Atari 2600 Joystick Fun

[MinerAl]

I'm sure this is well documented somewhere, but I figured it out myself, so I thought I'd share.

I was playing my Atari 2600 in the back room at work, and it occurred to me that its stock joysticks were perfect.  I'm sure it has something to do with having been 8 years old in 1979...

Anyway I took it apart to see what it was.  It's just 5 switches (up, dn, lt, rt, fire) and a common ground, which was very familiar to me from having built my control panel around an IPAC.

So I found the pinout for the connector here:
http://www.computerrepairservice.com/cables/co_JoystickAtari2600.html
went to Radio Shack and got the crimp-together "9 pin D-sub male" jack that the connector mates with and in about 10 minutes had an Atari 2600 Joystick port (via the IPAC) on my cocktail cabinet.

It allows me to play joystick-and-one-button horizontal games from the sides of my cabinet where there are no built in controls.   Bosconian is a blast with it.

Radio Shack only had one jack on its rack, so I'll have to go back (I'm a poet) to get the player 2 port later.

[Smack]

That's funny, I was thinking about that the other day too for another project I'm working on!

I'm building an MP3 jukebox with lcd display and stuff to put with my stereo components in my living room. I was thinking about a video card with TV out to the tv along with a 2600 emulator in it and had the same idea for jacks in the front of the pc case for 2600 sticks.

Great minds think alike. (Of course you were just thinking that!)

Now I have to do it too! Dagnabbit!

Smack

[enemyace]

I'm thinking about doing the same thing with a NES pad and a dreamcast gamepad hack so I can play console-perfect NesterDC. You can do the same thing with SNES pads as well.

[neuromancer]

I'm sure this is well documented somewhere, but I figured it out myself, so I thought I'd share.

I was playing my Atari 2600 in the back room at work, and it occurred to me that its stock joysticks were perfect.  

/rant mode on
Perfect for what? They suck for playing games. The sticks are too hard to push, and they make the hand holding the stick hurt after any length of time. The button is in a bad location for use with any fingers.

The joysticks were the worst aspect of the 2600 by far.

/rant mode off.

I'm glad you found something that makes you happy!

Bob

[enemyace]

I'm sure this is well documented somewhere, but I figured it out myself, so I thought I'd share.

I was playing my Atari 2600 in the back room at work, and it occurred to me that its stock joysticks were perfect.  

/rant mode on
Perfect for what? They suck for playing games. The sticks are too hard to push, and they make the hand holding the stick hurt after any length of time. The button is in a bad location for use with any fingers.

The joysticks were the worst aspect of the 2600 by far.

/rant mode off.

I'm glad you found something that makes you happy!

Bob

I agree they're not that ergonomic, but I do think it would be cool to be able to play the classic console games with the original controller just for the sake of authenticity.

This is interesting, my wife enjoys playing NesterDC on our Dreamcast, and she says that the d-pad on the Sega controller is not as good as the original NES pad. I'd have to agree with her, at least for NES games. That's one of the reasons I want to hack an NES controller.

[Smack]

That's funny, I loved the 2600 original sticks.

I haven't played one in a while, but I remember how sweaty your hand would get. I used to hate when the rubber thingy would come off too.

Oh well!

Smack

[rampy]

That's funny, I loved the 2600 original sticks.

I haven't played one in a while, but I remember how sweaty your hand would get. I used to hate when the rubber thingy would come off too.

Oh well!

Smack

*cough cough* well...

I remember for decathalon some people would develop the technique of flipping the joystick upside down, grabbing the base and using the carpet as a pivot point... which worked well for the 1000meter or whatefver super long race...

rampy

[enemyace]

I'm convinced that old games like that were designed for torture and not for fun.

"I wonder what kind of utterly pointless and silly things we could get the kids to do repeatedly for extended periods of time while at the same time causing extreme discomfort and  Repetitive Strain Injuries?" said the game designer...

[Dartful Dodger]

I'm convinced that old games like that were designed for torture and not for fun.

"I wonder what kind of utterly pointless and silly things we could get the kids to do repeatedly for extended periods of time while at the same time causing extreme discomfort and  Repetitive Strain Injuries?" said the game designer...

Old games?
I was up till 3 in the morning playing the latest Mortal Kombat game on the PS2 this weekend.  
Fighting people from another world to the death to save Earth, using the same moves over and over again....Pong wasn't even that silly or repetitive.  
..and talking about extreme discomfort and repetitive strain injuries, I never got blisters like these playing Pitfall.