Best Joystick for Atari 2600

[Nateo]

I actually went ahead and built one myself with sanwa arcade parts. It's big and bulky and it's far more comfortable than any other joystick I've tried.

[Ataritard]

The CX10 is my favorite.

[NightSprinter]

In a good few ways, I agree with Ataritard. Those rare CX-10 sticks had more of a miniaturized arcade feel from the springs. Playing Robotron on my Atari 400 or 7800 just felt "right" using them.

[vanderveen88]

At one time I was fond of those combination joystick-paddles that came with the Coleco Gemini. They're shaped a little like the 7800 ProLine joysticks and are probably not built to last especially well, like many of Coleco's products. But they were kind of handy and were also easy to take along if you needed to bring them somewhere.

[Ranthulfr]

I've tried a few different sticks and so far I like the CX-40 best for

general VCS gaming. And I don't think that opinion is influenced by nostalgia... The CX-40 is just a reasonably durable and responsive controller, amongst other things.

[Zedex]

I actually went ahead and built one myself with sanwa arcade parts. It's big and bulky and it's far more comfortable than any other joystick I've tried.

 

How did you do that? I asked MAMECADE on YouTube, and he didn't know. I want to make it about the size of a Wico joystick, with two buttons and Suzo parts. How much would this cost?

[keilbaca]

The Wico has a lot of throw to the stick.

 

My favorite stick on the 2600 that I currently use is already listed above, the space invaders 5 in 1, modified for the 2600/7800.

 

I had a mini ps2 arcade stick that the buttons were too small for fighters, and well, was able to be yanked around easily. I converted that into a dual atari 2600 controller.

 

The right player had the WSAD setup as the directions. It worked AMAZING for Robotron.

[Rex Dart]

The Wico has a lot of throw to the stick.

That's easily fixed by bending the the contacts a bit, but I found that it didn't really make it THAT much more useful.

[Zedex]

The Wico has a lot of throw to the stick.

That's easily fixed by bending the the contacts a bit, but I found that it didn't really make it THAT much more useful.

 

I meant that I wanted something the size of one. Something I can pick up and hold that still uses arcade parts.

[Nateo]

Well, Sanwa is kind of an expensive brand, I think all told it cost me about $50. You could probably do it for less with cheaper joysticks and by asking your neighbors for scrap wood.

[keilbaca]

Well, Sanwa is kind of an expensive brand, I think all told it cost me about $50. You could probably do it for less with cheaper joysticks and by asking your neighbors for scrap wood.

 

If you want to go the cheap route, you can always buy a madkatz Street Fighter 4 arcade stick (Hori parts), remove the guts and then solder it for the Atari 2600.

 

Even cheaper if you find a PS2 Tekken 5 stick (I seen one for sale for $25 here locally). Same thing, Hori parts, replace and solder.

[diabloarcade]

The Original Joystick.

Enough said.

[JadeETC]

CX40 is the way to go.

[7800]

When I was growing up, my friends used to take off the rubber on their CX-40 controllers. They said it made playing the games better. I never bought into that and kept mine on.

[+Gemintronic]

I remember pining over the 7800 joypads that never got to the states. I think I got the Sega Master System pads to almost work. Joysticks (especially the 2600 and 7800) give me hand cramps. The Sega Genesis joypad is the way to go. Plus, some batari BASIC games can support the second button!

[JadeETC]

When I was growing up, my friends used to take off the rubber on their CX-40 controllers. They said it made playing the games better. I never bought into that and kept mine on.

 

I played Pac-Man so much that the rubber ripped. So I pulled it off, it hurt my hands so much I thought I had carpel tunnel.

[Matthew]

 

This is my homemade Sanwa joystick I built years ago. Expensive, but worth it as I will never have to buy another joystick again.

 

CX40 joysticks break easily.

 

You may stare at the above pictures in awe. For you will never hold a joystick that equals it's profound greatness.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Matthew

[retrorussell]

I remember learning on my own that a Genesis controller worked just fine. I was thrilled that it controls quite well.

I liked the design for the Coleco Gemini controller. Never had a problem with them.

[7800]

Ultimately, the best joystick is one that you make with arcade quality parts IMO. Unless you like to play with gamepads, then using a Genesis or Master System controller is ideal.

[0078265317]

My friend had 2600 woody as a kid. I can't remember if it was 4 or 6 switch. But the originals (10 or 40 I can't remember) were the best. Except I had trouble because I was a lefty and the button was on the right.

 

I scored a CX-40 from salvation army store for 10 bucks. Not bad. Have to try the others I have when I get back and see what is good. I also enjoy using NES nintendo controllers on my 2600. I found a way.

[MaximRecoil]

Handheld joysticks are horrible in my opinion; all of them. Some of them are worse than others of course, with the Atari 7800 and ColecoVision joysticks being the worst I've ever used for any length of time, due to them quickly inducing hand cramps.

