FIVE BUCKS???....What a deal!

[MameMaster!]

http://www.redoctane.com/atarigamejoystick.html

....I just bought 4....even if I never use it....it seemed like a good deal!

....enjoy!

MameMaster!  

[Chemixtry]

I ordered two of them!
Thanks for the heads up!

[Snakebyte]

Also ordered two.

Good deal!

Thanks for the info

[whammoed]

wow, what a deal...I may get some too for nostalgia.
Man, I hated those sticks though, terrible feel, but the memories...misty water colored memories

[SpamMe]

Well, are they just replacement atari joysticks, or am i missing something?

[monkeybomb]

Yeah, they're usb.  Which atari didn't support

[exibar]

Now where are the USB paddles?   We need paddles!!!

  How can you play breakout without a paddle?  How can you play arkanoid without a paddle?

  USB paddles would rock my world!

[SpamMe]

Whoops, duh. Page refused to load all the way when i posted that. Heck of a deal, imo.

[daywane]

I just orderd 2.  
$5.00 each
$10.00 ship
$20.00 total
I am happy.

[RayB]

I just order 0.

These are home gaming's Worst Joysticks Ever(TM)

(Actually, I have the JakksPacific Joystick TV Game already   )

[MinerAl]

Well crap.

[jerschwab]

Wow, pretty expensive shipping considering the price... $20 for shipping 2 joystick to Canada?  Maybe some other time!

[Arcadiac]

Hey mamemaster,chemixtry and Snakebyte, hows about a review when you receive these and have had a chance to playtest them?  Thanks! ARCADIAC!

[Kremmit]

Don't feel bad, MinerAl- you get street cred for Building Your Own

[andrewonawall]

There is also some company that makes an adapter to use the original joysticks, so I assume that the paddles could also be used.  Wish I could remember the name of it too, but I have seen it (looks kind of like a serial null modem adapter.

[Dartful Dodger]

This doe walks out of the forest and says:
"That's the last time I do that for five bucks."

[daywane]

There is also some company that makes an adapter to use the original joysticks, so I assume that the paddles could also be used.  Wish I could remember the name of it too, but I have seen it (looks kind of like a serial null modem adapter.

I think this is what your talking about.
http://www.sealiecomputing.com/retrozone/retropadatari.html

[koolmoecraig]

The adapter that you are speaking of is the Stelladapter. It's $30.

http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=267&osCsid=2ec3a675e95a5c2b1f35475db2c35da1

It's configured for MAME and Z26 right out of the box.

On another note. I just got my $5 joysticks today and I have to say, they are pretty sweet. They are alot more "Clicky" than the orginals, and the fire button is a tad bigger, but otherwise they are dead on copies.

Also, for some reason they dont work with the current version of Z26, but they work perfectly in version 2.09.

$5 and worth every penny.

[Zathras]

The firebutton is apparently mapped differently in the new version of z26 - I'm going to try the version you mentioned.

[Zathras]

First off thanks to koolmoecraig for listing a version that works w/ it.  Some reprogramming of shifted functions was needed on the cab since reset/start are in a different place but it works now

So for my review of these $5 wonders is - I don't like them.  They are VERY clicky as stated.  Also I would call them long-throw joysticks - you have to move them quite a bit before they register.
Speaking of registering - sometimes they just don't (One of my pair is particularly bad in not responding to left movements - I loaded up H.E.R.O. and couldn't get out of the way of bombs most of the time).


I also have one of the retrozone adapters listed above.  I also have several of their other products - USB NES and Snes pads and the Genesis adapter and these all work great and as advertised - good products that work great with their respective emulators.  BUT..  The problem with the Retrozone Atari adapter is that they have Up/down/left/right mapped correctly to the directions but they also have them mapped to buttons 1-4 also and the actual button is 5.  So in Z26 you fire whenever you go anywhere because there is no programming options (to say only fire on button 5).  But the feel of the Actual atari controller is much better - much much more responsive than the cheapie one.

So until until I order that other adapter linked above or find a programmable atari emulator I'm just out of luck

[MameMaster!]

....Well my "review" goes like this....very clicky, and I agree with another observation...you have to push very hard for them to register a joystick movement.

They are dead ringers for the Atari's (again except for the fire button...oddly it's a bit oversized) and it's cool to use it w/my MESS Emulator....but just as I don't play old 2600 games for long....I don't think I'll use this joystick for long either!

They do make cool decorations (when is the last time you saw a MINT Atari Joystick?-- other than the oversized Jakks gadget).... and I have one in my office on display.

