Atari Jaguar controller

[skaredmask]

Hay, I recived my extra controller today in the mail and plug it in and started ultra vortek. After playing one round I found that the controller felt more stiff than the other one but I though it just needed breaking in. Awhile After me and my bro played a couple of rounds I looked down and the pause and option buttons were black instead of grey,I look at the dial buttons and there were black I was confused it looks like the standard 3 button controller that came with the Jagaur model:G148066458. Than look at the model number on the back of my new one and the number were totally different:B43c0078659 Is there any reason for this different color

Edited October 6, 2010 by skaredmask

[Stone]

There were two runs. The ones with the black rubber keys are slightly earlier - and the ones with grey keys are slightly later (Procontrollers have grey keys too).

 

No real difference but obviously you can make your own mind up which you prefer

 

Stone

[Tyrant]

There were two runs. The ones with the black rubber keys are slightly earlier - and the ones with grey keys are slightly later (Procontrollers have grey keys too).

Really? I always figured the grey ones were earlier. If you open them up and look at the internal differences, the black ones seem to me a better (and cheaper) design. The only significant difference is in the d-pad construction, but even then it's not really that significant from a playing point of view, just a different style of construction.

[danny_galaga]

There were two runs. The ones with the black rubber keys are slightly earlier - and the ones with grey keys are slightly later (Procontrollers have grey keys too).

Really? I always figured the grey ones were earlier. If you open them up and look at the internal differences, the black ones seem to me a better (and cheaper) design. The only significant difference is in the d-pad construction, but even then it's not really that significant from a playing point of view, just a different style of construction.

 

That's what I imagined too. Black seem like they are a later, easier to manufacture version...

[mellis]

There were two runs. The ones with the black rubber keys are slightly earlier - and the ones with grey keys are slightly later (Procontrollers have grey keys too).

Really? I always figured the grey ones were earlier. If you open them up and look at the internal differences, the black ones seem to me a better (and cheaper) design. The only significant difference is in the d-pad construction, but even then it's not really that significant from a playing point of view, just a different style of construction.

 

 

Tyrant is correct.

 

The gray ones were the initial run - that's what came with my early-release Jaguar that I bought in 1993. Later on, I acquired a second controller, and it came with the black buttons.

[Stone]

Oops, you're completely right. They have different serial number runs too.

 

I wrote an FAQ post about this very subject once so it's a bit upsetting all my trivia's gone west!

 

Stone

[goatdan]

The gray ones were the initial run - that's what came with my early-release Jaguar that I bought in 1993. Later on, I acquired a second controller, and it came with the black buttons.

 

I can't guarantee that this is always true, but from what I have seen:

 

Original run controllers and boxed controllers tend to be the grey buttoned controllers. Near the end of the life of the Jaguar, Atari bought a TON of controllers in bulk that I'm guessing they were planning on coupling with the system or boxing and selling, but it seems most of those didn't get out -- that's the black buttoned ones. I've never received a black button controller boxed, and I've had over 100 black button controllers come to me in bulk packaging in the past.

 

It's a pretty common thing for console manufacturers to do this with parts like this -- I at one point got a ton of Sega Genesis 6-Button Turbo controllers new in baggies in much the same format from when Majesco was re-releasing the consoles. They made them to be able to package them with whatever made the most sense in the future, but by running so many extras they could get their cost down really, really low. Based on the evidence that I have seen, the Jaguar controllers were the same deal.

[Isgoed]

All of the boxed controllers that I have(seen) are with the black buttons

 

The grey button controllers that I have were the ones that came with the console.

[+save2600]

I'm surprised no one has commented on the fact the pack-in grey button controller has a thinner cable than the later styled black buttoned one too.

[skaredmask]

After looking a bit close on the grey one I've noticed that it has Made in china ingaved on it also it has ingraved numbers :9441

The black one has no visable marks besides the model number but I did open it last night and had REV:A on the dial number's PCB also has a Stiffer coard not as bendable.

Edited October 8, 2010 by skaredmask

[danny_galaga]

Here is what I know from having pulled apart a few.

 

Grey= thicker cable. serial number starting with G

Black= thinner cable. serial starting with B

 

They are quite different internally. The grey has the D pad switches molded into one piece of grey rubber. It is held with little nipples to the PCB. All the other rubber switches are held in the same way. The black has separate little clear rubber switches for the D pad with a plastic surround that holds everything on the top PCB in place.

The back of the black controller has a slightly crisper, bolder ATARI molded into it. I'm pretty sure the molding on the inside of the controller is shaped a little differently too to accommodate the differences in the way the D pad works. But I'd have to pull it apart again to be 100% sure.

 

Having said that, I have a 'black button' controller that has grey buttons! That is it fits the description above in most regards except that they used the grey rubber membranes and a thicker cable. this makes me think towards the end the mixed and matched parts at the factory...

 

So what makes it 'grey' or 'black' (and therefore, 'earlier' and 'later') isn't necessarily the colour of the buttons, but rather it is whether the serial is 'G' or 'B'...