Atari Trackball will not work on Sega Genesis

[Ataritard]

I recently picked up Arcade Classics for the Sega Genesis. It has Centipede, Missile Command, and Pong. I don't have the Sega trackball but I figured the Atari trackball would work for sure. Well, it doesn't. Does any one know why, or better yet, a mod to make it work?

[SoundGammon]

Did you check the switch on the bottom side of the trackball and see if it's in "joystick" position? Also, I know the trackball gets it's power from the 2600 and other Atari units like the 8-bits and 7800, not sure about the Genesis...

Edited April 9, 2012 by SoundGammon

[Ataritard]

Did you check the switch on the bottom side of the trackball and see if it's in "joystick" position? Also, I know the trackball gets it's power from the 2600 and other Atari units like the 8-bits and 7800, not sure about the Genesis...

 

Yes, I tried it in trackball and joystick mode. No luck in either.

[SoundGammon]

Here's why...seems the power 5V is on different pins...

 

 

Genesis:

 

 

Pin Name (Select=GND) Name (Select=+5V)

1 Up Up

2 Down Down

3 Gnd / Left

4 Gnd / Right

5 +5VDC +5VDC

6 Button A Button B

7 Select Select

8 Ground Ground

9 Start Button C

 

Atari:

 

1 Forward

2 Back

3 Left

4 Right

5 - Paddle

6 Button 1

7 +5V *

8 GND

9 - Paddle

[Ataritard]

Here's why...seems the power 5V is on different pins...

 

 

Genesis:

 

 

Pin Name (Select=GND) Name (Select=+5V)

1 Up Up

2 Down Down

3 Gnd / Left

4 Gnd / Right

5 +5VDC +5VDC

6 Button A Button B

7 Select Select

8 Ground Ground

9 Start Button C

 

Atari:

 

1 Forward

2 Back

3 Left

4 Right

5 - Paddle

6 Button 1

7 +5V *

8 GND

9 - Paddle

 

You are right, SoundGammon. It is an issue of voltage. I hooked up my Wico trackball that uses external power and it worked. I use a regular Sega controller plugged into port #2 to get the game going, so I'm happy with the way it worked out.

 

As for the game itself, it has a decent version of Centipede, and Pong is Pong... but Missile Command is terrible! Has any one played this game? It plays like it's stuck in slow motion. I can literally spin the trackball 20 times to get from one side of the screen to the other. Even with the regular controller, it is still very slow.

 

Thanks for your help SoundGammon.

[sqoon]

Using those pinouts, it looks like an adapter could be cobbled together rather easily. I wonder why someone hasn't done it before now.

[the.golden.ax]

Probably because it only would work with the one game. Are there any others that would work with a trackball on the Genesis?

[sqoon]

Marble Madness

[Bruce Tomlin]

Ehhh, I've played MM with a "Sega Sports Pad" SMS trackball before. The only way it was even partly playable was to use the "fast" button when you needed to go fast. (MM does not support a trackball, this is with a joystick emulation mode.)

[Lynxpro]

Ehhh, I've played MM with a "Sega Sports Pad" SMS trackball before. The only way it was even partly playable was to use the "fast" button when you needed to go fast. (MM does not support a trackball, this is with a joystick emulation mode.)

 

 

Bump. That's strange because plenty of other websites states both versions of Marble Madness - the EA version and the Tengen version for the Japanese market - natively support the Sega Sports Pad trackball from the Sega Master System although the EA version supposedly supports it better.

 

So since 2012, has anyone tried the Sega Sports Pad with the Genesis Arcade Classics Missile Command and Centipede versions?

 

As for the Wico trackball, it's a controller that emulates trackball action but isn't really a trackball. Dan Kramer, the Atari engineer who created the CX-22 and CX-53 Trak-Balls, did an engineering review of the Wico and found that to be the case not to mention a power drain on the 2600 that they [Atari Inc] were concerned about it damaging consoles.