Prostick III ColecoVision 3rd party controller

[Yurkie]

A friend was telling me about the Prostick III and what a nice controller it is. After talking to him, I looked through a box of misc. cords and controllers and found that I had one of these controllers. I used the ColecoVision controller rom and found only down and right fire where working. I took it a part and used DeoxIT on the contacts and tested and everything except the "up" was working, and if the cord was moved the "up" would work occasionally. The problem is the orange wire is either broken or not connected inside the plug. I have decided the best fix will be to replace the original cord with a straightened ColecoVision controller cord, and glue the original grommet to the cord. I will then connect the controller to the Champ keypad.

 

I am not a fan or user of any controllers other than the standard ColecoVision controller with the ball knob mod, but this controller is very cool and I am excited to try it out. The build quality is amazing it is like an Arcade joystick in a hand held case. The fact that it has leaf contacts like the early Arcade joysticks instead of Cherry switches makes it super cool in my opinion.

 

The Prostick III has a unique kind of fire button that can be push on the left side for left fire, right side for right fire, or in the middle for both left and right fire at the same time. The other really cool feature is a collar that lifts up that changes the controller from 4-way to 8-way. The collar physically disables the movement of the stick to 4-way only when in use.

 

Anyway I thought this controller was really impressive and thought others might be interested. Here are some pics. The dual male female plug pic has an arrow pointing to the spot where the orange wire is damaged. There is an old thread here on AtariAge and the OP of that thread had problems with the cords on the controllers also. Any comments are welcome

[NIAD]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

[Yurkie]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

 

I couldn't find one on Ebay... could you post the link?

[NIAD]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230525531328

 

But it's all mine! Sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay the price.

[Yurkie]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230525531328

 

But it's all mine! Sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay the price.

 

That seller is a friend of mine...I could have probably got a deal on that baby!

 

I searched "prostick 3" instead of prostick III thinking a seller wouldn't use the roman numeral for the listing.

 

The gold lettering on that is pretty cool, I guess the paint must be worn off on mine.

 

Nice score NIAD...thanks for the link.

[Yurkie]

I put a straightened ColecoVision cord on the controller and it is working perfect.

 

While it is pretty cool, I think I like a standard ColecoVision controller with a ball knob better.

[purenergy]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230525531328

 

But it's all mine! Sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay the price.

 

The Prostick III was one of my favorite controllers, as it was a good ball-top before Yurkie's fine controllers were available.

The 4-way option was great for Q*bert!

Hope you enjoy your Prostick.

[oldjd]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

Your going to like this unit. I dont think it ever had any prolonged use.

Plus it is is very rare,which I discovered when I googled it.

 

Todd,I am sorry.Never thought you were looking for this

[Yurkie]

 

 

Todd,I am sorry.Never thought you were looking for this

 

No problem Jerry. I wasn't looking for it personally, but another was friend interested. NIAD will take good care of it. Nice item and great price IMO.

[Yurkie]

Like I said in the first post, the build quality of this controller is awesome.

 

Steel Joystick shaft with grommet on the end of the shaft that makes contact with the leaf switches.

 

The wires are connected to the leaf switches with slide on connectors. I really like the connectors, they are strong high quality connectors that can be pulled off and slide back on unlike the connectors used on the ColecoVision standard controller. I soldered the wires from the replacement cord to each of these 7 connectors instead of soldering directly to the leaf switches, to keep this controller as original as possible,

 

The leaf switches are removable from the controller... if one was damaged it could be replaced.

 

I thought more of the hardcore ColecoVision guys would comment on this controller. Any of you other guys own one currently or had one in the past?

[Pixelboy]

I thought more of the hardcore ColecoVision guys would comment on this controller. Any of you other guys own one currently or had one in the past?

I own one. I've never really used it though.

[the-topdog]

I own one. I've never really used it though.

 

**Uses Jedi mind trick** These are not the droids you are looking for... wait... wrong one... You will sell Topdog your Prostick III

[NIAD]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

Your going to like this unit. I dont think it ever had any prolonged use.

