What controller do you use?

[Spector]

As the title of the topic says- what controller do you use most when playing a colecovision? I'm curious to see how many people use the original controllers as opposed to the other options that have been shown on here the last few years. 

[retroillucid]

18 minutes ago, Spector said:

As the title of the topic says- what controller do you use most when playing a colecovision? I'm curious to see how many people use the original controllers as opposed to the other options that have been shown on here the last few years. 

- SNES NTT controller (with a Phoenix console) 

- Famicom Network controller (with a regular CV console) 

[ColecoJoe]

Original controller

[doubledown]

I would be curious, regarding those who have & will inevitably reply with "original Hand Controller" as their answer...how original, is the original Hand Controller that you're using?  Remember that an original Hand Controller has a very short joystick shaft, a mushroom/disc knob, and an 18" (when retracted) coiled cord.  Any deviation from this (joystick shaft extension, ball knob mod, straight wire cable mod, extension cable)...and it's not an original Hand Controller.  Just sayin'...so who's really using an "original Hand Controller?"

[Falonn]

I was an Original Hand Controller guy for 35 years until I tried Rugger's re-wired Genesis controller a few months ago.  The D-pad controls things a thousand times better than the original joystick.

[doubledown]

13 minutes ago, Falonn said:

I was an Original Hand Controller guy for 35 years until I tried Rugger's re-wired Genesis controller a few months ago.  The D-pad controls things a thousand times better than the original joystick.

Out of curiosity, what do you use for a keypad with this Genesis controller?

[zaphro72]

I was an original Adam colour controller user until I got a retroboyz NES style a year or so ago and now on my Phoenix I use NTT Data pad

[Serguei2]

Gamepad + keyboard using an emulator.

 

Few games play better on keyboard only.

[Swami]

I have a SNES NTT and Jaguar controller for emulation and I have an Edladdin SAC+ for the original and for the Phoenix. I have ball top standard controllers in the Roller Controller and EM2. 

 

 

[Spector]

I use an original controller. I like the physical nature of the stick as opposed to a joypad but there are some games like Star Force that are pretty rough on the hands and wrists. 

9 hours ago, retroillucid said:

- SNES NTT controller (with a Phoenix console) 

- Famicom Network controller (with a regular CV console) 

I have seen the Famicom Network Controller and it looks amazing in terms of potential. Where did you get it, did someone mod it for you and how much did it cost? 

[youki]

Modified (back in time) Atari CX 24 controller!!  I use  the very same one  since 38 year now!!   And use the very same when i play on my C64 too!.  

 

And also time to time Original Colecovision Controller with the Ball top (modified by Yurkie) 

 

[Ikrananka]

My normal stick of choice is an original CV hand controller with the ball top (modified by Yurkie).

 

That said my current favourite joystick, without a keypad, is an Epyx 500XJ also known as the Konix Speedking. 

[Falonn]

18 hours ago, doubledown said:

Out of curiosity, what do you use for a keypad with this Genesis controller?

The extended Genesis controllers (made by Hyperkin, I think) have more buttons than usual including an extra, flush shoulder button that you can't see in the pictures.  The mapping that Rugger's uses can reach most of the things you need in most games.  But, the real answer to your question is that I switch back to the standard controller when I need more buttons.

[Spector]

On 1/3/2021 at 7:24 PM, Falonn said:

The extended Genesis controllers (made by Hyperkin, I think) have more buttons than usual including an extra, flush shoulder button that you can't see in the pictures.  The mapping that Rugger's uses can reach most of the things you need in most games.  But, the real answer to your question is that I switch back to the standard controller when I need more buttons.

Those Ruggers Customs Megadrive controllers (NOT Genesis ?) are really something special, no doubt about it. Most games are covered by it that I can think of. Maybe some games like Ladybug need all the numbers for the options menu, but for the game itself, the controller just about does everything necessary?

[doubledown]

9 minutes ago, Spector said:

Those Ruggers Customs Megadrive controllers (NOT Genesis ?) are really something special, no doubt about it. Most games are covered by it that I can think of. Maybe some games like Ladybug need all the numbers for the options menu, but for the game itself, the controller just about does everything necessary?

I would sincerely and completely disagree with this.  Most Coleco published games have 4 skill levels per player option (1/2/3/4 & 5/6/7/8)...and those that are arcade ports, usually mention in the manual that options 3/7 are their approximate "arcade" difficulty skill selections, which then of course means that 1/5 are for very small children, 2/6 are for the small children after they've played the game for 5 minutes and have gotten bored with it, and 4/8 are for advanced players.  With only having buttons mapped to 1/2/5 (if I understand the mapping correctly), you can't select skill levels 3 or 4 (7 or 8 for 2 players), which makes most games very boring...in my opinion.  

[xdurable]

Old school original controller - I have a SNES controller for my Phoenix but I find I do much better with the original .. my son on the other hand is a wiz with the the SNES thumb pad ... and he struggles with the original controller .

[Spector]

2 hours ago, doubledown said:

I would sincerely and completely disagree with this.  Most Coleco published games have 4 skill levels per player option (1/2/3/4 & 5/6/7/8)...and those that are arcade ports, usually mention in the manual that options 3/7 are their approximate "arcade" difficulty skill selections, which then of course means that 1/5 are for very small children, 2/6 are for the small children after they've played the game for 5 minutes and have gotten bored with it, and 4/8 are for advanced players.  With only having buttons mapped to 1/2/5 (if I understand the mapping correctly), you can't select skill levels 3 or 4 (7 or 8 for 2 players), which makes most games very boring...in my opinion.  

