Looking into getting a Trackball for the 2600

[disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

 

Thinking about getting a trackball for my 2600, but I see that a few were made, which ones would you recommend and what price range should I expect to pay?

 

Thanks

[jaybird3rd]

My favorite is the CX-80. The CX-22 trackballs that I have seem to suffer from rusty rollers, and I like the sharp all-black design of the CX-80 better. B&C ComputerVisions has six of them on eBay right now for $24.95 each, and as a longtime customer, I can highly recommend them:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130569768315

[Zedex]

According to Mark from Classic Game Room, the CX-22 (the one with the yellow ball right?) isn't a very good trackball. I've heard good things about the CX-22 from Atarileaf on youtube. There aren't any native trackball mode games on the 2600, but the Atari 8-bit version of Missile Command supports it. The Wico trackball is the best one to get, but it's quite rare and expensive, and doesn't have native trackball analog mode.

[Skylark68]

I have the CX-80 and it's a pretty good unit. Plus, mine anyways was made in USA...

[SlowCoder]

Thanks for reminding me. I bought a CIB CX-80 for $20 shipped from someone right here at AA a few months back. Now that I finally have a my play center with my 2600 set up, I will pull that controller out for a good game of Missile Command.

 

From what little I did play the controller when I first got it, I liked it. Obviously since the 2600 lacks roller-native games, I found the maximum movement speed (onscreen) to be a little distracting, and not true to proper functionality of a roller. This isn't a problem with the controller, though, but a problem with support from the console and games. The CX-80 is also a little on the light side, so when playing with it, I needed to hold it down a little with my other hand, otherwise it might scoot around when playing hard. I'm thinking a fix for that might be to install some weights inside the case.

[VectorGamer]

I have a Wico trackball. I bought it from Atari2600.com along with a Track & Field controller.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

There aren't any native trackball mode games on the 2600...

Well...

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?SystemID=2600&SoftwareHackID=70

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=31

[disjaukifa]

There aren't any native trackball mode games on the 2600...

Well...

 

http://www.atariage.com/hack_page.html?SystemID=2600&SoftwareHackID=70

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=31

 

Thanks for the link!

 

I'm thinking about going with the CX-80 since that seems to be the best choice. I didn't realize though that its not natively supported on the 2600 . . . thats really too bad.

[SlowCoder]

There aren't any native trackball mode games on the 2600...

Well...

 

http://www.atariage....ftwareHackID=70

http://atariage.com/...uct_detail&p=31

 

Thanks for the link!

 

I'm thinking about going with the CX-80 since that seems to be the best choice. I didn't realize though that its not natively supported on the 2600 . . . thats really too bad.

 

It works fine on the 2600. So it's supported. Just that there isn't much on the 2600 that utilizes the controller to its full potential.

[AtariLeaf]

I've heard good things about the CX-22 from Atarileaf on youtube.

 

Yea ya did!

 

The Wico trackball is the best one to get, but it's quite rare and expensive, and doesn't have native trackball analog mode.

 

I had one and eventually got rid of it for that very reason. Very sad that such an awesome and obvious add on for the 2600 and 8-bit computers wasn't supported better.

[BigO]

I've heard good things about the CX-22 from Atarileaf on youtube.

 

Yea ya did!

 

The Wico trackball is the best one to get, but it's quite rare and expensive, and doesn't have native trackball analog mode.

 

I had one and eventually got rid of it for that very reason. Very sad that such an awesome and obvious add on for the 2600 and 8-bit computers wasn't supported better.

 

I had one, but bad news, it was dead. Good news: I programmed a PIC to replace the dead OEM controller.

I did some preliminary code to make it behave like other track balls (pass through raw encoder signals) and emulate the driving controller by scaling down the pulse count, but lost interest after I got the standard mode working. Now I'm not even sure where the thing is.

Edited September 12, 2011 by BigO

[bohoki]

i too have the wico and an atari one i like the wico better i use it with my commadore64 mostly as a mouse i'm not aware of any cartridges that use the trackball to its fullest

 

 

also missile command and centipede seem to be about the only arcades that used the tracball

 

hmm there may be more but who knows how to mod the roms to work then i might be able to use them on my supercharger

 

it would be cool if some of the paddle games could be hacked

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trackball_arcade_games

[VectorGamer]

also missile command and centipede seem to be about the only arcades that used the tracball

 

 

When you say "arcades" are you talking arcade games or arcade ports for the 2600?

 

For 2600 ports, an obvious omission is Millipede. I also play Reactor and Crystal with a trackball.