Where do these old controllers belong to?

[Dennis90]

I got ahold of a bunch of Atari controllers and other old video game stuff, but i could not identify where these two came from. It does not say anything on them, not even a number or so. So I hope mabye someone here knows!

[+madman]

Maybe they go to a TRS-80? Looks like a similar DIN connector.

[jhd]

That was my first thought too, but there were very few third-party joysticks for the Coco, and those do not look at all familiar.

[carlsson]

How many pins, are those 5-pin DIN? The shape reminds me of Coleco Gemini and Colour Genie (or Atari 5200, Arcadia 2001, SG-1000 etc for that matter) joysticks, but it isn't neither. I like to think those belong to some obscure console, and the fact they're detachable was for easier storage purpose.

 

The Dragon 32 joysticks however conceptually look the same, although not an exact match.

Edited April 14, 2015 by carlsson

[Bill Loguidice]

DINs like that on joysticks were somewhat common. For instance, beyond the systems already mentioned, the VideoBrain also used that type of connector (and other systems used smaller DIN connectors). I have no clue what those joysticks could be for, though, because, as was stated earlier, they don't seem to match anything commonly known. They're almost certainly third party for whatever of the systems that used that type of connector. That doesn't help much, though.

 

Are there any marking on the underside of the controllers? Any additional clues would be useful.

[Dennis90]

Thanks for the info so far!

I looked and it's 7-pin DIN on these, so guess they do not work for those computers and stuff that was mentioned? if those had 5-pin then? And there are no markings on them anywhere, it does not say anytihng on them unfortunatley. So seems pretty hard to know where they come from!

[Dennis90]

I have found out what these belong to now after googling for a while, It's for this kinda console: http://pongmuseum.com/collection/mbo-teleball-cassette-1.php#p wish I had the console now then.

[jhd]

I don't think that I have ever seen a Pong system with a full joystick before (much less detachable).

 

Did you find this box o' stuff in North America or in Europe?

[Dennis90]

Aha, seems a bit rare then mabye? And it's from Europe, i bought it from Germany, so that makes sense then cus the console is from germany it says.

[Video]

Probably a computer stick, the round connector is common on old computers. Most consoles have the more square style connector (think d9 on 2600)

 

I seem to remember Turbografix had a round connector, but being more modern, it would need more than one fire button.

 

Never saw an apple connector, won't comment on there.

[7800fan]

Apple has 15 pin connectors so not that either.

 

What about C16 or Plus 4? I seems to recall they used different connector on those 2 lesser known Commodore compared to C64 and 128.

[The Usotsuki]

Apple joystick port is DE9 female. (ETA: This is admittedly not true on the ][ and ][+, but their port is right on the mobo and not on the outside.)

Edited April 16, 2015 by The Usotsuki

[carlsson]

... and Plus/4 uses 8-pin mini-DIN IIRC.

 

Dennis90 already found a match, the MBO Teleball Cassette I (important to differ from other MBO Teleball systems) which apparently also was sold under a few more names and belongs to the PC-50X family like SD050 etc, i.e. those with custom GI chips inside the cartridges to change game, instead of a ROM and CPU based solution as arrived later on. I don't know about the other PC-50X systems, if they used similar detachable 7-pin controllers but it makes sense.

 

The controllers are analog by the way, if it wasn't certain. Perhaps the inputs can be converted and used for any other system with analog controllers and a single fire button.

 

It is said this MBO system not only had a driving wheel, but also a cycling controller as add-on. Now I gotta look up on the Internet what a such controller looks like, sounds like an exercise bike connected to your console. Bah, it just looks like a bicycle handle for you to steer with, instead of a wheel.

Edited April 16, 2015 by carlsson

[BassGuitari]

I don't think that I have ever seen a Pong system with a full joystick before (much less detachable).

Forgetting the Odyssey 4000?

 

[Video]

Oh yeah, I have a C=16 and a +4 somewhere, I never messed with them because they had oddball connections for ALL their components. I won't swear where they are or I'd go dig one out and see.