My custom Super Action Colecovision controller

[timdu]

Hi everyone

 

Just thought that I would share and display my custom Super Action Colecovision controller.

 

I spent some time researching and designed the layout and had some help from my friend Scott Stilphen with his masterful build and soldering skills.

As you can see in the picture below, I am an "old school" right-handed gamer, so I opted to have the joystick on the right so I could operate it with my right hand and

press the buttons with my left.

 

Trying to see if there is any interest in having some more of these made. The design can be changed. Colors for the buttons can be customized. I just wanted mine to

be similar to the color scheme of the Coleco Super Action controller. We can build these for a price of $125.

 

The controller measures 9 inches in length from left to right. It is 6.5 inches from top to bottom, and is 3 inches in height at its peak. It does slope downwards to around 1 in the bottom.

 

Features a nice arcade-quality microswitch joystick and 4 microswitch arcade-quality buttons.

 

The inside components are a Easy CV input/output board and 12-key membrane keypad by Edladdin.  A 9-pin controller cable was salvaged from a standard Colecovision controllers that was no longer working.

 

I am also using this on my Atari 2600 and it works great. ( However the 3 additional fire buttons are not used. )

 

If you would like to get some more information, please let me know.

 

thanks,

 

Tim D.

 

 

[doubledown]

Any reason why you flip-flopped the order of the red/orange & yellow buttons from the original SAC order?

[timdu]

No, there was no special reason. Originally I was going to have all 4 be green, but then I decided against it at the last minute. These color buttons were available. 

I like having the red button as the primary because I also planned to use this controller with my Atari 2600.

 

By right, to be consistent with the original Coleco SAC, the color order should be Yelllow, Orange, Purple, Blue.

 

Perhaps I will do this order on the next one...

[DeanOVision]

Timdu - I would definitely be interested in this! As someone who also feels most comfortable using a joystick with my right hand, your solution is the best I’ve come across. Finally a right-hand joystick, keypad and SAC button controller all in one. Now please offer one with the correct color layout that is on the original Coleco SAC and you have a customer in me...Thank You ?

[akator]

That's a nice looking controller.  Good work ?

[LodeWalker]

Another "right-handed" gamer here. Thank you for sharing this and creating it. 

 

Count me in for 2 please. 

 

[cedropoole]

My Original MitchStick Super CV Joystick built using Edlddin Easy CV kit: Dominux8 premium leaf-switch joystick, Buttons: CLASSX True Leaf Pro

[edladdin]

These controllers are so awesome! 

 

I really love to see what people come up with, and happy our Easy CV boards can simplify the process.  

It blows my mind we've sold like 80 of these kits over the last few years.

[Restricted-Access]

THAT is a stellar-looking controller.  I'll tell you the problem with the joystick being on the right, and the buttons on the left (and why this is bass-ackwards):  MOST arcade sticks for the home, that are a table-top design (like yours)... have the joystick on the left, and the buttons on the right.  It is ALSO like this in the arcade, for most game machines!  If it had been the reverse, and the joystick was always on the right... the "retail" controllers for the home, would have most likely been made the same way.  Yours goes against convention.  This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with your layout... it's a custom controller, MADE JUST FOR YOU!!

 

I don't like the Atari 2600 controller.  It's designed to be used on a table, yet most of the time it is held with both hands.  It's too small and unstable to use on a table, and it's too big and awkward to hold in your hands (and it's not because I have small hands... I don't).  I certainly wouldn't design a desktop joystick controller to be "right-handed"... because of the Atari 2600 controller.  If you're right-handed, it makes MORE SENSE, to use your "dominant" hand... to press the buttons!

 

Anyway... I don't see too many people who complained about the original NES controller layout, with the D-pad on the left, the buttons on the right (just mostly that it was uncomfortable to hold).  It followed arcade convention, as far as layout.  I can't believe it took over 17 years before someone got the brains to make a controller that was more ergonomic - and THAT was Microsoft, when they redesigned the Xbox controller "s" (that Duke, though it fit "my" hands nicely... was a VERY BEEFY controller - too big for many people).  I did get the remake for Xbox One.  It feels like home, when playing "Halo: Combat Evolved"!!

