Space Ace Joystick

[Arkhan]

I have one of these, and really like it.

 

However, I got the thing for free from someone who didn't want their Atari stuff anymore.

 

It's a bit goony now whenever I try to use it. Do they have a high fail-rate? Or, are they easy to fix up?

 

or...

 

are they cheap enough that I could just buy a few more?

 

 

I'm curious what other joysticks there are like this one. I really prefer it most for Star Raiders and Starmaster. It feels more fun when you have a joystick that resembles a space ship one...

[Godzilla]

u mean the space age joystick? I love that stick. Mastertronic made one of that style too iirc...

[jaybird3rd]

I posted the following about the Space Age joystick in another thread:

 

The Atari Space Age joystick is a simplified version of the joystick that Milton Bradley originally developed for the MBX Expansion System, for the TI 99/4A. The original is even nicer: it was a self-centering analog joystick which also had a built-in 360° rotation knob, and it had three top action buttons in addition to the trigger. The MBX joystick is exceedingly rare, but the Atari version seems to be less so: Atari2600.com has them for $12.95 each.

[Godzilla]

Neat! Never really heard of the mbx before! Looks like it had some cool games!

[godzillajoe]

Yeah that Bigfoot game needs a 2600 version. Is there an emulator for that MBX thing?

[jaybird3rd]

The MBX is a neat little peripheral; I've had lots of fun with mine. It was originally to be a game system in its own right before Milton Bradley decided that the console market was too crowded already, so they repackaged it as an add-on for the 99/4A (for which Milton Bradley had done a lot of development work). All that would be needed to make the MBX into a standalone console would be its own video subsystem, and a cartridge slot. Unfortunately, MBX support is not included in any 99/4A emulator that I know of, and the MBX units themselves—especially working ones in good cosmetic condition—are quite rare.

[Godzilla]

some of the animated gifs on that page look like they came from an emu. Would love to have one of these in my collection one day

[jaybird3rd]

some of the animated gifs on that page look like they came from an emu. Would love to have one of these in my collection one day

Many (but not all) of the MBX games do not actually require the MBX; you can play them on a stock 99/4A computer, but the features which require an MBX—speech recognition, the 360-degree joystick, and so forth—will be disabled. These games will work in a 99/4A emulator, but at present, the games which require the MBX (such as Championship Baseball) will not.