which controllers are best and what are they worth

[krunk2k]

Been out of the game awhile...

Just getting back into collecting after recieving a FB2 for xmas

 

Just got a Sunnyvale Heavy Sixer (I live in Sunnyvale, CA., so I justified the expense with the wife that the system was coming home after a long vacation) The auction didn't come with any controllers though, just a Gemstick (which is cool). So now I'm going to have to find replacement controllers. I have my 2 FB2 sticks, and I think I have a WICO stick stashed somewhere at my parents house..., so joysticks I'm not that worried about..

 

How valuable is a WICO Command Trackball, and is it even worth any money since there weren't any trackball games made for the 2600... right?

 

I had a grey pair of Commodore Paddles when I was growing up playing warlords (of course my mom got rid of them when I moved out). Do you guys remember those, they had a big red rectangular button on top of the controller, above the pot. What are these gonna cost me to get back, or is Commodore Periphs pretty taboo?

 

How about paddles in general, I saved some of my own from the garbage but I know they are Jitter-rific, and I'm not good with electronics. Do you think I can clean them myself, or should I just go buy some off Ebay... they seem to pricey for used items that are probably going to degenerate after a little use.

 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Confessions? Revelations?

[A.J. Franzman]

How valuable is a WICO Command Trackball, and is it even worth any money since there weren't any trackball games made for the 2600... right?

999485[/snapback]

I don't know about value, but it is useable - the WICO trackball internally converts its output to emulate a joystick-style signal, so it will technically work with any joystick game. It's most playable with games that originally had trackballs in the arcade version, or others with similar movement requirements (Missile Command, Centipede, Millipede, etc.)

 

 

How about paddles in general,  I saved some of my own from the garbage but I know they are Jitter-rific, and I'm not good with electronics.  Do you think I can clean them myself, or should I just go buy some off Ebay... they seem to pricey for used items that are probably going to degenerate after a little use.

999485[/snapback]

Cleaning them is not too difficult, but not always succesful in reducing jitter. All you can do is try it. If it doesn't work, don't just pitch them though - save any good parts like the cable, case halves, and especially knobs. That way when you inevitably get less-than-perfect ones from eBay, you might be able to fix them up.

Edited January 13, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[+SpiceWare]

I have a pair of the Commdore paddles. I always thought the design was neat because it was ambidextrous.

 

The only problem with the Commodore paddles is they use a different potentiometer (500K), so the range isn't the same as the Atari paddles(1000K). It's OK for a lot of games, but on some the Commodore Paddles won't let you select the entire range of positions on the screen.

[krunk2k]

Well, does anyone know of any websites that show exactly how to fix old paddles? I mean, the Atariage FAQ just doesn't cut it for non techno-people like myself.

 

Why did WICO make a trackball if it only "simulated" joystick movement? And does anyone know if the WICO is as good/or better than the Atari versions? It would seem to me that a Trackball would work great as a replacement for a paddle, just for moving left/right in say Kaboom... Does it work for paddle games?

[shadow460]

I typed out my own notes for repairing jittery paddles and driving controllers. It's more focused on the driving controllers, but the steps for repairing paddles are similar.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...ntroller+repair