: Win95b USB support is mostly for mice and keyboard only (and flaky).
: DOS has no USB support at all. Writing it yourself would involve writing a complete USB subsystem which can load drivers dynamically. About what WDM is for Windows.

thanks. So it seems only writing a new HID-driver for windows seems possible, right? at least buying a win98 disc is a much too expensive solution for a bit gaming.

as for dos, now I'm confused. I thought the bios does offer some drivers already, without any complicated USB-subsystem, no?

what I really wanted to know: did anyone start programming such drivers for old systems? I'd be willing to help! it's been already around 5 years since the beginning of USB, did nobody ever think of downgrading his old system to some gaming-console?

I personally perceive the games made for current systems a lot more boring than old games, and most people can't play a 2-player game with his friends in the same room with everyone using a recent system anyway. unfortunately the gaming-devices of these days (using USB) are a lot better than the old ones...