neglectoru Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My memories of the Atari 2600 from my childhood are sadly fuzzy and depressingly long ago. Help is greatly appreciated. In recent DTV offerings (Flashback?), I played versions of Breakout and Super Breakout that control with a joystick. This surprised me, as I could swear that (at least) breakout required paddles. Did Breakout support both joystick and paddles, and I never knew? If I'm remembering correctly (paddle only), do the modern systems do ROM modification to patch in joystick support, or some hardware emulation of the paddle interface in the modern joysticks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttertweet Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Breakout was strictly a paddle game. Flashback uses a strictly-joystick system, probably to save on costs. I am not sure if the ROM's are modded or if the controllers somehow map paddle moves to the joystick. Their joysticks feel a little funny too, I've never quite figured out what's on the inside. Perhaps they are specially designed to have some "floating" qualities, so that they are somewhat more compatible with paddle games like Breakout. I do know that Circus Atari had some sort of bootleg version by Zellers that used joysticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersonn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I've never looked into the flashback systems, so I know nothing about them. That being said, I kinda figured all those "built-in games" consoles had customized clones of the original games. Again, I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I had one of those 10-in-1 Jakks Pacific 2600 joystick looking plug-n-play units. That's possibly where you saw Breakout with a joystick. http://www.amazon.com/Jakks-Atari-Classics-10-Games/dp/B0000645DD It had Breakout, Circus and something else that was designed to be a paddle game. I never was a big fan of Breakout but I can tell you that playing Circus with a joystick just plain sucked. I got rid of the 10-in-1. For plug-n-play paddle games, this other Jakks unit is excellent: http://www.powerpakblog.com/console/2012/3/26/atari-plug-n-play-paddle-controller.html It has Super Breakout + 10 other 2600 games + arcade Pong + arcade Warlords. I believe it's a Nintendo-on-a-chip device, but the ports of the games are pretty good. Circus plays very much like the original. The only significant thing I noticed was that some of the sounds are entirely different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I had to try the carts just to rule out the possibility ... tried both Breakout & Super Breakout with a joystick in a 7800 system & didn't work .... paddles worked as they were supposed to ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_(Jakks_Pacific) the 10-in1 joystick had Super Breakout & Circus & Pong all originally designed for paddles & play MUCH better with paddles IMO I still need the Jakks Pacific paddle for my collection as it looks like a lot of fun ... the flashback units, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Flashback have paddle designed games using a joystick but also have a couple hidden paddle games requiring a separate set of paddles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Only thing is that one of the joystick directions (left, I think) doubles as a paddle button. That's the most joystick usage you'll ever get out of a game intended to be played with paddles -- both Breakouts included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My memories of the Atari 2600 from my childhood are sadly fuzzy and depressingly long ago. Help is greatly appreciated. In recent DTV offerings (Flashback?), I played versions of Breakout and Super Breakout that control with a joystick. This surprised me, as I could swear that (at least) breakout required paddles. Did Breakout support both joystick and paddles, and I never knew? If I'm remembering correctly (paddle only), do the modern systems do ROM modification to patch in joystick support, or some hardware emulation of the paddle interface in the modern joysticks? The Flashbacks use the original ROMs running off of emulation. The emulation layer allows for joystick or paddles, i.e., the game itself is not modified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Only thing is that one of the joystick directions (left, I think) doubles as a paddle button. That's the most joystick usage you'll ever get out of a game intended to be played with paddles -- both Breakouts included. well I was able to successfully play Canyon Bomber seeing it only uses the fire button Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neglectoru Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks for the replies. I'm glad I'm not going crazy. I was indeed thinking of the Jakks version of Breakout. I did toy with the hidden paddle games in t he Flashback 2, though, hence my additional confusion. I should probably pick up a Flashback 5... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I discovered Gravatar on the Jakks Pacific stick .... awesome game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolyschaf Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) Apologies for hijacking an old thread - is there a hack of Breakout or Super Breakout that can be used with the joystick? (this savesme swapping on to my paddles) Edited April 29, 2021 by dolyschaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocelo Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 I don't know of a hack that allows you to use a joystick with breakout, but a "breakout-style" game on the 2600 that uses a joystick is "Off the Wall" and it's pretty good! https://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=330 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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