Plus it is is very rare,which I discovered when I googled it.

Thanks for the info Jerry and you got that right about it's rarity! Actually in the past week, I have acquired the ProStick III and another extremely rare joystick, the Champ Mini-Joystick... actually two of those and one is on it's way to France. So as far as controllers, I'm only missing those EXTREMELY RARE ones that Mr. RetroGamer has, a couple of the joystick extenders and all of the fabulous creations made by DoubleDown... ok, who wants to part with their Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man, GamePad and Jaguar modded controllers?

[NIAD]

BTW, here is a scan of an old ProStick II & III ad...

[ianoid]

What is the Champ Mini-stick? Can someone post pix if they have one?

 

ian

[NIAD]

What is the Champ Mini-stick? Can someone post pix if they have one?

 

ian

Ask and you shall receive. The pic contains the Champ Keypad as well as the Champ Mini Joystick.

Edited May 31, 2011 by NIAD

[oldjd]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

The stick is on the move. :)Sent today.

Mt Prospect,huh?Part of my reckless youth was near and dear there.

Used to race on n.w.hwy,between Mt Prospect and Arl.heights.Cops were never around there.Of course that was also when dinosaurs roamed the world too.

[NIAD]

Thanks for posting about this joystick and how nice it is!

 

I've been following a "Buy Now" on eBay for one of these CIB for quite a number of months waiting and hoping for the price to be dropped, but after seeing your post I couldn't take the chance that someone would grab it.

 

Well, at least if there are some issues with it that I can't fix, I'll know who to contact.

The stick is on the move. :)Sent today.

Mt Prospect,huh?Part of my reckless youth was near and dear there.

Used to race on n.w.hwy,between Mt Prospect and Arl.heights.Cops were never around there.Of course that was also when dinosaurs roamed the world too.

I grew up on the far Northwest side of the city and have been in MP for 11 years now. You can't get away with anything on the streets around here anymore... especially that stretch of NW Hwy since it's so developed now compared to back in the day when it was mainly industrial businesses on the main drag. Let me guess, you had one of those Flintstone cars... must have had a helluva time outrunning those dinosaurs?

[NIAD]

Got the ProStick III from oldjd today and gave it a quick testing. I have to admit that it is the most precise controller that I have every used on the ColecoVision and very comfortable to hold while playing. The Tri-Fire Bar is extremely responsive and the ability to press the center of the fire bar and have both fire-buttons respond is a very nice feature although not very useful for most ColecoVision games. As was mentioned previously, this joystick makes playing Q*bert an entirely new experience when using the 4-way Gateplate.

 

However, and there always is one, I find it a little difficult in playing games where fire-button #1 and #2 perform different functions like in Cosmic Avenger where button #1 drops a bomb and button #2 fires a missile. Guess I'm just going to have to keep practicing with it which ain't the worst thing in the world... more CV playing time!!

 

Thanks Jerry for taking such good care of this.

Edited June 3, 2011 by NIAD

[oldjd]

Got the ProStick III from oldjd today and gave it a quick testing. I have to admit that it is the most precise controller that I have every used on the ColecoVision and very comfortable to hold while playing. The Tri-Fire Bar is extremely responsive and the ability to press the center of the fire bar and have both fire-buttons respond is a very nice feature although not very useful for most ColecoVision games. As was mentioned previously, this joystick makes playing Q*bert an entirely new experience when using the 4-way Gateplate.

 

However, and there always is one, I find it a little difficult in playing games where fire-button #1 and #2 perform different functions like in Cosmic Avenger where button #1 drops a bomb and button #2 fires a missile. Guess I'm just going to have to keep practicing with it which ain't the worst thing in the world... more CV playing time!!

 

Thanks Jerry for taking such good care of this.

You are welcome.I am very glad you like it,and that its as unique as expected

And btw,no I didnt use a flinstone car,although my kids and you both had the same thought process