5200 controller idea

[Devalis]

Just something I drew up as an idea. it's not to scale, just a concept. I'm considering getting the ball roller on trying to build one, just not sure on trying to get the shell done. Anyway, I'd love to hear comments on it!

 

5200 controller.bmp

[bohoki]

it seems clever i'm not sure how the dual sticks are going to work i like the idea to use an actual button module from a 5200 stick on the horizontal plane of a gamepad

[Devalis]

It's for the two or three dual stick games that are supported. One would either have to have like an 18 conductor cable and break out another 15 pin connector for the player 2 port, or add a TRS jack and let you patch it in to the player 2 port with a separate cable. The idea was to use an actual rubber keypad from a 5200 controller and just have it sit on top of tact switches. The same would apply for the three function keys.

[deltronik]

It's a cool concept. I think the dual stick setup could be reasonable utilizing a detachable cord for the second stick, store the cable away unless you're playing robotron, etc.

 

It seems like the control pad setup is the worst part. Judging by the illustrations, it seems like it would be pretty awkward and uncomfortable, but I may be overestimating the controller's bulkiness.

 

As you probably realize, the shell is going to be the actual hard part.

Edited July 18, 2016 by deltronik

[Devalis]

Well, if I had a 3D printer, I could print it as a solid piece, then I could judge how it feels. We have one at work that is just sitting, might try to nab it for some test run.

[0078265317]

Nice. Much better than anything I ever drew.

[bikeguychicago]

It looks a bit like a RC airplane remote.

Edited July 19, 2016 by bikeguychicago

[bikeguychicago]

To increase usability I would suggest the following:

 

- Change the face action buttons into trigger buttons on the top of the controller.

- Make the analog sticks shorter and textured or cupped (like on the PS or Xbox controllers)

- Round out the design (similar to an Xbox controller) to make the controller fit more comfortably in one's hand.

Edited July 19, 2016 by bikeguychicago

[+grips03]

Two recommendations are:

Use those Playstation analog joysticks for the two sticks, adapt to what the 5200 wants using a digital pot.

 

For the action buttons I would use 24mm Seimitsu (or similar) arcade buttons if the controller shell is deep enough. The smaller arcade buttons tend to be hard to press. i.e. takes too much force. Another idea would be to use the rubber material like Sega Genesis buttons use, those work pretty good.

 

If you do use the stock rubber pieces from the 5200 over tact switches that might be cool too.

 

Good luck with the project.

[Devalis]

The whole idea was to make something that looks like it belongs with the 5200, like Atari would have designed it. I may use PS or GameCube style joysticks or one I found that looks good here

 

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/0949rjoystickwpots.aspx

 

If i get around to modeling it, I'm sure the shape will change some. I wonder if there would be any demand for it if I made some.

[CrazyChris]

I like the design. Clever idea to use the 5200 keypad and function keys.

[bohoki]

i hate to be "that guy" from the boardroom but i would abandon the dual analog because the 2 games that use dual stick are not analog

 

maybe just have a second d pad on the right hmm it may be cool to make it truly ambi by having the other 2 buttons on the left to be the buttons for player 2 i just cant come up with an easy way to switch the keypad between player 1 and 2

[David Alexander]

Very interested, it would be great to have the definitive 5200 controller replacement.

[Lynxpro]

The whole idea was to make something that looks like it belongs with the 5200, like Atari would have designed it. I may use PS or GameCube style joysticks or one I found that looks good here

 

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/0949rjoystickwpots.aspx

 

If i get around to modeling it, I'm sure the shape will change some. I wonder if there would be any demand for it if I made some.

 

If you added silver trim to an Atari Jaguar Pro Controller, it would look like it was made for the 5200.

 

Substituting a PS - or Xbox - analog thumb stick in the place of its DPad would be perfect.

 

 

On a side note, the CX53 Trak-Ball used dome switches under the keypad buttons which is why they don't fail unlike the joystick keypad buttons.

[kogden]

What values to the pots on a 5200 stick need to be? I'd love to build a thumbstick based controller but IIRC the 5200 sticks are nowhere near the same values of typical playstation/xbox analog sticks.

[thegamezmaster]

Nice looking controller. Any price point at this time? Hope it's not astronomical. Just saying.

[Devalis]

Suppose I could do a Dpad, four buttons in a "diamond" layout ala SNES and have a mode switch that would do dual stick or fire buttons, but it would be more complicated electronically. I would have to figure out where to put an analog stick, but I want to keep the feel of the 5200.

[Prosystemsearch]

I wonder how hard it would be to go and reverse-engineer the Coin Controls joystick or the REI Starcon controller? Also, nice conceptual drawing btw.

[bohoki]

yea the hardest part of making a controller is the housing the second is the cord and plug

 

the circuitry is super simple if someone can print up the shell and dpads it would be easy to put tiny buttons on a perf board and if could use a standard 4x4 matrix keypad it could save on buttons

 

but once again that is just me being the guy you should huck out of a boardroom cause it would be better to have it use overlays

Edited July 28, 2016 by bohoki