joystick vs. track ball controller?

[Atari-Collector]

It's been almost a year now since I hurt my right arm and still giving my troubles, making playing with Atari joysticks uncomfortable fair quickly so I haven't hardly touched my games in all this time. And yes I have seen the doc, she's mostly passive useless.. I finally have an appointment with a specialist next month to have it checked.. And have over an hour drive each way when the time comes...

 

I have a few different type of joysticks now, heavy sixer Atari stick, Wico, some Gemsticks I haven't tried yet, but mostly I'm using a Slik-stick I completely torn down and cleaned when I play.

 

anyway, back to the question.. I seen a track ball online yesterday, and thought that could be a solution since there's not the side to side force needed. So I'd like to hear from track ball owners how they are for game play in place of a joystick?

 

It's frustrating having collected 50 or 60 games now and can't really play them. As a side note, I have a PS3 and playing don't bother me, so I was thinking about buying a cheap PS3 control and cannibalizing it to my it an Atari controller.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Atari-Collector

[+SpiceWare]

Have you tried a Genesis gamepad? Button B = Atari's fire button.

[Atari-Collector]

Never have tried one of those. Just looked on the evil auction site and lots on there cheap. So I may give one of them a ago. As a bonus, I called the local used games store to see of they had any trackballs, none, but they just opened a new store that's about 5 minutes from where I live

[fiddlepaddle]

I doubt if a trackball would be any easier on the arm, although it does improve the experience of several games. Genesis pads plentiful, cheap and easy to find. I bet you could find a collector in your neck of the woods who would practically give you one, or at least trade for something you find useless. Maybe look on craigslist (or whatever you have up there) to identify some collectors to call.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Or your could try to use your other arm. May take a while to get used to it.

[+Nathan Strum]

You might check out this thread.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I bought some NOS Atari joysticks when I first bought my Atari and they're stiff as f***. I built my own giant Atari joystick out of arcade parts to compensate.

 

Given your hand condition, if playing on a traditional gamepad doesn't bother you, then by all means get a 3-button Genesis pad. They are fairly common, no modding needed. As a bonus, certain homebrews specifically detect the presence of a Genny gamepad and utilize the extra button.

 

Don't waste a perfectly good PS3 or PSX joypad.

[Atari-Collector]

THanks for all the replies, I'm going see what the local used games store has and hopefully get something there. and there's lots for sale on kajiji locally. or I could just get a whole Genesis system and expand my collecting...

[Atari-Collector]

I bought a new clone Genesis controller for $14 called "HYPERKIN", does fell good, but after less then a minite of play, the left direction then the fire would stop working. power cycling would bring it back for about the same time, tried it on both a 2600 Jr, and 800 computer, exact same thing.

Bothe the 2600Jr and 800 had no problems when I put in a Gemstick.. So must be a compatibility glitch..

 

So going to take it back and try a different controller, then had a whole Genesis system there with original controls for 29$, so I might get that then have a new platform to collect for

[+Nathan Strum]

I've run into issues with cheap Genesis knock-off controllers, too. Some are just junk.

[Atari-Collector]

Took the $14 Genesis clone control back and got the cheaper $10 controller,, and it works fine

I was tempted to get the used Genesis system that had there, the guy yesterday said it came with 2 original controllers.. the guy working today said only one.. so I decided to pass on it. I think if I ever start collecting a different platform I'll stick with one of the later Atari systems.

 

and thanks again fro suggesting the Genesis controls:)

[+SpiceWare]

I had issues with cheap controllers too that were all the local store had. Ended up buying some better ones off ebay.

 

One neat thing about the Genesis controller is the Atari can also read the state of button C. If you have a Harmony Cart you might like to check this topic for games that have been hacked to support two distinct fire buttons.

[gilsaluki]

The Knock-off Gen controllers; they no good for Mongo. Mongo like real Gen controllers. Candy-gram for Mongo. Mongo like Candy.