BigErn Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I tried playing Centipede with a Trak-Ball and it was pretty horrible. Does Millipede respond any better? I am aware Atari never produced any games that took advantage of the Trak-Ball's analog control, but I was surprised at how poorly it functioned with Centipede. It was even way too slow to use on Missile Command. I've been spoiled by the Missile Command TB hack. I just bought a copy from the AA store, and I can't put it down. I wish there were more games that utilized the TB to its full extent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Yeah, the trak-ball was a great idea that went horribly wrong. Have you tried it with Crystal Castles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I had a WICO trackball back in the 80's and I remember liking it. I never had Millipede though. I've been playing lots of Millipede recently through emulation. Very fun! Who should we ask that can mod Millipede for the trackball? Remember that arcade centipede had a limit of how fast the shooter went left / right, it wasn't as fast as you could spin it. The trackball shines in the fine positioning of up down left right where you're shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigErn Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Yeah, the trak-ball was a great idea that went horribly wrong. Have you tried it with Crystal Castles? I have never tried it with Crystal Castles, the teddy bear on the box put me off it. I had a WICO trackball back in the 80's and I remember liking it. I never had Millipede though. I've been playing lots of Millipede recently through emulation. Very fun! Who should we ask that can mod Millipede for the trackball? Remember that arcade centipede had a limit of how fast the shooter went left / right, it wasn't as fast as you could spin it. The trackball shines in the fine positioning of up down left right where you're shooting. I can't get any fine positioning on my TB. Maybe the WICO TB is better. I was going to buy one, but then I read that it only works in joystick mode, so it couldn't be used to play the Missile Command TB hack. And why do almost all of the TB's have a yellow ball? It looks like earwax. Black or stainless steel would have looked so much cooler. And I agree, someone needs to mod Millipede for the TB. I would definitely buy a copy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 The problem is that the trackball is emulating the joystick, so it is being "mapped" to the directionals without taking the speed into account. That gives you a lot less control than you would have if the game was designed to use the trackball natively, without the joystick emulation. The trackball with the yellow ball that you're referring to is the CX-22, and I don't like it, either. I've got two of them, but they all have rusty bearings. I much prefer the CX-80, which is all-black and a better stylistic match for the 2600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esplonky Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 nobody ever pays me in gum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I read in the old thread that there needs to be processor time in the display kernel to add analogue trackball control. Millipede and Centipede are far too busy to read the trackball, Missile Command had processor cycles available to make that hack work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigErn Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 I read in the old thread that there needs to be processor time in the display kernel to add analogue trackball control. Millipede and Centipede are far too busy to read the trackball, Missile Command had processor cycles available to make that hack work. nooooooo Maybe we'll get an original homebrew... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 the teddy bear on the box put me off it. Bad reason to miss out on a great game. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicViper Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Yeah, the trak-ball was a great idea that went horribly wrong. Have you tried it with Crystal Castles? I have never tried it with Crystal Castles, the teddy bear on the box put me off it. I had a WICO trackball back in the 80's and I remember liking it. I never had Millipede though. I've been playing lots of Millipede recently through emulation. Very fun! Who should we ask that can mod Millipede for the trackball? Remember that arcade centipede had a limit of how fast the shooter went left / right, it wasn't as fast as you could spin it. The trackball shines in the fine positioning of up down left right where you're shooting. I can't get any fine positioning on my TB. Maybe the WICO TB is better. I was going to buy one, but then I read that it only works in joystick mode, so it couldn't be used to play the Missile Command TB hack. And why do almost all of the TB's have a yellow ball? It looks like earwax. Black or stainless steel would have looked so much cooler. And I agree, someone needs to mod Millipede for the TB. I would definitely buy a copy. What someone REALLY needs to do is a TB compatible Millipede hack based on the 7800 version of Centipede. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ataritard Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I'm a fan of the Atari 2600 Trackball. (That's right, I said it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentley Bear! Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I have never tried it with Crystal Castles, the teddy bear on the box put me off it. RACIST! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigErn Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 I'm a fan of the Atari 2600 Trackball. (That's right, I said it.) What games are good to use with the Trak-Ball? I just tried Activision's Skiing with the TB and it was pretty fun. With Centipede the left/right motions are always diagonal and slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigErn Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 I have never tried it with Crystal Castles, the teddy bear on the box put me off it. RACIST! speechless 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maiki Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 The problem is that the trackball is emulating the joystick, so it is being "mapped" to the directionals without taking the speed into account. If this is true then no sence buing any Atari trackballs. A trackball should always be analogue. PERIOD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 The problem is that the trackball is emulating the joystick, so it is being "mapped" to the directionals without taking the speed into account. If this is true then no sence buing any Atari trackballs. A trackball should always be analogue. PERIOD. Emulating a joystick is just an option, so that you can also play games which are programmed for joystick usage. For games programmed for trackball usage, you can switch to analogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slamthedoor Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I'm a fan of the Atari 2600 Trackball. (That's right, I said it.) What games are good to use with the Trak-Ball? I just tried Activision's Skiing with the TB and it was pretty fun. Decathalon was good. You barely have to move the ball and can get great scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 (edited) I bought a WICO, COMMAND CONTROL trackball for $7.99 at Value Village a little while ago, and i love it, works fantastic.BTW, I use the Atari 2600 Track & Field control for Decathlon on my ColecoVision and any other game or console that utilizes it, the blue one with 2 white buttons on bottom and one red one on top, saves a lot of wear and tear on joysticks, and Decathlon AFAIK is the worse for that. Edited November 18, 2011 by Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 If you want Atari Trak-ball action, then look no further than the 5200 baby! You simply won't find better trak-ball gameplay than that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Unsure if you guys have noticed but, there's a nice version of Millipede hacked that uses a trackball which can be emulated well. The only bug is that when you shoot the inchworm, your speed is reduced too, instead of just the enemies. I do better with the digital controls in the 2600 version though. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-9?do=findComment&comment=3331213 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Unsure if you guys have noticed but, there's a nice version of Millipede hacked that uses a trackball which can be emulated well. The only bug is that when you shoot the inchworm, your speed is reduced too, instead of just the enemies. I do better with the digital controls in the 2600 version though. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-9?do=findComment&comment=3331213 You realize you just necro-bumped a thread that's almost 5-1/2 years old, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Pretty sure people would be happy to know they finally have what they were trying to find regardless of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Pretty sure people would be happy to know they finally have what they were trying to find regardless of the time. If they're still actively interested over five years later, they would no doubt have seen the dozens-of-pages long thread that is being actively maintained - complete with links to the latest builds in the first post - concerning these recent rewrites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 (edited) That doesn't have its own dedicated topic and I didn't see their names following the post. Anyway just helping. I see no harm from it. Millipede with TB hack: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-9?do=findComment&comment=3331213 Edited March 5, 2017 by Tangentg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 That doesn't have its own dedicated topic and I didn't see their names following the post. Anyway just helping. I see no harm from it. Millipede with TB hack: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-9?do=findComment&comment=3331213 ALL the recent Trak-Ball game rewrites are being actively discussed here, complete with a link to the latest build of each one in the first post: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/243453-atari-2600-trak-ball-games/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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