gliptitude
-
Posts
427 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Store
Posts posted by gliptitude
-
-
Yes it is quite the saga of the joystick kit who now finally will spread her wings.
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, SiLic0ne t0aD said:
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but is there any plans for a 4th run? I know the timing is horrible right now, considering all the worldwide madness going on at the moment, though I remain hopeful. I'd buy 2 kits at least, maybe 3.
I still have mine I never built and would pass along at this point.
I haven't followed closely but I think it is the second version.
-
1
-
-
I tried two different high quality 2600 joysticks on the flashback 9 hdmi and they did not work, appear to be different pinouts.
-
I was just playing a Flashback 9 that I bought for a friend's family.
You can navigate the menus with either joystick plugged into either port, (I know because the 5 year old I was playing with was perpetually fighting me to choose games). In the menu screen the joystick and fire button is enough to select and start a game and within each game you have normal atari 2600 functions with the joystick/fire button/mode,reset and difficulty switches. In the absence of the extra buttons you have to turn the console of and on to change games.
I didn't use the rewind or freeze state functions except once by accident but I don't see how you could use them without the special joystick buttons.
My bigger concern, and the reason I'm posting here is that in my experience with the Flashback 9, original 2600 controllers DO NOT WORK.
I tested two high quality joysticks and a pair of paddles. Both provided some input, but not correctly or reliably. They appeared to me to be wired incorrectly and not compatible.
When I read reviews of the flashback 9 I saw something about paddle controllers being planned but never released. So I think the paddle games are basically unplayable. The two paddle games that I tried seemed like they may have been patched for the included joysticks because left/right and fire seemed to correspond with paddle spinning and button, which is not the case on real 2600 pinouts. But they were still not really playable that way, with much too abrupt responses to the joystick. My real paddles gave nonsensical input.
-
Working Vectrex controller is marked for sale.
Since no one has expressed any interest I am considering 3D printing an enclosure for the Vectrex joystick kit and assembling it, which will change the price.
.. Also will consider trades involving similar type stuff, db9 joysticks, homebrew joysticks, broken joysticks, 15 pin serial PC joysticks, paddles, spinners, buttons, enclosures, salvaged non-gaming input components...
-
I have an assortment of Vectrex controllers I'd like to sell together. This is an organized variety that might be of interest to someone trying to experiment with new Vectrex controller designs and rebuilds.
Lot includes:
- Rolo's Vectrex controller kit, ver.2, (never assembled and believed complete, as pictured) (check AA thread linked below for more information)
- Fury Starblast button controller, average condition
- original Vectrex controller #1 (bent stick, otherwise nice condition)
- original Vectrex controller #2 (poor condition, disassembled, missing two screws, believed complete otherwise, (two removed buttons are included))
- Sega Genesis controller, (board components desoldered for Vectrex mod, cable missing, otherwise believed complete)(some spare buttons and partial enclosure from another Genesis controller included)
- New Sega Genesis (db9) extension cable
- Three different additional arcade buttons, NEW
*******
In summary this is a combination For Parts or Repair/Assembly Required/Homebrew lot.
Starblast and original Vectrex controller #1 both work. The rest do not currently, either for being broken, disassembled or (Rolo kit) not yet assembled and requiring additional enclosure to assemble, (see thread linked below for enclosure ideas including existing 3D print files).
The extra arcade buttons might help you figure out what you like for building your own controllers. I'm a fan of the small size plunger buttons which I have used before and include one here. One of the big ones is a Sanwa which I seem to remember having a good reputation but to me not as good as the generic one that I include here. All three of those were purchased from Paradise Arcade online shop. The big ones are bigger than the kit buttons or the Starblast big button and the small one is a little smaller than the original Vectrex buttons.
I'm asking $160 shipped to Continental U.S. locations. Perhaps negotiable.
.. I haven't figured out this new posting format so I may be editing this post to be more organized with pictures and links etc.
Please check attached photos for more detail. The picture at the beginning of this post is of the whole lot.
The working Vectrex controller is pretty nice and untampered with, except for the bent stick. The disassembled Vectrex controller is all around poor condition, including the stick component which is not springy.
Here is the original thread about the Vectrex controller kit, page 6 for me was the most relevant:
-
RE: the original post, I suggest flipping the TV type switch to B&W on your console or emulator.
