kool kitty89 Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 (edited) There's a middleground for joystick and d-pad, and that would be a thumbstick. (like early master system controllers and some Gravis PC gamepads had to screw into the d-pad) Honestly though, the original colecovisions controller's short stak broad, flat knobbed joystick tends to function better as a thumbpad, that would depend on personal prefrence though. (and the button positioning makes it pain to use as such, especially for 2-button games, not so bad for keypad usage and games with no buttons or rare use of buttons) As depicted here: (if you don't know of this guy, he's a big atari and sega fan, growing up with the 2600, 7800, and Genesis) Of course the Intellivision's disc is more like a d-pad in that sense, but probably less functional as one than the CV controller is as a thumbstick (due to the somewhat slippery and recessed disc as well as the 16 directions), plus is at a less convienient location compared to the CV. (in terms of grasping the controller single handed) And of couse there's the 5200, which might have been a pretty good configuration with a digital joystick (both as a thumbstick and finger gripped joystick), well that and better buttons. (ie larger, and less prone to wearing out -using ones more like the paddles or 7800) But the key example of a gamepad like arrangement would probably be the vectrex, albeit that's with an analog thumbstick rather than a d-pad. Edited February 15, 2010 by kool kitty89 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 I had a talk with doubledown last year about keypads, and here's what he had to say: The biggest problem with a CV keypad is that it has to be of the single bus/common pole variation. Which means that there is one common (ground) and one contact for each button. So 1 keypad has 13 contacts. Most of the one's you'll find readily available on the internet are of the more common "matrix" style. Which means that there is one contact for each row and one for each column, containing a total of 7 contacts. These types of keypads are a lot more common, but unusable by the CV due to its diode array within the controller, and the decoder built onto the CV PCB. So my question is: Would it be difficult to create some kind of interface between a "matrix style" keypad and the CV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opcode Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 I had a talk with doubledown last year about keypads, and here's what he had to say: The biggest problem with a CV keypad is that it has to be of the single bus/common pole variation. Which means that there is one common (ground) and one contact for each button. So 1 keypad has 13 contacts. Most of the one's you'll find readily available on the internet are of the more common "matrix" style. Which means that there is one contact for each row and one for each column, containing a total of 7 contacts. These types of keypads are a lot more common, but unusable by the CV due to its diode array within the controller, and the decoder built onto the CV PCB. So my question is: Would it be difficult to create some kind of interface between a "matrix style" keypad and the CV? Yep, you can translate using a microcontroller or CPLD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph74 Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 There's a middleground for joystick and d-pad, and that would be a thumbstick. (like early master system controllers and some Gravis PC gamepads had to screw into the d-pad) Honestly though, the original colecovisions controller's short stak broad, flat knobbed joystick tends to function better as a thumbpad, that would depend on personal prefrence though. (and the button positioning makes it pain to use as such, especially for 2-button games, not so bad for keypad usage and games with no buttons or rare use of buttons) As depicted here: (if you don't know of this guy, he's a big atari and sega fan, growing up with the 2600, 7800, and Genesis) Of course the Intellivision's disc is more like a d-pad in that sense, but probably less functional as one than the CV controller is as a thumbstick (due to the somewhat slippery and recessed disc as well as the 16 directions), plus is at a less convienient location compared to the CV. (in terms of grasping the controller single handed) And of couse there's the 5200, which might have been a pretty good configuration with a digital joystick (both as a thumbstick and finger gripped joystick), well that and better buttons. (ie larger, and less prone to wearing out -using ones more like the paddles or 7800) But the key example of a gamepad like arrangement would probably be the vectrex, albeit that's with an analog thumbstick rather than a d-pad. Quite a bit off topic to reply to, but felt the need. While I'm sure he means well, I think that review is whack-- I've NEVER seen anyone hold a CV controller like that or use one the way he does! Everyone I've ever seen play CV pinches the sides of the disc-- even on the cover of CV Experience the guy is pinching the stick, not thumbing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremysart Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Does anyone here have the pinout information for the CV controllers/controller ports? (U/D/L/R and button 1 match VCS and thush SMS and MD, but the other button is the contenton point, with SMS using pin 9) If both buttons match, SMS/MD controllers should be fine for any games not using the keypad. The Jaguar pad was my first though for a reemagined CV controller though, and what do you know: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/117927-colecovision-controller-mod/ You know, that does work pretty well. But luck fining Jag controllers en mass for a reasonable price. How about something like a Gravis Gamepad or SMS controller/ CD-i, where there is a d-pad with a screw hole to attach an optional joystick? Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philippe Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 ColecoVision2 = best arcade controller = Joystick: 8-way Rotary = all 2D games Bermuda Triangle Guerrilla War Ikari Warriors T.N.K. III Victory Road World Wars Ikari III Search And Rescue Battle Field Time Soldiers Heavy Barrel Midnight Resistance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Resistance Gondomania DownTown gameplay: So, the original colecovisions controller's Joystick 8-way... Rotary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philippe Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 http://www.mirari.fr/KrXk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardhat Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 If it were me doing the ColecoVision 2, I'd definitely make it compatible with the Wii Classic Controller. It provides d-pad, dual analog stick, four face buttons, four shoulder/back buttons, +, -, home. It is still commercially available and there is a variety of 3rd party versions also. And all you have to provide is an I2C port for each controller. It is well documented how to interface to it. With the Wii they provide both GC ports and the wireless bluetooth ports. So I don't see a problem with supporting DB9 for ColecoVision controllers and then the i2c connectors for the Wii Classic Controller. Several DIY game systems support the Wii nunchuck. It is the same interface for the classic controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlock76 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 controller option i would go with this jaguar gamepad mod http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=245996 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wntermute Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Either of these look great.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opcode Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 I have a complete Famicom Network system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 You know, why don't you have the keypad seperate? Something that's either tethered to the controller plug or the controller itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 controller option i would go with this jaguar gamepad mod http://www.atariage....ttach_id=245996 There is also this recent occurrance--recreated Jag controller shell molds that are likely to be available on the cheap when he gets it down 100%: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/196805-replacement-jag-controller-buttons/ Would need to come up with a pcb design for the internals, but the shells and buttons are already in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlock76 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 yep pcb redesing would be the way to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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