Atari 5200 trackball ? Never seen this before !

[Level42]

Never knew about this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ATARI-5200-TRAK-BALL-CONTROLLER-MODEL-CX53_W0QQitemZ320217669214QQihZ011QQcategoryZ41009QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Anyone ever seen it before ?

[Hurray Banana]

I've got the 2600 trackball, which works pretty well.

I wonder why they stuffed the 2 keypads onto this trackball unit?

It must have been produced for some specific type of game.

[ChadTower]

I have one.  What do you want to know about it?

I have one of these too.

[igboo]

I have one of these too.

Too Cool!  I knew that several of these existed.  Where did you find yours?

[ChadTower]

Too Cool!  I knew that several of these existed.  Where did you find yours?

There are probably more than you think.  It can be made by any decent electronics guy.  I don't know of any reason to suspect mine is an actual Atari proto or anything.  I got it in a trade from a local guy.

[hypernova]

Memories...like the ...something something something.

We had one of those.  Hell, my parents may still have the thing downstairs in their basement, but I think we sold it somewhere along the way.  My parents were Centipede junkies.  They bought that trackball...and system, just for that one game, though we ended up with about a 10-20 more games by the time it was all said and done.

Never had a spinner controller.  Just joysticks.

I remember the trackball being pretty sturdy.  Am I right on that?

[ChadTower]

I remember the trackball being pretty sturdy.  Am I right on that?

All of the console trackball controllers are sturdy.  The 2600 one is as tank as a plastic controller gets.

[Level42]

Yeah, I think that the trackballs were amazingly simular to the arcade versions, but I'm not 100% sure.
I remember Wico had a really nice home version as well.

So, I take it that the 5200 version of f.i. Centipede used the trackball like the arcade game ? I mean, the speed of the movement of the "archer" is in direct relation to the movement of the ball. I know that f.i. the Atari 8-bit trackballs were switchable. One setting would emulate a joystick, so it could be used with joystick games. The other was the "real" trackball setting.

[ChadTower]

I honestly don't remember.  I haven't had my 5200 hooked up in a long time.  I can bust that out over the weekend and check it for you, if you really need to know.  I'll be shocked if I don't have Centipede.  Hell, if I don't have it, I'll get it, as a 5200 without Centipede just ain't right.

[Level42]

There's no need. Just my curiosity....

[hypernova]

a 5200 without Centipede just ain't right.

Or Frogger
Or Miner 2049er
Or River Raid
Or Dig Dug
Etc. Etc.

[Matthew Fisher]

So, I take it that the 5200 version of f.i. Centipede used the trackball like the arcade game ? I mean, the speed of the movement of the "archer" is in direct relation to the movement of the ball. I know that f.i. the Atari 8-bit trackballs were switchable. One setting would emulate a joystick, so it could be used with joystick games. The other was the "real" trackball setting.

The movement is like the arcade game, i.e., the faster you move the ball, the faster the archer moves.  I don't believe that the 5200 TB has a joystick setting, although I could check if anyone cares.  Definitely a must for Missle Command as well. 

[Level42]

This is what I always wondered about the 8-bit trackball (CX-80):

Quote:
07-27-2003, 01:38 AM
CX-22 - original model (white ball, round fire buttons, T/J switch on bottom)
CX-80 - redesigned model ("XL" style, black ball, triangular fire buttons, T/J switch on back).

Note that there are 2 different versions of the CX-80 model. The first version is compatible with the CX-22; the 2nd is compatible with the Atari ST mouse (some jumpers were added to the board inside). The only way to tell which version you have is to either try it, or open it up and look for the jumpers.

Ironically, Atari only made one game that takes advantage of the "trak-ball" mode, 8-bit Missile Command. No 2600 games (by any company) use it. However, last year Thomas Jentzsch made 2 modified versions of Missile Command that use it (for either model).

unquote.

So sadly, only Missile Command seems to really support the trackball mode on the 8-bit. Now since the 5200 basicaly IS an 8-bit, and a number of 5200 only games have been ported to the 8-bit, would f.i. Centipede support it ?

Reminds me that I gotta dig up that 800 (NOT XL) PAL version (RARE !) that I bought some years ago.
Gotta play some Miner and Bounty Bob again !

[Paul Olson]

Wow, I haven't seen one of those since I had mine back when it came out. That probably was the best console controller I ever owned prior to the wii. It was big enough to comfortably use it on your lap, and it held up to being dropped alot. Centipede was a blast with it. I wish the 5200 joysticks would have been built as well. It was definitely expensive, $80 if I remember correctly - about what I payed for 2 happs trackballs on ebay last year.

[erap]

 :applaud:wow..cool i haven't seen it before...nice keep old gadgets rolling...