creating a Bally Astrocade joystick coupler

[riffraff]

I was wondering if anyone had ideas or knew how hard it would be to make an inexpensive joystick coupler (to hold 2 joysticks in place for simultanous usasge) for the Astrocade controllers. Here is my first attempt

 

 

Ok I got the "cheap and easy" part down but it doesn't work very well. First of all moving the joysticks around makes the rubber bands stretch a bit and the joysticks themselves start to move. The other problem is the tops of the joysticks are pointed at each other at an angle, and if you wanted to point the left joystick right at the same time as pointing the right joystick left, they bump into each other. It's a very sloppy control and would not be acceptable for a game like Robotron or Crazy Climber, or any other game that would be made for simultaneous 2-joystick usage.

 

Ideas off the top of my head.. 2 styrofoam bricks. One with holes for the top part of the joystick to slide through and would rest around the trigger area. The other would fit under the bottom of the joysticks with places for the base of each to rest snug. This seems like it would work but might wear out after a while of fitting/removing the styrofoam.

 

The other idea would be to make some kind of plastic holder, but I don't have a clue of the costs of such a thing. Making plastic molds sounds really expensive and not worth it.

 

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

[Jess Ragan]

I can't think of any Astrocade games that would necessitate the use of a coupler. But what the heck, I'll bite. Due to their unusual shape, you may need to have a hinged coupler that's molded for the joysticks. You know, something you would put the joysticks into, then shut like a lockbox to keep them in place. You would also need some kind of reservoir for the cables, since they hang down from the bottom of the joysticks.

[riffraff]

I can't think of any Astrocade games that would necessitate the use of a coupler.

 

None exist yet.

[Jess Ragan]

Yet...? Care to elaborate?

[riffraff]

I'm writing some Astrocade homebrews. The first one is done although I should probably add one last feature, if I can fit it into the last 100 bytes. Crazy Climber is high on the list of the next one to do, but I don't think I'd want to use a 1-joystick control scheme like the 2600.

[ballyalley]

There are already at least two games that require special controller usage for the Astrocade:

 

1) Bally Pin (aka Astrocade Pinball) - Very common. The trigger buttons on hand control one and two each move the right or left flipper.

 

2) ICBM Attack - Very rare. Doesn't work with Astrocade hand controllers at all; requires a special analog controller that plus into port one and two. This is the only game that uses this controller.

 

How come you're not asking this question on the Bally Alley Astrocade message board? You can find it here:

 

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ballyalley/

 

You need to be approved before you start posting, but I can approve you today (or tonight).

 

And if you're making a game, or PLANNING on it, or even PLAYING with the idea, then drop us a line at the message board for sure!

 

Adam Trionfo

[riffraff]

Adam, you know me there and I re-posted the question to the newsgroup.

[Zonie]

then shut like a lockbox to keep them in place.

 

Hey everyone, it's Al Gore!

Edited November 3, 2007 by Zonie