The hack I want for this game is for the Left Controller to correspond to player one so I don't have to unplug my AtariVox+ from the Right Controller port and plug another joystick in. Apparently this convention was not set when Starship came out.
-
Edit and update and bump to include Star Ship.
-
I have two Vectrex consoles and two Vectrex games for sale.
I have the Vectrex games Debris Revisited and Starship for sale.
Debris Revisited is a homebrew game, noteworthy for its use of bitmap graphics and for its VecVox(or AtariVox+) compatibility.
Starship is the European version of Star Trek. It is the same game without the Star Trek branding and it is compatible with all regions of Vectrex consoles. I have the cartridge and overlay but no manual or box. Cart and overlay are both in great condition.
One Vectrex is non-working and does not include the joystick or any controller. This Vectrex does show some signs of life. Tube glows and a dim dot appears on screen and moves around when xy rings are adjusted. Speaker crackles.
The other Vectrex seems ok. The image is a little compressed. Sometimes volume knob needs to be adjusted to get sound.
Please make an offer on any items if you are interested.
I'm not sure about shipping the Vectrexes. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio.
-
Vectrex and Atari Telemach controllers are both sold.
.. For the first time I had an offer automatically accepted on an eBay listing. It never occurred to me until now, why would you ever automatically accept an offer? Auto decline makes sense, to send a message and keep a boundary with aggressive low ballers. But auto accept is selling yourself short. .. In this case I think the guy perfectly guessed and offered my absolute minimum auto accept price.
-
6 hours ago, vintagegamecrazy said:
Any interest in trades for Bio Force Ape? If not then I can see if I have some cash by the end of the week.
Probably not. I really need money.
Only possibility would be rare joysticks for Atari, Sega, Vectrex or PC (analog with 15 pin serial connector)
-
Bump
Vectrex overlays are sold.
All items are crosslisted on eBay at higher prices.
-
Various good stuff I'll be sad to part with, all items are loose and without retail packaging, suggested prices not including shipping,
Nintendo
Bioforce Ape prototype reproduction cartridge $40
Atari
Telemach 200 joystick - import with IL arcade components, switch for Amiga compatibility $85Vectrex
Control panel $80Minestorm overlay $30Star Castle overlay $35Original Lightpen with all three lightpen cartridges $160
Debuzz kit and Cap kit $40
.. I also have not pictured a never assembled Rolo's Vectrex controller
.. I have the lightpen game manuals but I haven't decided to include them yet
Spikes Circus and Vectrex Logo PCB reissues maybe for sale. Debris Revisited maybe for sale.
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, shantke said:
Did the joystick sell?
Oh I traded it a long time ago, sorry.
-
If I may ask, how old are you that you have this tremendous insight?
Well I'm not so young that it's totally foreign to me. But I didn't have a positive view of 2600 or Atari in general until maybe four years ago. I'm 40. .. The key was finding reliable hardware and narrowing the list of games.
As far as insight, I like to think of video games as poetry, high design or artistic engineering, and the rawness of the early consoles as well as the advent of homebrew, leads more in that direction.
I studied art and filmmaking and had a better response to scholarly criticism and theory than most film/art students and I tend to apply those sort of principles to everything.
-
1
-
-
I debated where to post this and decided here, although my goal is to seperate these joysticks from their Odysseys and use them on other consoles.
I've had a non-working Odyssey 2 for a long time and never used it and never seen a live one otherwise.
A while back I salvaged the joysticks. I hollowed one out and retrofitted a mini-arcade stick and button and a db9 cable for Atari. It works great and is super stylish, although the bottom of the stick pokes out of the enclosure.
Having taken those apart and seen the components I figured the original function was probably pretty clumsey and unfulfilling, although the heavy spring and mounted metal stick were pretty impressive. .. Well more recently I acquired an identical joystick that was apparently originally manufactured for Atari compatible, so I've had a try and was a mildly surprised. It is the same inside and out but with a different cable and pinout. It is reasonably responsive and functional, way above average for an Atari stick, although I am surprised how awkward the button placement is and how irritating rolling the stick around the jagged 8-point hole is, which is pretty unavoidable in some games. .. Still a great joystick option to have around.
.. Next is a real curiosity, an analog Pong stick with both x and y axis, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.