 

Oh... I have an interesting story about left-handed vs. right-handed controls (sorry about this long message).  My father was left-handed (was... he passed away a few years ago), and he started using a trackball with his PC, instead of a mouse (at my suggestion, and the best ever... we never liked chasing a mouse around on a mouse pad).  Anyway... when he got hold of a game he thought I might like (DOOM, shareware version... I later got all the full versions), he showed it to me, and let me play it on his computer.  Well... I didn't have a PC (I "did" have a computer, but it's one I got during the Home Computer wars... a different story), so I really didn't have any preconceived feelings or thoughts, about using a trackball, in regards to which hand to use it with, and my father being left-handed... had the trackball on the left side of the keyboard.  Also, he showed me the basic controls to use in the game (moving, firing, etc.)... so I played it the same way HE did: Left-handed!  I really never gave it a second thought, because the ONLY time I used "his" computer, was to play that game (when he wasn't using the PC, of course).  When I got my own PC "clone", I also got a trackball... but I put the trackball on the right-side of the keyboard, because I am right-handed.  All DOS/Windows PC's... are setup as right-handed, by default.  With my right hand on the trackball, and clicking the primary button that was meant to be pressed with by the index finger... everything SHOULD have felt natural - but it didn't!  I couldn't figure out why I felt so awkward using the PC I had just setup for myself.  Then I went to my father's PC, sat down and tried to do a few things... and everything felt fine (I even had the same brand/model of trackball), so I sat back and looked at his setup, really puzzled why his setup felt fine, and mine didn't... then I walked back into my room and looked at MY setup for a few seconds, then it dawned on me: I had my trackball on the "wrong side" of the keyboard!  I remember thinking... why doesn't this feel better to use with my right hand???  I finally gave into the idea that I had become a left-handed trackball user!!  The funny thing is... I still use a mouse in my right hand (for any other system, that uses a mouse).  In fact, I can't control the cursor worth a dam, with my left hand (on a mouse)... that cursor won't go anywhere it's supposed to!  For the record... the trackball, used on the left of the keyboard... is a MUCH BETTER gaming setup.  It keeps your hands farther apart, if you're using the arrow keys (and a few other nearby keys) for moving and such.

 

Anyway... my point is, you adapt to what's often already there.  There probably are a few people who "swap the thumbsticks" on a controller, so your movement and looking controls are more comfortable to some setup you got used to on some other system (or if you're just weird).  However... the buttons are ALWAYS on the right side!  I suggest that any "custom" controller anyone makes... follow the standard convention (except for people who have a disability that REQUIRES something different).  Otherwise... you're just being weird! ?

Edited August 2, 2021 by Restricted-Access

[+fdr4prez]

11 years for a first post?  

 

 

 

impressive 

[Restricted-Access]

3 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

11 years for a first post?  

 

I don't like to post when I'm new to a forum... until I've had a decade to see what other people have been talking about (and I didn't do hardly ANY visits to old-school gaming sites after the pandemic started)!  I just joined another website a few weeks ago... I'll probably pop-in and introduce myself in 2031. ??

[+GoldLeader]

46 minutes ago, Restricted-Access said:

THAT is a stellar-looking controller.  I'll tell you the problem with the joystick being on the right, and the buttons on the left (and why this is bass-ackwards):  MOST arcade sticks for the home, that are a table-top design (like yours)... have the joystick on the left, and the buttons on the right.  It is ALSO like this in the arcade, for most game machines!  If it had been the reverse, and the joystick was always on the right... the "retail" controllers for the home, would have most likely been made the same way.  Yours goes against convention.  This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with your layout... it's a custom controller, MADE JUST FOR YOU!!

 

I don't like the Atari 2600 controller.  It's designed to be used on a table, yet most of the time it is held with both hands.  It's too small and unstable to use on a table, and it's too big and awkward to hold in your hands (and it's not because I have small hands... I don't).  I certainly wouldn't design a desktop joystick controller to be "right-handed"... because of the Atari 2600 controller.  If you're right-handed, it makes MORE SENSE, to use your "dominant" hand... to press the buttons!

 

Anyway... I don't see too many people who complained about the original NES controller layout, with the D-pad on the left, the buttons on the right (just mostly that it was uncomfortable to hold).  It followed arcade convention, as far as layout.  I can't believe it took over 17 years before someone got the brains to make a controller that was more ergonomic - and THAT was Microsoft, when they redesigned the Xbox controller "s" (that Duke, though it fit "my" hands nicely... was a VERY BEEFY controller - too big for many people).  I did get the remake for Xbox One.  It feels like home, when playing "Halo: Combat Evolved"!!

