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DOUBLEDOWN Custom ColecoVision Controllers


doubledown

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Howdy folks.  As I started digging through boxes and boxes upon boxes last night to start sorting and separating all of my ColecoVision stuff I plan on selling here in the near future, I found a box approximately 20"x20"x20" full of ColecoVision hand controllers and was thinking about a run of custom ColecoVision controllers like I've done before as a way to help move them.  Just trying to determine if there is any interest in something like this currently before I get too far into it.  I'm not sure what theme these would be, but obviously I like the idea of a 2 controller set like Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man & Donkey Kong / Donkey Kong Junior as I've done before.  I also find it better when its an arcade port as I attempt to stylize them like the actual arcade cabinets using their color schemes and artwork.  Please chime in with any interest and theme ideas and we'll go from there.  Also note, anybody who owns both sets of my previous controllers would obviously have to buy this new set to keep their collection complete!

 

Previously made controllers:

 

Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man

dualsideby35ev4.jpg

 

Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr.

dkdkjrcontrollerspic35.jpg

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Well as of now I was considering a new game theme (accepting suggestions) for the controllers, and just showing the pics of the previous controllers I've done for reference.  If there is a ton of interest in me re-making the Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man and/or Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr. sets its possible, but I would need to change something slightly to differentiate them from the original releases.  

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1 hour ago, coleco_master said:

BTW I would love to see a Tutankham Theme :)

Thinking outside the box, I like it.  Could go 1 of two different routes with this:

 

Arcade reproduction style:

Controller housing: Darkish (slightly orange tinted) red (from pics I see online)

Joystick Ball: red

Buttons: red

Marquee artwork on face-end of controller

 

Arcade/ColecoVision hybird style:

Controller housing: Light/Medium tan (like the Parker Bros. box the game came in) (and yes I would dye a fresh new coat over an ADAM controller ideally)

Joystick Ball: red

Buttons: red

Marquee artwork on face-end of controller

 

On the hybrid style, I could easily make an entire Parker Bros. controller set:

 

Frogger

Frogger II

Gyruss

James Bond

Montezuma's Revenge

Mr. Do's Castle

Popeye

Q*bert

Q*bert's Qubes

Star Wars

Super Cobra

Tutankham

 

Who wants a 12 ColecoVision controller Parker Bros. themed set? 

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32 minutes ago, doubledown said:

Thinking outside the box, I like it.  Could go 1 of two different routes with this:

 

Arcade reproduction style:

Controller housing: Darkish (slightly orange tinted) red (from pics I see online)

Joystick Ball: red

Buttons: red

Marquee artwork on face-end of controller

 

Arcade/ColecoVision hybird style:

Controller housing: Light/Medium tan (like the Parker Bros. box the game came in) (and yes I would dye a fresh new coat over an ADAM controller ideally)

Joystick Ball: red

Buttons: red

Marquee artwork on face-end of controller

 

On the hybrid style, I could easily make an entire Parker Bros. controller set:

 

Frogger

Frogger II

Gyruss

James Bond

Montezuma's Revenge

Mr. Do's Castle

Popeye

Q*bert

Q*bert's Qubes

Star Wars

Super Cobra

Tutankham

 

Who wants a 12 ColecoVision controller Parker Bros. themed set? 

If you're going over two in a set, you could do the ColecoVision/Adam Supergame set: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Subroc, Buck Rodgers, (B.C. Quest for Tires?)

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3 hours ago, Swami said:

I you're going over two in a set, you could do the ColecoVision/Adam Supergame set: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Subroc, Buck Rodgers, (B.C. Quest for Tires?)

Well previously I've dyed the controllers and buttons to match the arcade cabinet styling as well as selected the color of the ball top.  I think the only way to offer a ColecoVision / Adam Super set would be a black ColecoVision and Beige Adam set.  The ball/buttons/and artwork would be styled for the game, but the housings would have to be stock colors as the only way to differentiate the two.

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39 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

Would love to see a set of Venture and Mouse Trap custom controllers :cool: 

Venture would be easy enough:

Controller housing: white

Ball top: black

Buttons: white

Arcade marquee artwork

Custom stylized keypad overlay

 

Mouse Trap also pretty easy, just need to figure out joystick ball top color, 

Controller housing: white

Ball Top: ?? Pics I find on internet show black, red, and blue.  Not sure what is proper

Buttons: black

Arcade marquee artwork

Permanent Mouse Trap overlay for keypad buttons

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I'd be interested in some of those, as the main controllers of my CollectorVision Phoenix system, once I receive it.

 

Some questions:

 

1) Are the cords spirally or straight (like in the pics you posted)?

 

2) Can I assume the joystick will be fully refurbished?

 

3) What kind of warranty do you offer on these?

 

4) Would it be possible to buy black controllers with black knobs, with no painting at all? In other words, is the paint job a way to hide scratches and dust marks on your stock of controllers?

 

Thanks.  :)

 

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11 minutes ago, doubledown said:

Well previously I've dyed the controllers and buttons to match the arcade cabinet styling as well as selected the color of the ball top.  I think the only way to offer a ColecoVision / Adam Super set would be a black ColecoVision and Beige Adam set.  The ball/buttons/and artwork would be styled for the game, but the housings would have to be stock colors as the only way to differentiate the two.

I don't think the Adam/ColecoVision housing would need to be differentiated, in my opinion, as there is no operations difference between Adam/ColecoVision. They would just be the Colecovision games that also have Supergame versions on the Adam, most of which have been ported to the ColecoVision by Pixelboy. 5/6 controllers in the artwork style of the past two pairs would be fine and preferential, I think.

