Power Glove

"Powerglove" redirects here. For the American band, see Powerglove (band).

For the Australian electronic music duo, see Power Glove (band).

Power Glove

Power Glove, American model
Manufacturer	Mattel (United States) PAX (Japan)
Type	Game controller
Generation	Third generation era
Release date	NA: October 1989
Lifespan	1 year
Introductory price	US$75 (Equivalent to $184 in 2023)
Discontinued	1990 (1990)
Controller input	1 Crosshead A B Action Buttons Start Select Buttons Turbo Buttons
Connectivity	Serial port
Backward compatibility	Nintendo Entertainment System

The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Power Glove gained public attention due to its early virtual reality mechanics and significant marketing. However, its two games did not sell well, as it was not packaged with a game, and it was criticized for its imprecise and difficult-to-use controls.

Development

The Power Glove was originally released in 1989. Though it was an officially licensed product, Nintendo was not involved in the design or release of the accessory. Rather, it was designed by Samuel Cooper Davis for Abrams/Gentile Entertainment (AGE), made by Mattel in the United States and PAX in Japan. Additional development was accomplished through the efforts of Thomas G. Zimmerman and Jaron Lanier, a virtual reality pioneer responsible for codeveloping and commercializing the DataGlove, who had made a failed attempt at a similar design for Nintendo earlier. Mattel brought in Image Design and Marketing's Hal Berger and Gary Yamron to develop the raw technology into a functional product. They designed Power Glove over the course of eight weeks. The Power Glove and DataGlove were based on Zimmerman's instrumented glove.

Design and functionality

Japanese Power Glove (パワーグローブ Pawā Gurōbu), manufactured by PAX

The Power Glove is based on the patented technology of the VPL Dataglove, but with many modifications that allow it to be used with modestly performing consumer hardware and sold at an affordable price. Whereas the Dataglove can detect yaw, pitch and roll, uses fiberoptic sensors to detect finger flexure, and has a resolution of 256 positions (8 bits) per finger for four fingers (the little finger is not measured to save money, and it usually follows the movement of the ring finger), the Power Glove can only detect roll, and uses sensors coated with conductive ink; their analog signal is converted into two bits per finger. yielding a resolution of four positions (2 bits) per finger for four fingers. The design of the Glove was based on RoboCop from the 1987 film of the same name. This allows the Power Glove to store all the finger flexure information in a single byte.

There are two ultrasonic speakers (transmitters) in the glove and three ultrasonic microphones (receivers) around the TV monitor. The ultrasonic speakers take turns transmitting a short burst (a few pulses) of 40 kHz sound and the system measures the time it takes for the sound to reach the microphones. A triangulation calculation is performed to determine the X, Y, Z location of each of the two speakers, which specifies the yaw and roll of the hand. The only dimension it cannot calculate is the pitch of the hand, since the hand can pitch without moving the location of the two ultrasonic speakers.

Games

A Power Glove displayed at the Video Game Museum in Berlin, Germany

Two games were released with specific features for use with the Power Glove: Super Glove Ball, a faux-3D puzzle maze game; and Bad Street Brawler, a beat 'em up. Both games are playable with the standard NES controller, but include moves that can only be used with the glove. These two games are branded as part of the "Power Glove Gaming Series". Since no Power Glove-specific games ever retailed in Japan, the Power Glove was sold only as an alternative controller.

Two more games, Glove Pilot and Manipulator Glove Adventure, were announced but never released. Another unreleased game, Tech Town or Tektown, is a virtual puzzle solving game in which the player moved a robotic hand around a deserted space station type of setting, using the glove to open doors and to pick up and use tools. It can be seen in a sneak peek in the Official Power Glove Game Players Gametape.

The Power Glove was adopted by the emerging virtual reality community in the 1990s to interact with 3D worlds in a cheaper way to the popular high end DataGlove produced by VPL Research. REND386 was the bridging shareware software to support it.

Reception

The Power Glove sold nearly one million units and was a commercial success. However, it generally received extremely poor reception, because the controls for the glove were incredibly obtuse, making it completely impractical for almost every game on the console. Only two games were specially constructed for the Power Glove, and many users had no practical use for it for other noteworthy games of its time. Consumer complaints also noted the poor connection signal between the glove and the console, build quality of the materials, and high price point for 1989 (retail price was $100, approximately $250 in 2024).

In popular culture

The Power Glove is featured in the 1989 film The Wizard, wielded by antagonist Lucas Barton (Jackey Vinson), who infamously declares, "I love the Power Glove - it's so bad."

In 2013, a documentary titled The Power of Glove was put into development. The film was released in 2019.

The Power Glove was featured in the 2021 movie 8-Bit Christmas, and New York Times writer Calum Marsh describes the Power Glove's "awfulness" as what "sets the [film's] plot in motion".