigned through a switch. This made the controller suitable for action games which had special moves or such assigned to either button such as Shinobi, Bloody Wolf and Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, as well as the aforementioned Forgotten Worlds. There are also turbo switches for each fire button, although the turbo switch for button Ⅲ works a bit differently, as it has a "hi" setting for turbofire and a "hold" setting for autofire, whereas the other two switches simply have two turbo settings.

The PC Blaster later released by Sur De Wave provided functionalities similar to the Avenue Pad 3.

Physical scans

PC Engine, JP
Cover