DIY Track & Field Controller

[Danjovic]

DIY track and field controller for Atari 2600. Simple and easy to build (link).

 

 

 

[tripletopper]

On 9/15/2019 at 12:51 AM, Danjovic said:

DIY track and field controller for Atari 2600. Simple and easy to build (link).

 

 

 

Should I assume the track and field controllers are as easy as wiring the left button to whatever pin on the 2600 is left the right button to whatever is right and the jump button to whatever is fire and the ground into whatever is ground and that should be enough to make a DIY track and field controller, correct?

 

also judging by your scale it looks like you have the buttons closer together than they are on the original Atari controller.

 

One game I would like to adapt it for is pac land America home consoles have three versions I think turbo grafx 16, PlayStation 1, and Xbox 360.   If you have a discrete controller hook up to a PCB then in theory you could reroute the left right and jump buttons to whatever buttons you needed on the other consoles (Turbo grafx might need joystick up to equal jump) and the coder should decode them just like any other button.

 

By the way I noticed some strange things when using a genuine Atari track and field controller to play Activision decathlon on ColecoVision. When I try to Y it in, funny things happen.  I understand there's two different types of Y adapters.  One for sharing Atari controllers for ColecoVision,  to use a keypad,. And the other is the coleco Gemini Y adapter.  How does one tell the difference other than plugging it in and checking the results?

 

[mr_me]

Use a multimeter continuity check to see if a y-adapter is changing the wire/pins.

[tripletopper]

But am I right about there being no special circuit in the track n field controller.   Just like how hit boxes exist in fighting games?

 

Except do not install an SOCD scrubber in between, or else you lose the point of the device.

 

By the way. Has anyone noticed errors when playing a track n field controller in a y adapter (and  a standard controller [the Super Action controller causes runtime errors even with no TnF controller or Y] in the other end of the Y) in CV Activision Decathlon? 

[Zaltran]

On 9/15/2019 at 12:51 AM, Danjovic said:

DIY track and field controller for Atari 2600. Simple and easy to build (link).

 

Do you have links to where you got the components for this?

[tripletopper]

Well a lot of fight stick makers use the exact same components on Shoryuken.com.

 

Thankfully your job is much easier than the typical shoryuken joystick maker, because you just hook one button signal to the left what hook one button signal to the right hook one button signal to the fire and all three buttons to the ground.

 

You don't have to worry about programming stuff to make it work.  It's a direct controller.  There's no coding.  there's no organizing a bits. There's no serializing.

[doubledown]

7 hours ago, Zaltran said:

On 9/15/2019 at 12:51 AM, Danjovic said:

DIY track and field controller for Atari 2600. Simple and easy to build (link).

 

Do you have links to where you got the components for this?

These items in their "cheapest" forms (both price, and quality) are available on ebay or Amazon...as cheap-o / knock-off stuff, potentially shipped from China taking weeks to arrive.  Quality components are available from multiple arcade parts suppliers on the web, such as Arcade Shop, Focus Attack, Paradise Arcade...and plenty of others (Shoryuken.com mentioned above is a review and forum site, not a vendor to my knowledge), and enclosures can be purchased from places like Digi-Key, Mouser, Arrow, OnlineComponents...and plenty of others.  If you want a truly high-quality controller that will help you better your Track & Field type games times/scores, I would suggest a heavy table-top / lap-top enclosure that you don't have to hold in your hands (so that you can use multiple fingers from each hand to manipulate each of the Run buttons, watch YouTube videos for skilled players using this technique) and true leaf-switch push-buttons, adjusted for trip-wire sensitivity.  Something like what is pictured in the original post would probably cost you somewhere between $15-$25 on the low end of the spectrum, up to, how ever fancy/high quality you want to make it.  

[tripletopper]

Shoryuken has sub pages where you can hire someone to build, or learn the trickier aspects of gaming joysticks.

 

I learned to combine a few concepts there and hired Stan Escolano of California to build my prototype SinisterSticks.com joystick.  Atari is as simple as direct connection.  No coding, unlike NES and beyond.