Asteroids Asteroids 5200 controller: Has it been found?

[Prosystemsearch]

Have any other prototypes been found yet? I would love to see repros be made for Atariage. Atariage already did the Redemption, next should be the asteroids controller.

[Lynxpro]

What Asteroids controller?

 

Atari had a 5200 Kids Controller that was finished but not released. Atari staff converted several 5200 joysticks into paddles. Dan Kramer famously created the 5200 Trak-Ball controller as a side project, and before the 5200 was cancelled, he was working on a 5200 Steering Wheel using parts from the Pole Position arcade game, as well as a 5200 Yoke controller from the Star Wars arcade game.

 

This is the first time I've heard of an Asteroids-specific controller for the 5200.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Lynxpro

[MAC-42]

This is the first time I've heard of an Asteroids-specific controller for the 5200.

I've heard of it before, and just remembered where that was. Over on AtariProtos, reference is made to this controller concept. According to AP, Asteroids was going to be CX-5201 and was to be included with the 5200. Then someone realized that the 5200 joystick really wasn't well-suited to this particular game. (I've tried the proto ROM out on my 5200...and then never tried it again. And I like the 5200 joystick!) Of course, neither game nor controller ever shipped.

[Lynxpro]

I've heard of it before, and just remembered where that was. Over on AtariProtos, reference is made to this controller concept. According to AP, Asteroids was going to be CX-5201 and was to be included with the 5200. Then someone realized that the 5200 joystick really wasn't well-suited to this particular game. (I've tried the proto ROM out on my 5200...and then never tried it again. And I like the 5200 joystick!) Of course, neither game nor controller ever shipped.

Maybe someone should ask Curt over at the Atari Museum Facebook page if he's ever seen this controller. I'll ask Dan Kramer. Maybe Gary Rubio made it.

 

By the way, the 5200 Kids Controller looked really good. I think there's a pic of it on Cyberroach's site from the early 00s.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Lynxpro

[MAC-42]

Maybe someone should ask Curt over at the Atari Museum Facebook page if he's ever seen this controller. I'll ask Dan Kramer. Maybe Gary Rubio made it.

 

By the way, the 5200 Kids Controller looked really good. I think there's a pic of it on Cyberroach's site from the early 00s.

There is an image linked over at the AtariProtos page that I linked to. It's...plain. But it was just a prototype, so you can understand that. Just five buttons, like the arcade controls.

 

Oh, I do like that Kids Controller. (There are images of that over on AtariProtos, too.) Very slick. That 5200 and its associated bits and pieces sure did have style, eh?

[ledzep]

Huh. Would plugging a 2600 Starplex controller into a Masterplay or a Wico Command Control keypad do the same thing?

[+Allan]

Huh. Would plugging a 2600 Starplex controller into a Masterplay or a Wico Command Control keypad do the same thing?

No.

 

It uses the analog controller. The only way to make it work with a digital controller is to hack the colrols in the game.

 

Allan

 

[+DamonicFury]

Huh. Would plugging a 2600 Starplex controller into a Masterplay or a Wico Command Control keypad do the same thing?

It would for a Masterplay or a AtariAge Redemption. Wico didn't make any products to use 2600 controllers with the 5200. Their keypad has a port that fits 2600 joysticks, but it is meant for (and only functions with) their 5200 analog stick.

[Shawn]

Have any other prototypes been found yet? I would love to see repros be made for Atariage. Atariage already did the Redemption, next should be the asteroids controller.

 

First step is buying ANY atari machine, in this case a 5200, then you can start to worry about prototype reproduction controllers.

[Prosystemsearch]

 

First step is buying ANY atari machine, in this case a 5200, then you can start to worry about prototype reproduction controllers.

Well I am thinking of getting An XEGS this Yule. with at least 6 or 7 games.

[Shawn]

Well I am thinking of getting An XEGS this Yule. with at least 6 or 7 games.

 

Again, an XE will not make use of any 5200 controller so WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS NON-SENSE??

 

But if the XE is what your claiming to show interest in today I'm sure the computer guys would just love to have you

so drop in and say hi to them. Whatever 6 or 7 games you google to lie about buying will surely impress the hell

out of all of them.

[Coleco]

Couldn't asteroids be hacked to use the Trakball's two fire buttons as rotate left and right with the keypad serving as thrust, fire and hyperspace? Not ideal, but closer to workable. Alternatively, trakball could be limited to left, right rotation with thrust and fire on the orange buttons and hyperspace being any keypad (like Defender).

[Prosystemsearch]

 

Again, an XE will not make use of any 5200 controller so WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS NON-SENSE??

 

But if the XE is what your claiming to show interest in today I'm sure the computer guys would just love to have you

so drop in and say hi to them. Whatever 6 or 7 games you google to lie about buying will surely impress the hell

out of all of them.

why so rude? and NO I am not lying!

