Sega Genesis controller on Atari 2600 and 800 - is it safe?

[ElementalChaos]

I much prefer playing on a gamepad than a joystick if given the choice. Maybe it's not "authentic", but I grew up accustomed to gamepads and none of the joysticks I own are particularly good or responsive (maybe if I had a ZipStick or TAC-2, but they are mad expensive these days.)

 

As a Commodore user I'm well aware of the dangers of using a Genesis controller on a C64. But there seems to be no consensus on whether it is safe to use one on an Atari system.

[+SpiceWare]

While I don't know about the 800, I do know about the Atari 2600 - it works just fine, use button B as the fire button.

Not only that, but we've learned how to read a second fire button on it - a number of homebrews support that and a bunch of original games have been hacked to support it. You can learn more about those in this topic.

 

You can load those games onto a Harmony Cart to play on a real Atari 2600. Do note that the the Genesis gamepad does confuse the menu system on the Harmony - the way the second firebutton works makes it believe you plugged in a paddle controller. You can work around that by holding down button B while turning on your Atari.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I play the Genesis and Master System controllers all the time on all my 2600 gaming consoles and never any issues whatsoever. I don't have an 8 bit computer so I don't know much about that. My guess is it shouldn't have any problems either.