ICBM Attack Controller

[CharChar2001]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know of any instructions on creating your own ICBM Attack Controller? As these are extremely rare and I have never seen one show up on eBay, I'd be willing to create my own.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

CharChar2001

 

 

[ballyalley]

Does anyone know of any instructions on creating your own ICBM Attack Controller? As these are extremely rare and I have never seen one show up on eBay, I'd be willing to create my own.

 

There are no how-to instructions for creating the ICBM Attack controller. This subject does come up from time to time on the Bally Alley Yahoo Group. Most recently, it came up in June of 2018. You may want to catch-up with the group post from June before you begin. Here is a post that I made there on the matter:

 

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Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2018 5:21 PM

To: ballyalley@yahoogroups.com

Subject: ICBM Attack - Fun Controller It's Movement; was: I'd buy that for a dollar...

 

Hi, everyone. It's nice to hear people talking about the ICBM Attack controller, especially since I've been disasembling Bally Pin. Bally Pin can take advantage of that special controller's side-buttons, which were made especially for that pinball game.

 

I've played ICBM Attack in MAME and it works great. This game is based on the idea of Missile Command, but it's not that game. It's different from it enough that it stands on its own.

 

I've used many different analog controllers (various mice, trackballs, X-box 360, and PS2-like controllers) to play ICBM Attack in MAME. They all work fine without restricted movements. The X-Arcade trackball works flawlessly; it's as though the game was designed for that from-the-future controller. Using self-centering controllers doesn't work well at all, as the cursor keeps moving back to the middle of the screen (which is what you would expect with such a controller). Since most people don't have trackballs, then use the mouse it works better than you might expect with this game.

 

 

Give ICBM Attack a try in MAME. I wrote instructions with Paul Thacker on how to do that in 2010. You can read them here:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/ballyalley/articles/Playing_ICBM_Attack_Using_MESS.pdf

 

The instructions are a little outdated, but if you're familiar with MAME, then you won't have any issues setting the emulator up to play this game with an analog controller.

 

Above all else, please try ICBM Attack under emulation. It's a great game that no one has played properly on their real Astrocade systems, probably, since the 1980s or 1990s. What's cool about this game having been placed into the public domain is that anyone can try it out under Astrocade emulation. I've said it many times, but I'm going to say it again: thanks to Brett and the gang at Spectre for allowing people to share and try ICBM Attack going on 35 years after it was written. It's a rare game in cartridge form, but it's common in the virtual world. Unlike most rare games for consoles, this rare game isn't terrible: it's damn good!

 

Enjoy the game, and have fun using your Astrocade, be it made of plastic and silicon from the 1970s and 1980s, or an "Astrocade" that you're using on your modern system via the MAME emulator.

 

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You don't have to be a member of Yahoo groups to read the posts there, but you do have to join if you want to respond to or create a new post. Here is a link to the above message on the Bally Alley Yahoo group:

 

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ballyalley/conversations/messages/15743

 

Read the messages related to ICBM Attack from June. This should give you something to work with to help get you started on your ICBM Attack controller project.

 

Also, note that the Spectre Handle shipped with documentation and type-in BASIC programs that could be used with the controller. These programs are available here:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/program_downloads/2000_baud_programs/misc/misc.html#SpectreControlHandleDemoProgramsAB

 

In the early-to-mid 1980s, Mike White took notes on the ICBM Attack controller. These notes include the requires potentiometer values used in the controller. Here are his notes on Spectre controller:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/documentation/spectre_systems/icbm_attack_joystick_notes.pdf

 

Remember, you don't have to replicate the entire joystick. You can simplify the project by leaving off the keypad and the two extra buttons used for Bally Pin. This should be enough information for a do-it-yourselfer to create their own controller.

 

Good luck!

 

Adam