Brand New Sealed Track Ball Just Opened!

[farquh]

I just received my track ball in the mail today. I bought it on ebay sealed in package. I had never used one before, since I am juuust not old enough to have fully experienced Atari during it's heyday, but I'm more than making up for it now!

 

I tried it out on Centipede for the 7800 and 2600, I played Missile Command, Millipede and Crystal Castle. By far, Centipede for the 7800 was the game which responded to the track ball controls the most. Missile Command was a close second however...

 

Still, it's hard to resist giving the ball a big old 'spin' in order to quickly get your character all the way to the other side of screen similar to how you would with an arcade track ball. My track ball doesn't seem to work that way. You really have to push the ball down when you roll it in order for the sensors to pick up your movement. If you do it like that, it actually responds pretty good!

 

The manual is hilarious! "If you spill liquid on your trackball - Get it serviced right away!" Atari must have known they made a very temperamental peripheral device!

 

So, other than the 5 games I tried, are there any other 2600 or 7800 games that work well with the trackball?

[dwane413]

I just received my track ball in the mail today. I bought it on ebay sealed in package. I had never used one before, since I am juuust not old enough to have fully experienced Atari during it's heyday, but I'm more than making up for it now!

 

I tried it out on Centipede for the 7800 and 2600, I played Missile Command, Millipede and Crystal Castle. By far, Centipede for the 7800 was the game which responded to the track ball controls the most. Missile Command was a close second however...

 

Still, it's hard to resist giving the ball a big old 'spin' in order to quickly get your character all the way to the other side of screen similar to how you would with an arcade track ball. My track ball doesn't seem to work that way. You really have to push the ball down when you roll it in order for the sensors to pick up your movement. If you do it like that, it actually responds pretty good!

See this:

Trak-ball?

 

Here is a link to the Missile Command TB hack for the 2600.

 

The manual is hilarious! "If you spill liquid on your trackball - Get it serviced right away!" Atari must have known they made a very temperamental peripheral device!

 

So, other than the 5 games I tried, are there any other 2600 or 7800 games that work well with the trackball?

 

I've played Fast Food with a trackball before.

[+wood_jl]

I just received my track ball in the mail today. I bought it on ebay sealed in package.

As has been mentioned before, whenever you open a sealed package such as that, you must stick your beak in the box (quickly, before it dissipates) and pull in the 1982 air.

[farquh]

I just received my track ball in the mail today. I bought it on ebay sealed in package.

As has been mentioned before, whenever you open a sealed package such as that, you must stick your beak in the box (quickly, before it dissipates) and pull in the 1982 air.

 

 

So I did just that, and it gave me a rush! I heard Blondie singing, had a flashback to seeing E.T. in the theater, and Ozzie Smith showed me his World Series ring!