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Roller Controller only seems to work in Joystick Mode


Lendorien

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I have a roller controller I bought a year or two ago and I recently decided to revisit it. After looking up compatible games, I found that Centipede is the only game I own that works with the roller setting. It doesn't do anything when it's on. On joystick mode, it's pretty slow, requiring a lot of spinning to move the "player" very far. How responsive is the trackball supposed to be? And has anyone ever dealt with issues like this? Any suggestions?

 

I suspect I have a turkey. Shame, cause it's in great cosmetic shape and I love trackballs in general.

Edited by Lendorien
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Centipede, Omega Race, Slither, & Victory appear to have been designed to work primarily with the Roller Controller; although Centipede & Omega Race are still playable without the Roller Controller and Slither & Victory are only Roller Controller compatible.

 

I wish more games took advantage of the Roller Controller because when it works it works really well and can expand gameplay significantly especially if used along with a Standard Controller. I have an extra ColecoVision Power Adapter just for my Roller Controller.

 

Other games not designed for the Roller Controller are still compatible in varying degrees. It's a lot of trial an error but some games like Star Trek are great with the Roller Controller in that you can use the Roller Controller to steer and the Standard Controller to thrust and warp.

 

I may have to play it again but I would think WarGames would work pretty well with the Roller Controller and Standard Controller as well in that you can use the Roller Controller for your satellite/cursor and the Regular Controller for any key pad functions. Top 10 game in my opinion.

Edited by rodge2001
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Centipede, Omega Race, Slither, & Victory appear to have been designed to work primarily with the Roller Controller; although Centipede & Omega Race are still playable without the Roller Controller and Slither & Victory are only Roller Controller compatible.

 

I wish more games took advantage of the Roller Controller because when it works it works really well and can expand gameplay significantly especially if used along with a Standard Controller. I have an extra ColecoVision Power Adapter just for my Roller Controller.

 

Other games not designed for the Roller Controller are still compatible in varying degrees. It's a lot of trial an error but some games like Star Trek are great with the Roller Controller in that you can use the Roller Controller to steer and the Standard Controller to thrust and warp.

 

I may have to play it again but I would think WarGames would work pretty well with the Roller Controller and Standard Controller as well in that you can use the Roller Controller for your satellite/cursor and the Regular Controller for any key pad functions. Top 10 game in my opinion.

 

I show off the Coleco Roller Controller with a good variety of games in my trackball episode of Wired-Up Retro. War Room and Wargames are shown around the 12:45 point in the video: https://youtu.be/vmE-E0wza0w

 

Enjoy!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Centipede would have to be in joystick mode to work. If still not very responsive then something is wrong because the roller controller is very smooth and responsive. Hopefully just cleaning it would fix it.

 

 

If Centipede doesn't have a "native Roller Controller mode", then someone could hack it to do so. That's certainly happening a lot now on the 2600 side of things, and to a lesser extent, on the 5200 and 7800 as well.

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If Centipede doesn't have a "native Roller Controller mode", then someone could hack it to do so. That's certainly happening a lot now on the 2600 side of things, and to a lesser extent, on the 5200 and 7800 as well.

Centipede for the ColecoVision does not have to be hacked. There is a selector switch on the CV Roller Controller that allows one to play the game with the Roller Controller's TrakBall and it works tremendously.

 

The only game's that needed to be hacked are those that only worked with one of the special controllers (Super Action, Driving Module and Roller Controller) and they (Front Line, Turbo, Slither, Victory) have all been hacked to work with the standard CV Hand Controller. The only games that have not been hacked in this way are the sports games (Baseball, Football, etc.) because they require the extra fire buttons of the Super Action Controller.

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I don't have the hardware but the Atarisoft Centipede I tested does not work with CoolCV roller controller emulation.

I'm not familiar enough with CoolCV, but it may only emulate true Roller Controller mode (ie: the switch on the Roller Controller set to ROLLER)... which means only Slither, Victory and Omega Race will work properly. For the rest of the CV library that used the standard Hand Controller, the emulation of the Roller Controller in CoolCV would have to add JOYSTICK emulation (ie: the switch on the Roller Controller set to JOYSTICK).

 

If you are confused by this, here is the Roller Controller manual to help explain fully.

Roller Controller - Manual & Supplement for ADAM Computer.pdf

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All coleco vision emulators emulate the coleco vision joystick. So if you have a coleco roller controller and a usb coleco joystick adapter you can play any joystick game with any emulator with the roller controller in joystick mode. If you want to use a windows mouse/trackball you can get a mouse to virtual joystick utility. If you want to control coleco vision centipede like the arcade it needs to be hacked.

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  • 2 years later...
4 hours ago, mykgerard said:

I have a wierd issue with my roller controller.  It works perfectly fine on Slither, but the buttons become almost completely unresponsive for Centipede.  To me this makes hardly any sense at all.  It's baffled me for years.

Did you change to joystick mode? I don't think Centipede supports "roller" mode

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5 hours ago, mykgerard said:

I have a wierd issue with my roller controller.  It works perfectly fine on Slither, but the buttons become almost completely unresponsive for Centipede.  To me this makes hardly any sense at all.  It's baffled me for years.

Read the manual that I posted in a previous message paying close attention to details on the “Roller - Joystick” switch.

 

For Slither and Victory, the switch has to be set to ROLLER.

 

For Omega Race, the switch has to be set to whatever selection you make in the in-game menu for the controller setup.

 

For Centipede and all other games designed for a standard controller, the switch has to be set to JOYSTICK.

 

Driving games like Turbo, Destructor and Dukes of Hazzard that were made for the EM#2 Driving Module will work with the Roller Controller to varying degrees with the switch set to ROLLER.

 

Always refer back to Coleco’s instruction manuals re..... “The Fun of Discovery”!

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