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6 minutes ago, Pixelboy said:

I'd be interested in some of those, as the main controllers of my CollectorVision Phoenix system, once I receive it.

 

Some questions:

 

1) Are the cords spirally or straight (like in the pics you posted)?

 

2) Can I assume the joystick will be fully refurbished?

 

3) What kind of warranty do you offer on these?

 

4) Would it be possible to buy black controllers with black knobs, with no painting at all? In other words, is the paint job a way to hide scratches and dust marks on your stock of controllers?

 

Thanks.  :)

 

1: I always replace standard coiled cords with straight wire (usually salvaged from Genesis controllers).  I chose this for actual usability, but if someone preferred the original coiled cord, it could be kept as original.

 

2: As always full refurbishment of controller and fully tested.

 

3: Well assuming people would actually "use" these and not just sit them on a shelf, 90 days.

 

4: I use to offer my shaft extension w/ball top knobs as kits years ago, but only sold a few sets, not much interest apparently.  I recently found a pack of these that I hadn't sold.  Here's a pic of one I made for somebody where the only mod was the joystick extension with ball knob (no theme/game tie-in).  On this one I dyed the knob silver to simulate the silver disc on top of the stock controller:

 

joystickmodsilveraa8.jpg

 

The knobs I use are available in black and red, but as above, I've obviously had luck dyeing those too.  Note the dye I use is very thin and really won't fill or hide major scratches or defects in the plastics.  

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47 minutes ago, coleco_master said:

I love the idea of a Parker Bros. themed set ?

Offering to pony up for 12 custom controllers?  I'd be happy to accept the challenge.  I could guarantee you would be the only 1 with that set.  Nine of the 12 Parker Bros. games were arcade ports so their styling would be easy to decide on, Frogger II, James Bond, and Montezuma's Revenge would need some thought.  

 

39 minutes ago, Swami said:

I don't think the Adam/ColecoVision housing would need to be differentiated, in my opinion, as there is no operations difference between Adam/ColecoVision. They would just be the Colecovision games that also have Supergame versions on the Adam, most of which have been ported to the ColecoVision by Pixelboy. 5/6 controllers in the artwork style of the past two pairs would be fine and preferential, I think.

I gotcha.  Yes definitely possible.  

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3 hours ago, doubledown said:

1: I always replace standard coiled cords with straight wire (usually salvaged from Genesis controllers).  I chose this for actual usability, but if someone preferred the original coiled cord, it could be kept as original.

 

2: As always full refurbishment of controller and fully tested.

 

3: Well assuming people would actually "use" these and not just sit them on a shelf, 90 days.

 

4: I use to offer my shaft extension w/ball top knobs as kits years ago, but only sold a few sets, not much interest apparently.  I recently found a pack of these that I hadn't sold.  Here's a pic of one I made for somebody where the only mod was the joystick extension with ball knob (no theme/game tie-in).

Okay, sold.  :D  I'd like 4 such unpainted controllers (black controller with black ball knobs). Where do I sign up?  ;)

 

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Well obviously any theme/game tie-in is possible the biggest problem lies with the dye.  There are 2 brands that I've used and they offer a few standard colors like black, red, white, a blue, a couple reds, and the likes.  When I did the Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man controllers those were stock colors, but the Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr. controllers I had custom made.  The custom made colors have minimum order quantities, thus I couldn't make 1 special controller for 1 person unless they wanted to absorb the cost of the entire lot of dye if I couldn't use it elsewhere.  The artwork marquee I apply to the end of the controller and the artwork keypad overlay I install I don't have any problem designing and printing those for a 1 off request because I design and print those myself.  So if we can come up with some consensus and need/want custom colors we would probably need about 12 people to be interested.  

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Great to see you back on AtariAge!

 

For anyone on the fence about DD's modded controllers, I had both sets (still have DK/DK Jr.) ad they are incredible... even though I don't use them as much as I should.

 

Makes sense to have a Mr. Do! / Mr. Do's! Castle set and possibly an Antarctic Adventure / Penguin Adventure set.

 

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It really is great seeing doubledown around these parts again. I'd be interested as well. I'm sure I am in the minority here but a Buck Rodgers or Zaxxon themed controller would be nice. 

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I really like the idea of a Zaxxon controller, but not sure how to stylize.   The full size cabinet had wood-grain sides, with a large black field for the artwork, and the CPO was silver.  But the magic to the Zaxxon cabinet was the pistol grip controller, seems more like a job for the Spectravideo SV-103:

 

colecovisioncontrollersge6.jpg

 

I also have about 15-20 of these controllers to get rid of too.  These could make a great donor for a Zaxxon controller.  

 

The Gorf full sized upright also used a pistol grip joystick!  Could be a theme here.

 

Also Buck Rogers.

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5 hours ago, doubledown said:

I really like the idea of a Zaxxon controller, but not sure how to stylize.   The full size cabinet had wood-grain sides, with a large black field for the artwork, and the CPO was silver.  But the magic to the Zaxxon cabinet was the pistol grip controller, seems more like a job for the Spectravideo SV-103:

 

colecovisioncontrollersge6.jpg

 

I also have about 15-20 of these controllers to get rid of too.  These could make a great donor for a Zaxxon controller.  

 

The Gorf full sized upright also used a pistol grip joystick!  Could be a theme here.

 

Also Buck Rogers.

I like it. 

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