But... I thought you could use the second controller keypad to select the difficulty level? 

[sn8k]

Original controller right now.

 

This new controller + y adaptor + 10ft extension + original controller when ever it gets here.

[sn8k]

Im just a little bothered by the fact my number on the controller is a 1. Ive seen someone else who has a 3. I would have to rely on all of the extra shit less if I had that #3 start button. I had no idea it was even an option after I bought it. Found out a week after i got this one.

 

Still, not that big of a deal. I have the 7800 game pad RGB makes so the fact Im getting that same quality precision control for CV is good enough. Having to rely on the keypad more is a small price to pay considering we shouldnt even have these kind of options but do anyway because some people just rock.

[Ruggers Customs]

7 minutes ago, sn8k said:

Im just a little bothered by the fact my number on the controller is a 1. Ive seen someone else who has a 3. I would have to rely on all of the extra shit less if I had that #3 start button. I had no idea it was even an option after I bought it. Found out a week after i got this one.

 

Still, not that big of a deal. I have the 7800 game pad RGB makes so the fact Im getting that same quality precision control for CV is good enough. Having to rely on the keypad more is a small price to pay considering we shouldnt even have these kind of options but do anyway because some people just rock.

I like RetroGameBoyz. Him and his wife are very nice people.

[doubledown]

2 hours ago, Spector said:

But... I thought you could use the second controller keypad to select the difficulty level? 

On most games you can.  Frogger is 1 game I know of for sure (and if memory serves there are a few others), where only the controller plugged into port 1 can be used to select the number of players (keypad 1 or 2), gameplay speed (keypad 3 or 4), gameplay music (keypad 5 or 6), and to start the game (keypad *).  

[zaphro72]

6 hours ago, sn8k said:

Original controller right now.

 

This new controller + y adaptor + 10ft extension + original controller when ever it gets here.

Not sure if you have a Phoenix or not, but if you do have a Phoenix you might have an odd issue. With mine I just found out that due to the way the controller plug is setup it sped up Antartic Adventure to probably double the speed. Don't get me wrong though I love this controller on my regular old ColecoVision just caused me a bit of issue on the Phoenix right now.

[Spector]

7 hours ago, doubledown said:

On most games you can.  Frogger is 1 game I know of for sure (and if memory serves there are a few others), where only the controller plugged into port 1 can be used to select the number of players (keypad 1 or 2), gameplay speed (keypad 3 or 4), gameplay music (keypad 5 or 6), and to start the game (keypad *).  

Your page certainly has a lot of tasty alternatives that I never knew of before. The ball shape on the controller with the extended shaft is a good idea. 

[doubledown]

7 hours ago, zaphro72 said:

Not sure if you have a Phoenix or not, but if you do have a Phoenix you might have an odd issue. With mine I just found out that due to the way the controller plug is setup it sped up Antartic Adventure to probably double the speed. Don't get me wrong though I love this controller on my regular old ColecoVision just caused me a bit of issue on the Phoenix right now.

That probably has to do with controller cable having sockets/wires connected at the plug end at positions #7 & #9, and not connected internally inside the controller; which is currently known to act as an antenna of sorts, picking up a transient interference.  If this is the case, you can open up the controller, connect wires #7 & #9 to each other (and nothing else), and it should remedy the issue.  There's more info about this in the CollectorVision Phoenix release thread.  Additionally they are working on a fix/solution for this I believe.  

 

4 hours ago, Spector said:

Your page certainly has a lot of tasty alternatives that I never knew of before. The ball shape on the controller with the extended shaft is a good idea. 

Yeah, I haven't had to use a "stock" Hand Controller in a long time....a long time.  Plus I figure if you're going to make a custom controller for a game console (that isn't game specific), it should be a full-featured controller that has all of the features/buttons/options that the originals had; so that you don't need to use a secondary controller, or some other sort of adapter...or be limited to only being able to play some games, and not others.  There are too many games in the CV library that need a lot more than keypad buttons #1 or #2...but I suppose it all depends on the games ones interested in playing, and at what skill levels.  

 

It seems like most of the folks who got any of my ball-knob modified Hand Controllers really seemed to like them.  That is for those who aren't afraid to use them, and possibly diminish their collectible value.  The small shaft extension is really the key, in addition to the comfort of the more conventional ball knob of course.  Some others simply screwed a ball knob on top of the existing shaft as/is, but I found the extra little bit of height really makes a lot of difference.

[zaphro72]

17 minutes ago, doubledown said:

That probably has to do with controller cable having sockets/wires connected at the plug end at positions #7 & #9, and not connected internally inside the controller; which is currently known to act as an antenna of sorts, picking up a transient interference.  If this is the case, you can open up the controller, connect wires #7 & #9 to each other (and nothing else), and it should remedy the issue.  There's more info about this in the CollectorVision Phoenix release thread.  Additionally they are working on a fix/solution for this I believe.  

 

I was wondering if I could do something like that. I knew there was lots of discussion about it but I couldn't remember if there was an easy fix in those discussions that was safe for the Phoenix and the OG system