Discwasher Pointmaster

[OldAtarian]

Are they good? I just got a pair of them with a 2600 lot I bought. Also in the lot is a Wico Boss, a Wico Command Control (already know about those) and one that says Starmaster on the top. Are any of them rare?

[A.J. Franzman]

I think the Starmaster is probably the least common, if it's the one by Suncom. The Suncom Starmaster is about the same as the Slik Stik, but with a round-topped cylindrical stick instead of the ball-on-a-post that the Slik Stik has. Both are very good sticks but a bit too small for many people, which is why the larger Suncom Tac-2 (similar to the Slik Stik but ambidextrous) has such an ardent fanbase.

Edited October 15, 2010 by A.J. Franzman

[OldAtarian]

I think the Starmaster is probably the least common, if it's the one by Suncom. The Suncom Starmaster is about the same as the Slik Stik, but with a round-topped cylindrical stick instead of the ball-on-a-post that the Slik Stik has. Both are very good sticks but a bit too small for many people, which is why the larger Suncom Tac-2 (similar to the Slik Stik but ambidextrous) has such an ardent fanbase.

 

Here's the Starmaster

 

http://www.amazon.com/Starmaster-Joystick/dp/B002NNTJZE

 

It looks more like a flight stick.

Edited October 16, 2010 by OldAtarian

[tz101]

Pointmaster is not very user friendly. I have two and hate that they only have a fire button at the top of the stick. They would have benefited from a fire button on the base ala the standard VCS controller.

 

Here is a pic:

 

[OldAtarian]

Pointmaster is not very user friendly. I have two and hate that they only have a fire button at the top of the stick. They would have benefited from a fire button on the base ala the standard VCS controller.

 

Here is a pic:

 

 

I've handled them a bit now, not played with them yet but I think I like the feel of the stick already. It seems like it would be more responsive than the stiff Atari sticks. Very fluid but will probably take some getting used to. I don't like sticks without a button on the base, either. It just doesn't feel right not to have that button under my thumb.

[A.J. Franzman]

Here's the Starmaster

 

http://www.amazon.com/Starmaster-Joystick/dp/B002NNTJZE

 

It looks more like a flight stick.

I guess I'm confused, then. Suncom did make a stick like I described but it's probably called something else.

[Justin42]

When I bought my first 800XL (back in the day) the guy threw in 2 of those controllers.. I still have them somewhere, but they did bug me after a short period of time-- both from the thumb-fire button (my first experience with carpal tunnel at age 10! ) and I'd find myself getting a blister near my thumb where the raised plastic would irritate it.

 

I remember them being pretty decent sticks but only for SHORT play sessions... which when you're 10 and have a new "toy", short means "less than all day, not counting meals".

[OldAtarian]

Well, I've used all the new sticks and my impression is that the Pointmaster doesn't require as much effort to get it to do what you want, but the lack of a button on the base dampens my enthusiasm a bit. The Starmaster I showed on Amazon, just feels cheap all around. It creaks and groans like the plastic is about to shatter but I've found it a good stick for games like video checkers and othello. The Wico Command Control feels like a real arcade stick, but I have had trouble getting it to work in all games. The aforementioned video checkers and othello in particular don't seem to like it very much. Getting it to move the cursor diagonally is a real chore. Maybe something inside this particular one is broken, but it does seem to work fine in all directions in other games, so I'm confused at this point, or maybe it's the fact that I'm playing the games on a 7800 instead of a 2600. Further investigation is required.

 

At any rate, I managed to snag a lot of joysticks including multiple Command Controls (including a Command Control trackball and a Command Control three way joystick joystick with the replaceable handles) so I'll be able to find out for sure if there's something wrong with this one in a few days.

[+wood_jl]

I had these back in the 80s. Maybe I was just too rough as a kid (likely) but they'll break right were the stick goes into the base, right on top of the red "ball" thing. It's just hollow thin plastic halves. The fire button on top was much less than idea, as others have mentioned.

[Lord Helmet]

I had one of those as a kid. At the time I thought it was cool to play a game like Star Raiders with a 'flight stick'. However, in hindsight they just weren't my cup of tea. I hate joysticks with the fire button on top. I don't like the Wico for that same reason (yes there was a button on the base of it too, but the stick is too big to use that way). If you're gonna put the button in the stick itself, make it a trigger or don't bother.