Oh well....they were only $5. bucks....not a bad deal. Now had I paid $18. each (the original price)....that would be a whole different review!!

MameMaster!  

[MinerAl]

Ok, so what's inside them?  This seems to me like it has huge hack-potential.  If you can get the board out as easily as you can a real 2600 joystick, then it might be worth $5 just for that.

Surely someone other than me immediately dissects every new electronic toy...

[AlanS17]

Ok, so what's inside them?  This seems to me like it has huge hack-potential.  If you can get the board out as easily as you can a real 2600 joystick, then it might be worth $5 just for that.

Surely someone other than me immediately dissects every new electronic toy...

If there were simply a problem with the electronics then a hack might be a good idea, but it sounds like these things suck mechanically, too. I'd have to imagine that would make hacking much more difficult. If the leaves can be adjusted then maybe this isn't so much of an issue.

[MameMaster!]

Ok, so what's inside them?  This seems to me like it has huge hack-potential.  If you can get the board out as easily as you can a real 2600 joystick, then it might be worth $5 just for that.

Surely someone other than me immediately dissects every new electronic toy...

If there were simply a problem with the electronics then a hack might be a good idea, but it sounds like these things suck mechanically, too. I'd have to imagine that would make hacking much more difficult. If the leaves can be adjusted then maybe this isn't so much of an issue.

...I'll open mine now and post a quick pic.

MameMaster!

[MameMaster!]

...here are internal pics. They're low res is because I used my camera phone...but you can see the innards. The internal switches appear to be basic contact switches that are "connected" when the plastic base of the controller hits them.

The appear to be flexible metal...thus they click. Too bad...I had hoped I would see microswitches!....

....anyway...I suppose this would be an easy hack if someone was ambitious to do it....it seems pretty straight forward.

MameMaster!

[MameMaster!]

close up of "contact" switches.

[MameMaster!]

reverse of board...

[Kremmit]

Those boards sure do look like they'd be easy to hack.. but, after you hacked them, all you'd have is 5 inputs to USB.  Unless your I-Pac or KeyWiz is maxed out and you need just a few more inputs, I'm not sure what the point would be.

Hmmm...  I guess you could use the boards to build a standalone joy/button controller, with your favorite arcade stick and a button.  You could even use RayB's Firebutton Balltop to re-create the Command Control stick for USB!

[XtraSmiley]

The white plastic parts that make the metal connections look waaaaaay to close to the original joystick plastics.  I broke about 6 of these before I switched to a better joystick.  Didn't anyone else have a problem breaking the white part?  I can't believe they used the same crappy design.  Oh well, for $5 it's a cool deal.

[Zeitgeist]

I've been using a DirectPad Pro interface that I built a year or two ago.
It connects my old 2600 controllers via the parallel port for use with Stella & Z26 or any other emulator that takes DirectX inputs.
It works pretty well & gives an authentic feel to the 2600 emus but for $5 a pop for these USB knock offs, I just bought two!

[jcroach]

Hello!

I'm totally new to the world of arcade and console emulation.  But I'm loving it!  I bought one of these Redoctane contorllers the other day.  And I broke the "white part" in the joystick almost immediately.  We'll see how my superglue fix holds up.

And I too had the same problem with z26 and the fire button.  I haven't had any luck tracking down version 2.09.  Can anyone post a link that I could download this version from? or e-mail me a zip file?  Thanks!!!

[XtraSmiley]

Dude, see my post!  It is the same old sh*t!

Hello!

I'm totally new to the world of arcade and console emulation.  But I'm loving it!  I bought one of these Redoctane contorllers the other day.  And I broke the "white part" in the joystick almost immediately.  We'll see how my superglue fix holds up.

And I too had the same problem with z26 and the fire button.  I haven't had any luck tracking down version 2.09.  Can anyone post a link that I could download this version from? or e-mail me a zip file?  Thanks!!!

[JoyMonkey]

I bought two of these USB sticks, they arrived last Thursday and my girlfriend broke both of them playing Burger Time over the weekend.  

They're not nearly as sturdy as the original Atari's

[MinerAl]

I'd be interested to see if the board out of this would fit a stock 2600 stick.  It looks like it might.

Anybody have an original to compare their $5 one to?

[Stingray]

It does look very similar to the inside of a genuine Atari stick. I've got a whole heap of real ones, but I don't have one of these new USB sticks to compare it to. It's hard to say from the pictures, but the switches look like they might be the same type as the old metal dome type switches that a real Atari stick uses.

-S