[Lynxpro]

 

Again, an XE will not make use of any 5200 controller so WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS NON-SENSE??

 

But if the XE is what your claiming to show interest in today I'm sure the computer guys would just love to have you

so drop in and say hi to them. Whatever 6 or 7 games you google to lie about buying will surely impress the hell

out of all of them.

 

I'm not going to go so far as label it nonsense. It would be of use to locate a prototype of this controller after all. We didn't have confirmation of the 7800 ProLine Joystick Coupler existing until a couple of months ago.

 

I'm surprised there isn't a pic on here or Atari Museum of it.

[bohoki]

ive never played asteroids on the 5200 does it have thrust,fire,hyperspace jump,shield

 

if so it may be cool to hack it to make those 4 be a column of the buttons and have you hold the controller sideways and make up down be rotate

[ledzep]

It would for a Masterplay or a AtariAge Redemption. Wico didn't make any products to use 2600 controllers with the 5200. Their keypad has a port that fits 2600 joysticks, but it is meant for (and only functions with) their 5200 analog stick.

 

Aha, thanks for the explanation. I suppose then that in order to connect a Starplex to a Wico keyboard controller that there would have to be an attachment to the Starplex such that it would convert the left/right/thrust/fire/shields buttons into the appropriate analog joystick direction values (I believe that's how digital joysticks were designed for the 5200, yes?). Or, better yet, someone could wire up his own version of the Asteroids prototype or Starplex controller to do that internally. I assume it would then also work for Space Invaders/Galaxian type games.

[Lynxpro]

This is the controller in question:

 

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/asteroids/asteroidscontroller.htm

 

This is what Dan Kramer had to say about this over at the Facebook Atari Museum Page:

 

"Here is my two cents' worth of background on this: even though 5200 ASTEROIDS may have been slated as the first game released, there was not a known production copy until I brought it to I believe World Of Atari in Las Vegas, 1998. It had a formal label on the cart; thus it was not a pro to with a Loaner Lab label. It was passed on to the folks who ran the show. A 5-button box, source unknown, was included. During the 5200 console bring-up in the Consumer Engineering Lab, I never saw it being demo'ed or played. That doesn't mean nobody was experimenting with it. Likewise, the topic of a button-style dedicated controller never materialized in my circle. Since it would have needed more slap-able buttons than the standard 5200 analog controller, I think it was left in the background. Even though the 5200 Trak-Ball was released soon after the console came out, the idea to issue an ASTEROIDS specialty controller (after the console release) was not a topic of conversation. I certainly never aspired to get it to play using the CX53 Trak-Ball. For more in-depth on this legend, check Matt Reichert's story:

"

[Lynxpro]

Here's some pics of the Atari 5200 Kids Controller...

 

Located at:

 

http://www.atari-computermuseum.de/pics/zubehoer/5200/5200_kids.jpg

 

 

And

 

 

Located here:

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/astrogrover/52kids1.jpg

 

And

 

 

http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/about/cge05/full/mus-52kc.jpg

 

 

Me thinks we need to have some of this hardware added to the 5200 hardware page on the site!

Edited August 12, 2014 by Lynxpro

[bohoki]

that kids controller sounds and looks a bit dubious as it would have been made by cbs and not use that atari 5200 bezel

 

was it painted black or molded of black plastic the aluminum looks haphazardly installed from something else the start pause reset look tacked on i could probably have done better

[Lynxpro]

that kids controller sounds and looks a bit dubious as it would have been made by cbs and not use that atari 5200 bezel

 

was it painted black or molded of black plastic the aluminum looks haphazardly installed from something else the start pause reset look tacked on i could probably have done better

 

 

It was done by Atari just like the 2600 Kids Controller.

[bohoki]

atari didn't make the kids controller it was made by cbs

[Lynxpro]

atari didn't make the kids controller it was made by cbs

No, it wasn't. CBS isn't the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) and they didn't make the controller either. Atari made it.

[bohoki]

i stand corrected its so odd that the kids controller doesnt have atari written on it cbs is the company that made the games for other systems

[Tempest]

i stand corrected its so odd that the kids controller doesnt have atari written on it cbs is the company that made the games for other systems

CBS just published the games on the 8-bit and C-64, they didn't program them AFAIK.

 

 

 

 

Again, an XE will not make use of any 5200 controller so WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS NON-SENSE??

 

But if the XE is what your claiming to show interest in today I'm sure the computer guys would just love to have you

so drop in and say hi to them. Whatever 6 or 7 games you google to lie about buying will surely impress the hell

out of all of them.

Just ignore him. He's... special.

[Shawn]

 

Just ignore him. He's... special.

 

 

Matt consider this my formal request to have every one of his posts removed due to lack of relevant content. The nature of all his posts make them all objectionable and the AtariAge experience less enjoyable.