 

Oh... I have an interesting story about left-handed vs. right-handed controls (sorry about this long message).  My father was left-handed (was... he passed away a few years ago), and he started using a trackball with his PC, instead of a mouse (at my suggestion, and the best ever... we never liked chasing a mouse around on a mouse pad).  Anyway... when he got hold of a game he thought I might like (DOOM, shareware version... I later got all the full versions), he showed it to me, and let me play it on his computer.  Well... I didn't have a PC (I "did" have a computer, but it's one I got during the Home Computer wars... a different story), so I really didn't have any preconceived feelings or thoughts, about using a trackball, in regards to which hand to use it with, and my father being left-handed... had the trackball on the left side of the keyboard.  Also, he showed me the basic controls to use in the game (moving, firing, etc.)... so I played it the same way HE did: Left-handed!  I really never gave it a second thought, because the ONLY time I used "his" computer, was to play that game (when he wasn't using the PC, of course).  When I got my own PC "clone", I also got a trackball... but I put the trackball on the right-side of the keyboard, because I am right-handed.  All DOS/Windows PC's... are setup as right-handed, by default.  With my right hand on the trackball, and clicking the primary button that was meant to be pressed with by the index finger... everything SHOULD have felt natural - but it didn't!  I couldn't figure out why I felt so awkward using the PC I had just setup for myself.  Then I went to my father's PC, sat down and tried to do a few things... and everything felt fine (I even had the same brand/model of trackball), so I sat back and looked at his setup, really puzzled why his setup felt fine, and mine didn't... then I walked back into my room and looked at MY setup for a few seconds, then it dawned on me: I had my trackball on the "wrong side" of the keyboard!  I remember thinking... why doesn't this feel better to use with my right hand???  I finally gave into the idea that I had become a left-handed trackball user!!  The funny thing is... I still use a mouse in my right hand (for any other system, that uses a mouse).  In fact, I can't control the cursor worth a dam, with my left hand (on a mouse)... that cursor won't go anywhere it's supposed to!  For the record... the trackball, used on the left of the keyboard... is a MUCH BETTER gaming setup.  It keeps your hands farther apart, if you're using the arrow keys (and a few other nearby keys) for moving and such.

 

Anyway... my point is, you adapt to what's often already there.  There probably are a few people who "swap the thumbsticks" on a controller, so your movement and looking controls are more comfortable to some setup you got used to on some other system (or if you're just weird).  However... the buttons are ALWAYS on the right side!  I suggest that any "custom" controller anyone makes... follow the standard convention (except for people who have a disability that REQUIRES something different).  Otherwise... you're just being weird! ?

 

Fair enough...I'd probably say opinion more than fact.  After the  Famicom (Using Game & Watch convention) the left joystick was everywhere, but everyone forgets what it was like before that.  It varied.  I remember TARG and Spectar, Centipede, (Often, but not always) Mr. Do!, Joystick (or trackball) on the right, Fire button on the left,...But I also remember a lot of games with the joysticks in the middle;  Frenzy, Berzerk, Scramble, Super Cobra, Zaxxon, Arkanoid, Dig Dug, etc.  so the player could decide.

 

I always thought of the Atari joystick as something right handed and handheld, but to each his own...Some people put it on tables to play...

 

The home systems following NES seems to be when left handed controls took over.   FWIW, I had Edladdin build me a Coleco controller with the joystick in the middle, buttons on both sides,  and it is my all time favorite joystick.  I figure I can just play however it feels the most comfortable depending on the game.  Thinking about it,  I'd say I use it right hand on the joystick about 90% of the time...But, to each his own.

[Restricted-Access]

I'm aware of those other games... few as they are, that had only one (or sometimes two) buttons, and were on both sides of a joystick.  Honestly, it was an unnecessary expense for an arcade machine.  Most people will adapt to whatever the controls are.  Few complain, though the ones who gripe online, make it seem like there are a lot (the ones who adapt, won't usually feel the need to say so).  Think about it... you're not likely to see someone go online just to say... "I am SO GLAD that joysticks are on the left, and buttons are on the right!"  It doesn't happen.  People typically "complain" about stuff, not praise when something is good.

 

I did use the Atari 2600 joystick hand-held... AND right-handed, but it didn't define game-playing for me.  There's a seller, who has created custom controllers to use with the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision and they'll probably work fine with other systems that can use an Atari 2600 controller... and it's modeled on the Nintendo NES controller!  They're black, so I don't know if these are custom-made housings, or adapted from something else... as I've never seen a "black" NES controller that was stock.

 

Your custom controller with buttons on "both sides" IS a better idea (it must be a large controller).  You probably switch hands you use on the joystick, depending on the type of game you're playing... probably without thinking about it!  You've probably shared a picture of it before, but I'd like to see it... if you could.

