[KB-003] Why don't the side buttons work as pinball flippers on my console?

Product: Tankstick | Platform: Console (Xbox/PlayStation) | Confidence: High

Answer:

The side buttons on the Tankstick are hard-assigned to two different players. On consoles, there is no way to have both left and right side buttons function as a single gamepad input because the console sees them as separate controllers.

This is a hardware limitation specific to consoles. On PC, games allow keyboard or controller remapping in software, so this issue does not occur. To use Dual Stick Mode on consoles, a 2-in-1 adapter and two Brook adapters are required to ensure the console recognizes the inputs as a single controller; on PC, this functionality can be achieved through software remapping within emulators like MAME without additional hardware.

Solutions:

Use a keyboard-to-gamepad converter (recommended - simpler)

To enable pinball functionality on the Tankstick MAX for Xbox consoles, the internal wiring must be modified by hard-wiring one side push button to the other so the internal terminals can be swapped with the flipper button terminals.

Required Inputs: Platform (PC vs console)