More Info: VIC-20 Joystick (Lawsuit Edition)

[bvd]

Hey all,

 

I am new to this retro collecting thing and recently received this joystick in an Atari 2600 lot I bought.

 

From what I've been able to find, this seems to be a VIC-20 joystick, which apparently didn't sell too many before being discontinued due to a lawsuit from Atari.

 

I'm looking for more information on this from people who are more familiar with the subject. Anyone here have any ideas on how rare it is? Is this something people are looking for? I noticed the joystick doesn't have much movement.. could it be locked up? Is it something I should open up and take a look at?

 

The story itself seems really interesting, so I was looking for some more info on it. Any conversation on it would be great!

[carlsson]

Although the subject has been touched in history circles involving Commodore alumni, so far I can't recall any really juicy information about what happened with that joystick. I can't say if it is rare/desired or not, but apparently Commodore replaced it with a different - possibly even worse - design while maintaining the same product number.

 

Earlier I tried to speculate what the market for Atari compatible joysticks looked like in early-mid 1981. While both the VCS and the 400/800 had been out for some time, perhaps the pinout still was proprietary enough for nobody except Atari themselves to produce joysticks, a market that changed drastically in 1982 and onwards. At least I had a hard time pinpointing any other known joystick designs from the early years, as a hint what Commodore could've had manufactured/licensed instead of the Atari design.

[motrucker]

Both of the early joysticks are known as model #1311;

 

http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/jjoysticks.html

 

To the best of my knowledge neither is very desirable on the market, since they are both quite terrible.

 

 

[Keatah]

The cost cutting version of the stick has little movement. The original H6'er edition that shipped in 1977/1978 had lots of throw.

 

[xenomachina]

I just stumbled across this post, but in case anyone else is interested, I collected a bit of info about this joystick and posted it on imgur a while back: This is the story of Commodore's first joystick.

[carlsson]

Hm, so it took until October 1982 for Atari to file a lawsuit, by which time Commodore claimed to have stopped selling it since four months ago. I was quite sure that the joystick was around at least by the end of 1981, perhaps even earlier given that the VIC-1001 was released in Japan in the fall of 1980.

 

Whether the Commodore branded copy of CX-40 is inferior to Atari's original, I don't know. I always presumed it was made in the same factories somewhere in the Far East. An internal inspection probably gives away exactly how they differ or if that just was Atari's speak for devaluing the Commodore joystick.

[RobertB]

If it is a copy of the CX-40, perhaps the new Atari joystick parts being manufactured (like from Best Electronics) will fit.

 

Truly,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - http://www.portcommodore.com/class

Edited December 8, 2021 by RobertB

[Brentarian]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:41 PM, RobertB said:

If it is a copy of the CX-40, perhaps the new Atari joystick parts being manufactured (like from Best Electronics) will fit.

 

Truly,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - http://www.portcommodore.com/class

I can confirm that the Best and Atari pcb's work perfectly in the Commodore stick. 

[+evg2000]

You don't hear much about the replacement joystick, commodore's on the right.
So:

1. Did commodore clone another company's joystick?

2. Did some company clone commodore's joystick?

3. Did commodore have another company that makes joysticks make a badged version for them?

[carlsson]

Atari Compendium refers to the left one as from Taiwan. I don't know if Commodore had their peripherals made in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc. Assuming that the switch of models happened in a rather short period of time, I'd assume that Commodore found another manufacturer to put their logo on the stick.