[+GoldLeader]

Like so:

 

[DeanOVision]

Wow, Restricted Access…You sure have all the answers!? You call those who want to use their right hand “back-assward and “weird” multiple times. Why the hatred? How about you let people use or buy a joystick with whatever hand they want to? Timdu’s right-handed joystick looks great (and I almost bought it) but I didn’t think I could get both of my XXL hands in such a small area. I ended up buying Edladdin’s Super Combo joystick which has a joystick in the middle and four SA buttons on both the left and right sides. I operate the joystick with my right hand and the buttons with my left hand. I am getting the highest scores On CV games that I have ever gotten. Thank you Edladdin for creating the greatest controller I have ever used! Sure, I am able to operate a joystick with my left hand, but after 40 years I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s much more enjoyable and efficient to use the joystick with my right hand. 
 

Let me give an example of why I think it’s “weird” to not give someone a choice. Let’s say you were going into surgery and your surgeon was right-handed. Would you force your surgeon to use his left hand with the scalpel to make him “just get used to it”? I sure wouldn’t. 
 

Thank you to Timdu and Edladdin for FINALLY (after almost 40 years!) giving us the choice to use a joystick with our right hand on our ColecoVision or Phoenix. 

[Restricted-Access]

20 hours ago, DeanOVision said:

Wow, Restricted Access…You sure have all the answers!? You call those who want to use their right hand “back-assward and “weird” multiple times. Why the hatred? <snip>
 

Let me give an example of why I think it’s “weird” to not give someone a choice. Let’s say you were going into surgery and your surgeon was right-handed. Would you force your surgeon to use his left hand with the scalpel to make him “just get used to it”? I sure wouldn’t. 
 

First of all... YOU misquoted me (you actually didn't "quote me" at all, but changed the spellings of words I used, AND how many times I did)!  I said "bass-ackwards", not the profane way YOU spelled it.  I also only used it once!  I used "weird" in a totally different area of conversation, and that was really more about swapping the thumbsticks than anything else.  There is NO HATRED here.  In fact, I ended the conversation with a smiley with the tongue sticking out... "in jest".  You took my opinion about the "right-handed" controller as an attack, and one of hatred.  Even Gold Leader recognized it was my opinion, not fact (or an attack, by your perspective).

 

Your comparison of adapting to an existing controller on a game console, and making someone use their non-dominant hand to perform surgery, is the stupidest comparison I have ever heard (that's my opinion... so try not to come up with another scenario to explain it). ?

 

I don't care which hand people prefer to hold the joystick in.  It's the same when it comes to people who prefer their LOOK controls to be "inverted" instead of using the "default" look controls.  I figure that some people think of looking up, like pulling back on a flight stick, as opposed to pushing the thumbstick up... to look up!

 

I think we're done here.  Unless you have an apology to me for accusing me of "hate", or you agree with my assessment on the look controls... I don't think we have anything further to discuss on the custom joystick (you can talk to me about anything else, though)! ?

[Restricted-Access]

On 8/2/2021 at 2:10 PM, GoldLeader said:

Like so:

 

Wow... THAT is SO IMPRESSIVE!!!  It's very big... much like an arcade controller board.  It must be VERY stable when you play games.  What are those ports all in the front and back?  Is that for connecting to various consoles... and the ones in front... to use original controllers on those ports??!

[DeanOVision]

3 hours ago, Restricted-Access said:

First of all... YOU misquoted me (you actually didn't "quote me" at all, but changed the spellings of words I used, AND how many times I did)!  I said "bass-ackwards", not the profane way YOU spelled it.  I also only used it once!  I used "weird" in a totally different area of conversation, and that was really more about swapping the thumbsticks than anything else.  There is NO HATRED here.  In fact, I ended the conversation with a smiley with the tongue sticking out... "in jest".  You took my opinion about the "right-handed" controller as an attack, and one of hatred.  Even Gold Leader recognized it was my opinion, not fact (or an attack, by your perspective).

 

Your comparison of adapting to an existing controller on a game console, and making someone use their non-dominant hand to perform surgery, is the stupidest comparison I have ever heard (that's my opinion... so try not to come up with another scenario to explain it). ?

 

I don't care which hand people prefer to hold the joystick in.  It's the same when it comes to people who prefer their LOOK controls to be "inverted" instead of using the "default" look controls.  I figure that some people think of looking up, like pulling back on a flight stick, as opposed to pushing the thumbstick up... to look up!

 

I think we're done here.  Unless you have an apology to me for accusing me of "hate", or you agree with my assessment on the look controls... I don't think we have anything further to discuss on the custom joystick (you can talk to me about anything else, though)! ?

