Which came first?

[Mayhem]

Vectrex or Atari 5200?

 

Just to check which machine had analog sticks first you see

[yuppicide]

The chicken came before both of them (so did Ron Jeremy by the way).

[SteveW]

I've always thought that the Atari 5200 was the first console with analog controllers, followed a short time later by the Vectrex. I don't have any hard data to back that up, that's just what I've heard throughout the years. It's always been the 5200 credited with having the first analog sticks.

[intvgene]

Yea, I thought that the 5200 created the analog sticks in response to Intellivision's 16-way controller. I don't really remember where I read that, but I definitely don't remember the Vectrex being credited for revolutionizing console's controllers.

 

Does anyone know when analog sticks were used in PCs? Was it before or after the 5200?

[JB]

Yea, I thought that the 5200 created the analog sticks in response to Intellivision's 16-way controller.  I don't really remember where I read that, but I definitely don't remember the Vectrex being credited for revolutionizing console's controllers. 

The Vectrex isn't credited with much of anything, due to it's short life.

 

Both systems came out in 1982, though.

[Zonie]

Yea, I thought that the 5200 created the analog sticks in response to Intellivision's 16-way controller.  I don't really remember where I read that, but I definitely don't remember the Vectrex being credited for revolutionizing console's controllers. 

 

Does anyone know when analog sticks were used in PCs?  Was it before or after the 5200?

857095[/snapback]

 

 

The Apple ][ used Analog Sticks. So did the first IBM PC's.

[intvgene]

The Apple ][ used Analog Sticks.  So did the first IBM PC's.

 

Thanks. I remember playing with some wacky PC controllers back in the old King's Quest I and JET days, but just wasn't sure if they were "officially" analog.

[Clock]

A lot of old computers used analogue sticks, my Dragon 32 (1982) had analogue sticks. I assume the similar Tandy machines were the same.

[SteveW]

I tend to find a lot of joysticks that have two connectors, one for the Apple II series, and one for IBM compatibles. They're always analog, and nearly all early '80s.

[Ze_ro]

Well, old-computers.com says the Vectrex came out in June 1982, and that the 5200 came out in "Summer 1982"... but in their description of the 5200, they refer to it coming out in "late 1982", so I'm not sure what to make of this.

 

Even if the Vectrex were to be the first system with an analog stick, there were only maybe two games that actually made use of it's analog abilities (I know Hyper Chase does, but I can't recall any others off the top of my head), meanwhile the 5200 actually did make decent use of this feature, so I don't see any real problem with claiming the 5200 as the first.

 

--Zero

[Seob]

First or not, them 5200 controller is defentity one of the worst controllers ever made.

[JB]

First or not, them 5200 controller is defentity one of the worst controllers ever made.

859823[/snapback]

Hah. You're funny.

 

They're not perfect by any stretch(what controller is?), but they ARE far superior to many other controllers.

 

 

I'd take them over 2600 sticks(why doies ANYONE like these things? They're HORRIBLE.), NES gamepads, INTV pads, Vectrex sticks(which wouldn't really work on any game that used more than 2 buttons, but...), ... pr'ly ColecoVision controllers if I'd had any experience with them in the last decade or so.

 

 

Personally speaking, the only major problem with the 5200 sticks is reliability. When they're working, they're among the better controllers I've used.

I think the centering is largely a non-issue, and they take more flak than they deserve because when they originally came out they were strange and unusual.