Switchable Arcade stick spinner combo

Schvenn · September 7, 2020

Hi everyone, I've been digging online and through these forums for a while and haven't quite found what I'm looking for. What I'd really like to get my hands on is a professional arcade stick/spinner combo for the 2600. I would have thought someone has made one like this already. Since the 2600 recognizes the joystick and paddles as different devices, I would still think that it would be possible to put both in a single box, but using a hardware switch to toggle between using a high quality arcade stick for the directional control, to a high end spinner, at will. The fire button I would suspect wouldn't need to change, but circuitry is not my forte, so I'm just guessing. Alternately, you could have a different trigger button for each controller. Either way, putting both directional controls in a single box, I thought would have been done by now, but I haven't seen one, yet. Then, you wouldn't need to constantly switch controllers, for each game and you'd have a universal controller for all of them. I would also think there'd be a reasonable market for this product.

Rob Mitchell · September 12, 2020

I’m going to reply out of courtesy ..

a paddle is a potentiometer for a game like Pong. There are great 2600 games which use the paddles ..

a spinner is a rotary digital switch which was first available for the 2600 in 1977 as a pack-in for the Indy 500 / Race game.

there are some vintage, commercially available controllers which have both paddle and joystick in one handheld controller. One made by Atari is for the Sears Video Arcade II. You turn the joystick to control a paddle. The other is the Coleco Gemini clone which has a paddle below the joystick. The issue with these is that Joystick Fire is not the same as Paddle Fire.

add to the fact is that *most* games are either joystick or paddle ... so why have a combo? If you don’t want to plug / unplug into the console, then use an extension controller cable.

The Bally Astrocade has an all-in-one controller which the joystick knob is the paddle. Only one game uses all the functions which is the built-in game: Gunfight which is a brilliant game.