It's the same shape and size but a very different feel and function, even beyond what I anticipated. I knew that it did not spring center but I thought that meant it would be loose, like some old PC analog sticks. Well it is actually very stiff and stays wherever you leave it, something I'm not sure I've ever encountered before. There are two plastic plates that slide back and forth against eachother. They are just held on track by the the shape of the metal housing below and the pressure of the enclosure above. Small tabs underneath fit with plastic arms on the potentiometers which are able to slide side to side as well, in order to adjust to eachother. These joysticks orient sideways compared to the Odyssey 2 and they have a different and I think better button component.
The Odyssey 4000 console I just got only partially works and probably won't satisfy my desire to play with these joysticks. I'd really like to adapt them to VECTREX, (**or hire someone to**) and after my first time using them and feeling how stiff and kind of restrictive it was I was guessing they had straight track potentiometers like what you might see in a volume slider on a stereo and which I have seen before in a PC joystick, (and which I'd hoped would be easy enough to replace with different value pots with the same mechanical profile). But no they are large rotary potentiometers with what I think might be a pretty unique and difficult to replace mechanical arm assembly.
The pot values don't match Vectrex and .. they don't appear to match eachother! They are also quite jittery on the Pong console.
So I think these might just end up sitting around looking pretty.
In the first picture left to right is Odyssey 2 joystick, Odyssey 2 enclosure retrofit with arcade parts by me for Atari, Magnavox style joystick originally manufactured for Atari, and analog joystick from Odyssey 4000 pong console.
-
1
-
-
I've never liked the straight "nostalgia" explanation or the word "retro", partially because it excludes me since I didn't grow up with this stuff, but also because I think it tends to trivialize the whole thing and tie it into a retired experience.
To me the 2600 retains the dreams and imagination of video games in a way that is generally lost in contemporary gaming.
Many of the best 2600 games were made by a single person and my impression is that the average size group of designers/programmers/writers was something like five or six people. Compared to today when a console game typically has hundreds. So it is much easier as a fan to fantasize about being one of those people, like being in a band. Also on this scale it has always seemed more practical to me to consider these makers as authors or artists or inspired engineers, with an appreciation for the true form of the thing.
There was experimentation and discovery in those days and the commercial and industrial enterprise was much less regimented. It looks like a creative bubble where everyone was chasing new ideas and concepts. The engineers, the entrepeneurs, the salesmen, the manufacturers and the consumers were all a party to a spectacle of production and innovation. It is fun to reenact that spectacle, whether you were a part of it or not.
-
1
-
-
Well I've just sold all the Commodore stuff locally so there won't be any more questions from me anytime soon. I'm a little sad to see it go but glad the new owner seemed to appreciate it and have ideas and plans for it. He brought his young son with him who I think he was trying to teach programming. Also he anticipated doing repairs to the computer and has experience with that. The two of them sat there and watched me load, list and run the graphics demo and listened to me explain my whole experience with this computer.
I'm definitely glad to have gone through the type-in process and seen it all work. Thanks for the assistance with this carlsson.
-
1
-
-
Alright I got a title screen. But it was stuck there for so long that I gave up. I think I gave it about ten minutes. The disk drive was whirring away and the title screen would not be interupted by any input on the keyboard or joystick. I eventually just flipped the power switches off. Shouldn't it have finished loading in that amount of time? Or shouldn't I have been able to interupt the loading with the run/stop key or home or something?LOAD"*",8,1
It will load the first program on disk to its intended memory position, which often means it will auto start and load the rest.
So your got the computer to start again. Be careful so it doesn't die on you again. The PLA chip may have a tendency to stop working, and then it might work for a short while again.
.. The power problem is really bad and seems to be getting worse and worse. I'm not sure how to be careful besides not using it or buying one of the pricey custom power supplies.
-
Hey the diskette I bought over two weeks ago just showed up. So I set the computer back up to see if it might start powering on again. After over 30 minutes it actually has.
I found online the commands for loading a disk program:
LOAD"program name",8
Or if you don't know the name:
LOAD"$",8
And then LIST to see the contents.
I did this and get a result but am unable to make it further and get errors or not found messages.
Starglider is the title on the disk label. I tried:
load"starglider",8
and:
LOAD"Starglider",8
I also tried the same for the other two (titles?) that list, Paranoid and Para-Protect.
Maybe the disk is bad? Maybe the drive is bad? Or maybe my commands are wrong?
