Metal Monitors

Did you ever figure out how to fully recenter the joystick? I've been having huge problems with mine, and it's driven me absolutely bonkers.

Count me in as someone who's willing to pay for the Cart, Box, and Manual version. Many thanks for doing this, Al!

I'm pretty much a beginner, but I got Bermuda Triangle for a dollar in the wild. Really nice guy who owned a vintage toy store and had a bunch of Atari games he had kept from when he originally owned the system in the late 70s. Apparently someone had robbed his house back then and stolen the system, but left the games! (Which I'm sure altogether would have been worth more.) There were a couple rarity level threes in the lot I bought from him as well.

Well, I've tried re-aligning the joystick again and again. Eventually I figured out that the white piece of plastic on the top portion of the controller was turned to the wrong direction, and that fixed the problem....for about 10 minutes. I got through about 3 games of Pac-Man before they joystick misaligned again. Ever since then, I haven't been able to get the darned thing in correctly. Yes, I'm turning the pot arms to 9 and 6, and yes, I've looked thoroughly at all the FAQs....this controller just seems to downright hate me. In any case, I've given up, and I'll just use it as a glorified start button for when I find a decent third party controller....Still, I really appreciate your guys' help, and I looked through all of your advice! Also, Shadow- Ah well, it's no big deal now. I live far on the SE side of town, so the Midwest City Vintage Stock is actually a place I look at now and again. I never noticed the 5200 carts, but I'll be on the lookout for them next time I'm there. I got Pac-Man and Pole Position for $2.00 each at the one on May. But yeah, I'm working on slowly building up a 2600 collection as well, so I'll check their selection out. Game X-Change sells 2600 carts for $1, but all they have now is used DVDs. And if you ever offer any other hardcore modding services, let me know! Thanks man!

I think SimCity would work with the keypad controller, as well as the analog stick. I also wouldn't mind a tilting game, something like Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball.

Yo guys! Just wanted to give an update on this situation. I ended up buying a switchbox from Mitch and a power supply from eBay, and both of them worked great! After some searching, I got a controller for $25 from a local second hand appliance store (go figure). The controller was broken (obviously), so I opened it up. Somehow, the circuit board had gotten wrinkled under one of the side fire buttons, so luckily the previous owner gave up on the the controller fairly quickly, because this rendered all of the top buttons (along with one of the fire buttons) totally useless. So after I realigned the circuit board, all of the buttons worked perfectly! But, the problem is, when I put the Joystick back on, I can't get the lower nub on the bottom portion of the controller to align with the nub on the top portion of the controller. This results in me not being able to move the joystick down, and when I force it down, it ruins the calibration of the lower nub and makes the joystick unuseable. Does anyone have any tips for getting them to align? I've opened and closed the controller about 10 times, trying to center the joystick as much as possible, but I just can't get it to align. Also, the circuit board on my controller is white, and not green. Does this mean it's rare? And thanks for the extra information, Sdamon. I was about to go for just a third party controller, but held off once I knew you needed a real 5200 controller. And thanks Shadow, once I have it up and running I'll definitely be on the lookout for those games!

Sweet! Sounds good. I'm ordering a switchbox from Mitch and plan on testing if the console is actually working or not before jumping for the controllers, but I think I'll go for a Masterplay before I try to get the stock 5200 controller.

I bet someone at the manufacturing facility was having a bad day, and wanted to confuse a future collector should they stumble upon this system, making them think it was worth something. LOL But yeah, my 5200 says 5200 on it as well. Really odd that your 5200 has the wrong sticker.

Mitch- PM sent. Doctorclu, Sqoon- Yeah, it looks like a multi-cart and a controller adapter would be a good option. Better than gambling and losing on bad controllers, anyway. But my question is, the controller had a pretty hardcore keypad on it. Wouldn't plugging in a genesis/master system/2600/pc controller limit the functionality of some games? Or are there so few that actually use the keypad that it doesn't matter anyway? Official Ninja- Hmm, 9v would be a lot easier to find than 11.5v. At least, I know I have a 9v power cord, but I don't recall ever seeing a 11.5v one. Thanks for the responses guys! I'm sure these questions have been asked a thousand times.... The Atari community is definitely really cool.

Much appreciated! Yeah, I forgot to mention my 5200 was a four port model. Seems like a pretty difficult thing to set up. Eh, I suppose I might end up just playing a wait and see game on eBay looking for a decently priced working controller and a switch box. I don't think the power supply should be too hard, unless Atari made one specifically for the 5200, I should be able to find one with the right voltage. The article was very helpful though, thanks! It seems like a risky venture, but the console I bought seems pretty well taken care of, so I'm willing to make the leap. I just can't stand having this awesome space looking thing and not getting it to work.

Yo! My friend recently spotted what he described as an "As-Is" Atari 5200 at an antiques store for 10 bucks. Given that I'd never seen an Atari 5200 in person before, it seemed like a decent buy. I've had a 2600 for years, and I love pulling it out one in a while (Warlords and Dodge 'Em are pretty awesome). So I figured a 5200 would be cool to collect for too. And while the 5200 was a nice find, it was literally just that: a 5200. The thing is in near mint condition, but there's literally no games, no controllers, no hookups, nothing. It's got the cord running out of the bottom of the console, but that's about it. I looked through the Atari Age files on making one of those boxes that runs out to the TV and power outlet, but by the time I bought all the parts plus a soldering iron, it would come out to about the same price as a switchbox on eBay (eBay Auction -- Item Number: 200806904834). I'm pretty sure I could find a power cord and have a way to plug it in to the TV, but then there's the issue of the controllers, which seem notoriously hard to find, whether they be broken or working. My question to you guys is, if I wanted to go forward and have a working 5200, would it be worth it financially to hunt down all of the individual parts to make the system work, or should I just shoot for buying a new console altogether, bundled with the stuff I need to make it play? I guess I could pretend the other one is a high-tech computer console or something, LOL. Any help is much appreciated!