Controller Responce Question

[APrules2]

Hi,

I grew up a little to late to have an Atari when they were new I had an NES, and as I got older I played all the Atari games on my PC using PCAE. Finally about a year ago I bought an Atari at a flea market for 10 bucks with 2 controllers, games and the Atari holder. I was home sick from school today and decided to play some Atari. Since Ive had it I never really played it for more then 10 or 15 mins. Because I had time I played for a few hours, and up till today I never really noticed how much lag there was when I move my controller and also that the characters don't always respond, it that normal? I was playing MR.Do! and I noticed Id go straight up and then try to move left or right real fast and he wouldn't always do it or he'd go up a little more then go left or right. I had the same reaction with both the original Atari sticks, and my Waco Slik Stik I bought off eBay. Is there a fix I can use to make the system respond faster? I thought about maybe replacing the metal tabs in the Slik Stik with micro switches to see if i could get a better response anyone ever try that?

[supercat]

Because I had time I played for a few hours, and up till today I never really noticed how much lag there was when I move my controller and also that the characters don't always respond, it that normal? I was playing MR.Do! and I noticed Id go straight up and then try to move left or right real fast and he wouldn't always do it or he'd go up a little more then go left or right.

 

Some Atari 2600 games place constraints upon characters' motion (actually, that's probably true at least some games on any system). Try a game which has more precise controller response and see if you notice anything.

[Rik]

Were you REALLY SICK that day,come on tell the truth!

[Prodos8]

It's basically how the game was programmed. Some games react faster to control movment than is humanley possible while others are lagging. It even happens with modern games. The VCS/2600 is generally known for precise very precise game control.

[fiddlepaddle]

Could be dirty joystick contacts. You might try taking it apart and cleaning the contacts with 91% rubbing alcohol and/or a pencil eraser. Also, some games respond better than others.

[APrules2]

I just played some Frogger and Pitfall, your right it must be MR.Do is just a little harder to control. However it does glitch every now and then I opened the joy stick up, and for those of you not familiar with the slick stick it uses a metal ball attached to the bottom of the joy stick which when moved touches a metal tab in the base for eather left right up or down. Someone packed the opening down there with grease, should there be all that grease I'm guessing to prevent corosion or was this just someones hair brained scheme?

[Fangorn81]

I am pretty sure that grease is how it came from the factory. Every classic joystick I've ever opened up that used that style contact system had a bunch of grease all over the contacts.

[the.golden.ax]

I'd think it was the joystick... sounds like you need a nice new NesProPad...

 

AX

[RJ]

Mr DO Like Dig Dug allows you to create tunnels, (they're maze games similar to Pac-Man, only YOU make the maze) you pretty much have to be in a certain spot in order to go left or right, you cant really just start a tunnel wherever you want, quickly.

 

 

When testing out controllers I use Asteroids or Missile Command, which more/less give you full range of joystick movement to test it.

Edited February 27, 2009 by RJ