Which game is the "Joystick-Killer " #1 ?

[Lord-Chaos]

I´d say Activision´s Decathlon , just killed another Joystick with this game.

 

Especially "Quickshot" Joysticks won´t survive this game , but the last joystick "killed" was a CX-24.

 

The only Joystick that survived this game for years is the almost indestructible Competion Pro , I don´t know if this one was available outside of Europe , I think it was made in the UK.

 

Another games that can "kill" a Joystick (by playing them and not by causing so much frustration that the player throws the Joystick away - btw. the Competion Pro even survived that ...)

 

Thimo

[CPUWIZ]

Yup, Decathlon and Track & Field.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yes, it must be Decathlon (though I only played it on the C64). And since I also used a Competition Pro, the joystick survived (until today!).

 

But I killed at least one Atari joystick by playing Cosmic Ark.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I never liked those Decathlon type games - except "Combat School" on the C64

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I never liked those Decathlon type games...

Blasphemy!

 

IMO Decathlon is a great party game!

 

At the latest after the 1500m everybody gets quite thirsty.

[MattyXB]

Yes, I am too for Decathlon. In the past, we have kill many Joysticks with this game I think.

 

For Track & Field I own the special Controller, I think its better, and can not be killed easy.

[Mind Master]

Decathlon, hands down. It seems to have been created to destroy joysticks.

 

Side note: Once I was showing off my new Wico joystick to my friends. Imagine my shame as they kicked my butt in Decathlon using ordinary joyticks. The regular Atari joystick was far superior to the Wico stick for Decathlon purposes (although less durable).

[D.Yancey]

Don't be so rough on Decathlon. The easier you tap the stick the faster you will travel!

 

I've worn out a few CX-40 fire buttons on Asteroids and Defender.

[ATARI TROLL]

Decathlon and Track & Field

[Room 34]

I liked the story I read about in a David Crane interview somewhere... at the CES show where Decathlon was debuted... a bunch of guys sitting in a room wiggling joysticks back and forth...

[RCorcoran]

Brien King calls Decathlon "Carpul Tunnel Videogame"

[Godzilla]

decathalon wins by a mile :-) dont u race a mile in decathalon? :-)

 

tac-2s eat decathalon for breakfast :-)

[NovaXpress]

I remember a controller similar to the Fairchild's made for the 2600, it had a "half-speed" feature which, when the button was pressed, would send quick left-right signals to the controller. So your Pitfall Harry would indeed move slowly (if one pressed the joystick right, the signal would be interrupted by brief contrary signals). Just picture what this feature did for Decathlon!!! Many of the magazine of the day mentioned this joystick as the key to raising scores without breaking joysticks.

[slapdash]

Yes, I am too for Decathlon. In the past, we have kill many Joysticks with this game I think.    

 

For Track & Field I own the special Controller, I think its better, and can not be killed easy.  

 

Actually, I used a Starplex button controller for Decathlon... I was impossible to beat in a straight sprint. :-)

[Video]

Boy oh Boy. Any decathalon type game was a destroyer of joystics.

 

Decathalon, Summer olympics, Winter olympics, Track and Field. You want to break a joystic having fun, rather than by becoming frustrated, these were the way.

 

Man, that last event in Decathalon was a killer, untill years later when I found out for the first 4/5 of the track you could rock the stick slowly and still run fast.

[Nukey Shay]

I remember a controller similar to the Fairchild's made for the 2600, it had a "half-speed" feature which, when the button was pressed, would send quick left-right signals to the controller. So your Pitfall Harry would indeed move slowly (if one pressed the joystick right, the signal would be interrupted by brief contrary signals). Just picture what this feature did for Decathlon!!! Many of the magazine of the day mentioned this joystick as the key to raising scores without breaking joysticks.

 

Kinda cheating, though. I imagine that you could use a Y-adapter and 2-autofire adapters to accomplish the same thing (in the Y adapter, swap the left or right wire with the firebutton wires). You can get away with using only one autofire adapter in the 8-bit port of Track and Field.