“You’re just weird?” I’m not going to give you an apology because I was offended by your terms “bass-ackwards” and “weird” when describing someone who may feel more comfortable using a joystick differently than you. I was merely sticking up for those who produce these type of controllers and the people who might purchase them. I also noticed your use of opinion as fact, but I decided not to mention it in my previous post. Here’s some more emoticons for you ??‍♂️??.  Hope they make you feel better. Please accept them in lieu of an apology. 

[fiddlepaddle]

Well, just to reinforce the idea that right handed joysticks are sometimes better, let me illustrate with a very common example...

Pac-man, which gets significant credit for greatly expanding the game player market, is generally played best with the dominant hand. I've seen lots of people play that game, and others, that provide that convenient choice. I know for sure that most people prefer playing a joystick right handed when the joystick is the primary control device.

It wasn't until children were introduced to the Nintendo and Sega "left-handed" controllers that dominated the home market in the mid-eighties that preferences seemed to change. Perhaps that configuration makes more sense with modern games, but I guarantee you there are many people reading this who prefer a right-hand arrangement on many games.

It could be argued that entrenchment of the left-handed joystick was merely a consequence of a standard being forced on the population, notwithstanding any actual or perceived benefits of that convention when playing modern 3d walk-around games.

[DeanOVision]

54 minutes ago, fiddlepaddle said:

Well, just to reinforce the idea that right handed joysticks are sometimes better, let me illustrate with a very common example...

Pac-man, which gets significant credit for greatly expanding the game player market, is generally played best with the dominant hand. I've seen lots of people play that game, and others, that provide that convenient choice. I know for sure that most people prefer playing a joystick right handed when the joystick is the primary control device.

It wasn't until children were introduced to the Nintendo and Sega "left-handed" controllers that dominated the home market in the mid-eighties that preferences seemed to change. Perhaps that configuration makes more sense with modern games, but I guarantee you there are many people reading this who prefer a right-hand arrangement on many games.

It could be argued that entrenchment of the left-handed joystick was merely a consequence of a standard being forced on the population, notwithstanding any actual or perceived benefits of that convention when playing modern 3d walk-around games.

Beautifully said. As someone who frequented arcades in 1981, I cannot remember anyone playing Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man with their left hand. When my nephew came over to play Ms. Pac-Man on my Arcade 1up Partycade, he instinctively played it with his right hand. 

[+GoldLeader]

7 hours ago, Restricted-Access said:

Wow... THAT is SO IMPRESSIVE!!!  It's very big... much like an arcade controller board.  It must be VERY stable when you play games.  What are those ports all in the front and back?  Is that for connecting to various consoles... and the ones in front... to use original controllers on those ports??!

Yep!  BIG!

 

I put it on a small stack of milk crates so it's just the right height for me when I lean forward (slightly) on the couch.

 

You can also think of it like a router/mixer/selector.  For the controller itself,  it has Outputs.  It will control Atari 2600/7800, ColecoVision (Labeled Coleco 82), and even a Coleco Flashback (Labeled Coleco FB) which I think is a nice touch, depending on which output you hook the cable to.  Additionally it can be used as a pass through (like an Edladdin Seagull adapter) so you can plug a different controller in to the Front Inputs.  The front inputs are for Atari controllers, Coleco controllers, Coleco FB controllers (which have a different pinout), and SEGA Genesis controllers.  So if I want to control (for example) an Atari 7800 with a SEGA Genesis controller I can!

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I'm the odd one here I guess as I remember all the arcade games I played as having the joystick on the left side of the panel and buttons on the right. Defender, Galaga, and other games of that era had the controller aspect on the left and fire buttons on the right. This was made all the more evident with cocktail cabs. My Galaga cocktail has the controller firmly to the left side and the fire button to the right of that. So the only comfortable way to play that game is using your left hand to control the ship.

 

I'm right handed and it is very much my dominant hand. But it feels strange to me to play games that use buttons with everything reversed and trying to control using my right hand. It wasn't because of Nintendo and their game pad, because as I stated, the games I was playing in the arcades back then already followed the left hand for control setup. When I played my 2600, I did in fact hold onto it using my right hand to control and my left hand to hold the base and press the fire button. But it was the only controller I remember using this way. 

 

Even arcade style controllers that I've purchased over the years, I get them with the joystick on the left hand side and use my right hand to activate the function buttons. 

 

So TLDR for me is that joysticks on the right when laid out in a control panel method, feels strange to me to try and control with. On my arcade games that I own, when both a joystick and buttons are on the control panel, I'm using my left hand for the joystick and my right to press the buttons. The exception, is my Frogger cab and that is because I don't have to press any buttons to play it and only have the center joystick to use. I do tend to play that one using my right.

 

[big_guitar]

Has anyone ever made a custom SAC that actually included a spinner ??