Sears Joystick/Paddle Hybrids and the Atari 2600jr

[Lauren Tyler]

I got a pair of them off eBay, and they work fine... except when I'm using them as paddles. The knobs work fine, but the buttons don't respond. Is this a problem with the Atari 2600jr or is it just me?

[zylon]

In paddle mode, use joystick direction right. The buttons are not used.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

In paddle mode, use joystick direction right. The buttons are not used.

 

That is good to know! I have a Sears Video Arcade and did not even know that lol!

[zylon]

When used on a Sears Arcade II, they'll work normally if the correct port and mode is selected. On regular Atari's, you have to push right with stick/knob.

[Lauren Tyler]

Push right? Oh boy, playing Night Driver is not going to be easy.

[zylon]

Push right? Oh boy, playing Night Driver is not going to be easy.

 

I'd use the Gemini versions instead.

[MitchSchaft]

Do you have a picture of those?

[zylon]

Do you have a picture of those?

While it may be blasphemy, these were my favorite controllers to use. Pushing sideways with your thumb on the stick when using the paddle is a lot easier with these. Only good for 1 player games with a few exceptions. (video olympics, astroblast)

[alex_79]

The Coleco Gemini came with an Y-cable to use with the paddle games. This allowed to connect both controller to a single port (just like regular atari paddles) so you could play 2-players paddle games and also redirected the buttons to the correct paddle button input the console is expecting. Since the SVAII controllers are electrically the same, that Y-cable will work for those as well. As stated, the Sears Video Arcade II/ Atari 2800 has 4 controller ports and a paddle/joystick selector, so basically the adapter is built into the console itself.

 

If you can solder you can build an adapter like this one:

 

Else you could mod the controller itself by adding a switch to redirect the button to either pin 4 (paddle) or pin 6 (joystick).

[kiki77]

I was interested in buying one Sears paddle joystick combination, but to push right for fire on 2600 wouldn't fit for me. No way. The normal Atari paddles work also on Commodore 64. I advise you to play Arkanoid!!!

[Chuck D. Head]

I was interested in buying one Sears paddle joystick combination, but to push right for fire on 2600 wouldn't fit for me. No way. The normal Atari paddles work also on Commodore 64. I advise you to play Arkanoid!!!

See the post above yours; you have to have the "Y" connector and then the fire buttons work correctly. I played hours and hours of Tac-scan like this, no problem. Morgan

[kiki77]

With this modification are they better in handling and gaming than the orginal Atari paddles?