-
I've never known them to be more expensive that the wired units, , as long as they are detachable any extension cable will get the job done, but keep in mind the 2600 compatibles will not work with the o2, as it is wired up differently
I'm visiting this thread to find out about some Odyssey 2 joysticks for sale that are said to be 2600 compatible. Is that not standard? But there are some that are compatible? What's the meaning of this?
Also is it a decent working joystick? I have some salvaged non-detachable joysticks but no working Odyssey 2. I love the size and shape, orientation and feel, but the internal components look very cheap and it's hard for me to imagine it being a very solid option on the 2600.
-
Lowered eBay price, which is still artificially high. Also edited original post to indicate this change.
-
I've decided to seriously moderate my Vectrex addiction and limit myself to what really works for me and now I'm about down to the last stuff I intend to sell.
This is all 22 U.S. GCE commercially produced screen overlays, along with the matching cartridges and manuals, offered for lot purchase.
I have this cross listed on that one world wide website for $700 BIN or Best Offer. I'm looking for offers.
More than half of these overlays are in what I consider excellent condition. The others are average. See photos for which is which. Hyperchase has a tiny dent and would otherwise be considered excellent by me.
Manuals are average. Scramble is colored in.
Cartridges are good condition, some excellent.
I am not keen to break this lot up. The only exception would be a competitive offer where you leave a few games behind but take most. I am definitely not breaking up titles to sell overlays without carts, unless you plan to undervalue the stuff you are leaving behind.
.. I have the three light pen games with manuals as well and haven't decided to sell yet. Inquire if you are interested.
.. Few last things I'll be selling when ready will be broken/disassembled GCE Vectrex control panel, never built Vectrex controller kit by AtariAge Rolo, Starblast controller, Spike's Circus loose PCB and possibly Logo loose PCB and one more original Minestorm overlay. Also an unused no-buzz kit.
-
Well I did finally successfully type in, save and load from a cassette. I saved a very short graphics demo and the automatic proofreader.
It took four tries. Each failed attempt yeilded a program with visible errors when I loaded and listed.
The first one honestly I was (and am) skeptical I could have made the mistakes that the recording indicated, with several whole and consecutive lines missing. That was the proofreader.
After that I switched to a graphics demo because it was very short and I could take a photo of the whole program on the screen exactly as entered by me. That one listed a single character entered incorrectly and my photo confirmed it.
After that I tried editing the program listed from the recording and re-saving it, which did not work. The new recording had the same error, (which makes me wonder how any saved program can be revised if even this single screen one wasn't).
Then I gave the graphics demo a third try, this time starting over, and it worked. After that I very carefully re-entered the automatic proofreader, (from scratch because I don't understand how to edit) and it worked too.
... But now, today .. I can't get the computer to power on!
I've tried several times and left it on longer than I've ever had to before, so long I was afraid to leave it on any longer. The power LED indicator lights dimly, like had been happening recently when the computer was cold, but never boots up.
RE my original goal of selling this computer, this has been an incredible fail. Besides having no takers at my consistently reasonable asking price on local craigslist I've actually had some pretty negative interactions with hagglers. Then the floppy disk game I ordered off eBay over two weeks ago still hasn't arrived and is apparently stuck in the U.S. Postal system. And would you believe now I am browsing eBay for another Commodore computer to replace this one!?!?
-
1
-
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Nintendo and Sony consoles Ready to go Retro Adventure
in Buy, Sell, and Trade
Posted · Edited by gliptitude
I have two consoles I'm selling, preferably as bundles/lots.
- 500GB PS3 with Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and two Sony Dualshock 3 controllers, all good condition
- Wii emulation box with full original functionality and Game Cube compatibility, with extras and a few valuable Game Cube items, priority Zelda.
Wii is a great alternative way to play Atari 2600 games, besides convenient, compact and wireless input, motion controls are shockingly effective for Night Driver and some other Paddle games. Nunchucks are not an insignificant alternative to 2600 joystick options either. The Wii classic pad is also an awesome and fairly standard option for NES/SNES/Gameboy and even N64, which operates wirelessly through a Wii remote.
Not generally interested in trades unless you happen to have an Olympus Air lens camera or similar small exotic or quality video capable and conventional tripod mountable camera.
Items are crosslisted on other sites at different prices. Looking for reasonable offers.