How to: Build and/or teardown Atari game controllers

[Steve Guidi]

I've had a bunch of free time on my hands over the last several months: due to COVID-19 in the USA, all of my regular weekly activities have been cancelled.  In my search for new a hobby, I found my old Atari 2600 Jr. and modified it to emit a composite signal with the intention that my kids could play some of the neat games from the 1980s.  But I soon discovered some new problems: one of the two joysticks I own didn't move left, I sold my paddles long ago (with a Commodore computer) and my wife wanted to play "Breakout", and I also realized I never had the 12-button VTP/Kids/Keyboard controller to play "Star Raiders" and other games in my collection.

 

What to do?  I could have bought the controllers on eBay, but there is no fun in that -- especially since they are straightforward devices!  So, I repaired and/or built them with some inexpensive components and project boxes.  I didn't even know that "Indy 500" and "Basic Programming" existed, so I bought the games just so I can build the controllers to experience them.

 

I filmed the teardown/repair of the joystick and builds of the other controllers so that others can learn the same things I did (e.g. the keyboard matrix, rotary encoder, and deciphering Atari schematics) and have copied the links to the videos below for those interested.  I've included time-code indexes in the videos so that you can skip ahead to the build, wiring, or game-play (if you don't care for the technical explanations).

 

I hope that this makes someone's future projects fun and easier to accomplish! 

 

(playlist)

 

Atari 2600 Joystick: Teardown, Contact Mod, and Cable Replacement

 

 

 

Building a Universal Atari 2600 12-button "Star Raiders" Controller

 

 

 

Building Atari Paddles for Your Atari 2600 and Commodore Computers

 

 

 

Building an Atari Driving Controller and playing Indy 500 on the Atari 2600

 

 

[Torr]

Thank You. What I saw looked pretty cool. It's late here and I didn't have time to watch them all but I definitely will.

I'm not very tech savvy, and I know "I" won't be doing anything like this, but we NEED more new members like you around here!!

[Machine]

Nice build!

Indy 500 is one of the best games on the system. The tag mode is a great game for groups of people or even tournaments.

[Steve Guidi]

6 hours ago, Machine said:

Nice build!

Indy 500 is one of the best games on the system. The tag mode is a great game for groups of people or even tournaments.

I was really surprised to see the ice-sliding and friction-deceleration dynamics in Indy 500 -- the game is from 1978!