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Questions About Controllers


Dr. Getter

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I've been doing some research on Atari 2600 controllers recently, because of a project I'm starting in 2 months or so. And I have a few questions for you guys, that no doubt know a lot more than I do on the subject matter.

 

1) Let's start easy: the CX-50 Keyboard Controllers, the Star Raiders video touch pad and the Kid's Controller are practically the same thing, there's only external differences right?

 

2) The trackballs. I've seen 2 different ones, the CX-22 and the Pro-Line. And correct me if I'm wrong but, not counting hacks, there are no original 2600 games that support the trackballs in "trackball mode", right? They only work when the trackballs behave like joysticks, is that right?

 

3) This one's about Wico joysticks, the Command Control ones. They are high-quality controllers, I've heard, with metal base and stick, and internally they use leaf switches. I've seen how leaf switches work, and they seem very easy to repair, if they ever malfunction. So I'm asking Wico owners here: how good are these Joysticks? I think they look cool, and maybe I'll buy one (or two) in the future, but give me some feedback first.

 

4) I own a pair of Atari Flashback 3 Joysticks. They should work just like regular CX-40 Joysticks, right?

 

5) I've seen sites selling new reproductions of Atari joysticks. Is anyone making repro paddles out there?

 

6) This one is less important, but I'm curious: can you use joysticks to play Indy 500? Or does it only work with racing controllers?

 

 

Well, that's all for now. Also, tell me if there's some other controller that I should check out, I like controllers :P

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Here goes; hope it helps:

 

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) Great build quality. My main, minor complaint is the greater distance you have to move the stick as opposed to a shorter one.

4) Yes, if you plug them in. The wireless ones will not work on an original system

5) At-games, the same company that makes the Flashback systems, makes new paddles. Check out their website for availability.

6) No, you need the racing controllers.

 

If you haven't tried a Genesis controller on an Atari, you should check them out.

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Thanks for the answer. My Flashback joysticks have wires, so no problem.

 

I've checked the AtGames website, they do make repro paddles but they only sell within the US, and I live in Europe, so..

 

That's from their main website though. They sell their items on Amazon as well, I've been reading some reviews of the paddles and they're mixed. From what I've read though, it seems that the majority of the complaints are about shipping and mailing delays (this was back in 2012/2013 though, maybe they solved this problem) and the fact that the paddles are laggy and unresponsive when used to play games on a Flashback 4. However, some reviewers said that this was the Flashback's fault, not the paddles': when tried on original hardware, the repro paddles delivered, and worked perfectly. In fact, one of the people who said so was Darrell Spice Jr., he's made a pair of homebrew games for the system and I trust him.

 

So yeah, I'll try to get a pair of them.

 

 

EDIT: Oh wait, he said they worked perfectly with original Atari 2600 consoles. But I need to use them on my pc! Well, Stella is very good right, as far as emulators go, right? If something works well on the original hardware, it should work well in Stella too. Guess I'll find out. I just hope that those problems were only caused by the faulty emulation on the Flashback consoles.

Edited by Dr. Getter
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I ended up sending a message directly to Mr. Spice, he said his AtGames paddles worked well with Stella, indistinguishable from regular paddles. Very happy to hear it :)

 

Also, I've recently found out about Best Electronics, and their gold PCB joystick upgrades. I've only tried Flashback joysticks so far, how do they compare to regular CX-40 controllers?

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3) This one's about Wico joysticks, the Command Control ones. They are high-quality controllers, I've heard, with metal base and stick, and internally they use leaf switches. I've seen how leaf switches work, and they seem very easy to repair, if they ever malfunction. So I'm asking Wico owners here: how good are these Joysticks? I think they look cool, and maybe I'll buy one (or two) in the future, but give me some feedback first.

 

 

The Wico sticks are great, in fact I still have mine from when I used them on my ST over 20 years ago and now use them on my Flashback. They feel stiff compared to microswitch based controlers (like the Flashback's) but they're still work as advertised...

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