 

Joysticks were intended to be securely mounted to an immovable panel, and when properly mounted like that (such as on an arcade machine), they go from being horrible to being ideal. A joystick is a lever, and when it is in a handheld form, the base moves around as you operate the lever, due to the leverage being applied to it. You can minimize the leverage by reducing resistance of movement for the lever, but then it feels sloppy, because that also inevitably weakens its return-to-center functionality. Handheld joysticks are a kludge in general.

 

Gamepads are ideal for handheld controllers, because the base is always supported with both hands and no significant leverage is applied to the base when operating the D-pad.

 

I mocked the NES gamepad in 1986 when I first saw/tried it. Joysticks were all I'd ever known, and this little Nintendo rectangle looked ridiculous. These days I can't go back to using a handheld joystick; it is too much of a downgrade. I use a NES controller that I modified for Atari 7800/2600 games. I've tried a Sega Genesis gamepad, which of course works as-is with 2600 and one-button 7800 games, but I don't care for its D-pad design. I've always liked Nintendo's D-pads the best.

 

Even though I think a gamepad is as good as it gets for a handheld controller, I don't think it is as good as it gets, period. A good arcade joystick (of the correct type for the game, i.e., mechanically restricted 4-way for 4-way games, and 8-way for 8-way games) mounted securely to an immovable panel, along with arcade buttons mounted to the same panel to the right of the joystick, is as good as it gets. Big "fight stick" type setups using arcade controls, which you set on a table or your lap, are almost as good as arcade controls mounted to an immovable panel, in terms of comfort and control, but they are heavy/cumbersome and take up a lot of storage space.

[AtengaGames]

I don't think we will be able to determine what the best stick is. It really all comes down to prefrence. Personally I like my wico bat for a joystick and my genesis controller for a gamepad. I'm not a huge fan of the cx-40 but I do like the coleco Gemini controllers. It just depends on the game which controller I favor. I am defenently gonna try to get a silk stick at the Portland retro gaming expo.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I don't think we will be able to determine what the best stick is. It really all comes down to prefrence. Personally I like my wico bat for a joystick and my genesis controller for a gamepad. I'm not a huge fan of the cx-40 but I do like the coleco Gemini controllers. It just depends on the game which controller I favor. I am defenently gonna try to get a silk stick at the Portland retro gaming expo.

You're definitely right about there being no "One stick to rule them all", as it's very much a matter of personal preference, but it's still fun to discuss and see what other people like best.

 

Personally I tend to bounce back and forth between using a Wico bat style stick and a Flashback 2 stick. I really love the robust arcade quality feel of the Wico stick, but it can be a bit stiff on the diagonals so I feel like it's really best suited to games with 2-way or 4-way movement. For games with 8-way movement I like the Flashback 2 sticks, which give a really classic 2600 feel but with much smoother control and less resistance due to the more modern membrane contacts in them. You just have to put a little thread locker on the joystick itself to keep it from coming unscrewed during frenetic gameplay.

 

 

This is my homemade Sanwa joystick I built years ago. Expensive, but worth it as I will never have to buy another joystick again.CX40 joysticks break easily.You may stare at the above pictures in awe. For you will never hold a joystick that equals it's profound greatness.

Beautiful stick! Can I ask what you used for the enclosure? I've often thought about making my own stick but I've been having trouble locating an enclosure that would not only look nice but accommodate the size of an arcade joystick and button's innards and still fit comfortably in the hand, but yours looks to fit the bill perfectly! It looks super clean and I imagine that it must play just as good as it looks. Again, wonderful work!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

When I played Atari I was never fond of the original joysticks as they gave me hand cramps and lots of fatigue. Call it blasphemous, I preferred using the Wico Bat Controller. I also enjoyed using the Sega Genesis controller as well. The same goes for the 7800 Pro-Line joysticks. Only it gives me twice the cramps and fatigue than a standard 2600 controller. I have the CX-7800 European gamepad as well. It looked great on paper but didn't meet my expectations but overall it was a slight improvement. The buttons were fine, but I disliked the directional pad.

[Matthew]

You're definitely right about there being no "One stick to rule them all", as it's very much a matter of personal preference, but it's still fun to discuss and see what other people like best.

 

Personally I tend to bounce back and forth between using a Wico bat style stick and a Flashback 2 stick. I really love the robust arcade quality feel of the Wico stick, but it can be a bit stiff on the diagonals so I feel like it's really best suited to games with 2-way or 4-way movement. For games with 8-way movement I like the Flashback 2 sticks, which give a really classic 2600 feel but with much smoother control and less resistance due to the more modern membrane contacts in them. You just have to put a little thread locker on the joystick itself to keep it from coming unscrewed during frenetic gameplay.

 

 

 

Beautiful stick! Can I ask what you used for the enclosure? I've often thought about making my own stick but I've been having trouble locating an enclosure that would not only look nice but accommodate the size of an arcade joystick and button's innards and still fit comfortably in the hand, but yours looks to fit the bill perfectly! It looks super clean and I imagine that it must play just as good as it looks. Again, wonderful work!

 

 

Enclosure is from Jaycar.