Yard Sale Find

[OldSchoolGamer88]

Congrats on the find! I don't hit up yard sales too much, but I've only seen one 5200 at the big Flea Market here in several years.

 

Thanks. I am very happy with it. Thanks to you all for helping me with this. I am new to the 5200 yes but not to atari. I will be trying to fix the controllers myself. If I can not, I will have to bite the bullet and replace the controllers one way or the other. 5200 isnt that expensive in retrospect to the other consoles I collect for as well. Neo Geo CD and MVS are by far more expensive than the 5200 will ever be. I am very pleased with the 5200 as I have only played pacman as that is all I can play..but its graphical leap from the 2600 I am accustomed to as of late is nice. I love the overall design of the 5200 especially since it has its own place to put the controllers and wrap the cord that connects to the TV under the system. Very well designed indeed. I dont forsee myself having any kind of problem with the 5200 controller once I get one working. I am sure I will be enjoying the 5200 for quite awhile once I get my sticks working.

 

Again, thank you all for all your help and I will definitally enjoy collecting for this beast.

[Brian R.]

Congrats on the find! I don't hit up yard sales too much, but I've only seen one 5200 at the big Flea Market here in several years.

 

Thanks. I am very happy with it. Thanks to you all for helping me with this. I am new to the 5200 yes but not to atari. I will be trying to fix the controllers myself. If I can not, I will have to bite the bullet and replace the controllers one way or the other. 5200 isnt that expensive in retrospect to the other consoles I collect for as well. Neo Geo CD and MVS are by far more expensive than the 5200 will ever be. I am very pleased with the 5200 as I have only played pacman as that is all I can play..but its graphical leap from the 2600 I am accustomed to as of late is nice. I love the overall design of the 5200 especially since it has its own place to put the controllers and wrap the cord that connects to the TV under the system. Very well designed indeed. I dont forsee myself having any kind of problem with the 5200 controller once I get one working. I am sure I will be enjoying the 5200 for quite awhile once I get my sticks working.

 

Again, thank you all for all your help and I will definitally enjoy collecting for this beast.

 

PacMan rocks on the 5200. Believe it or not, I think it is one of the best games for the system. Sure, the PacMan Collection for the 7800 may be more accurate to the arcade, but 5200 PacMan to me just seems smooth and polished. An excellent game. And it has a leg up on the 8bits by having the intermissions.

[Paranoid]

OldSchool.

 

Yeah, the NeoGeo is a whole different level of collecting expense, for sure. But of the systems of this generation, the 5200 is (or can be) a money pit. I suppose the Colecovision can be a little pricey, too, but mostly because it is so prone to hardware failures.

 

At any rate, follow that link provided, and you'll have your keypads and buttons working in no time, if they're not *physically* damaged.

 

Just to help you isolate, if they ARE physically damaged, usually what you'll expect is that the traces on the flex circuit have been damaged... The most COMMON damage is to the Start/Pause/Reset buttons, and usually it is caused by people pressing down REAL hard with an object or a thumbnail to get the circuit to recognize a button-press. The firebuttons also experience this issue. You may also find that the circuit has cracked where it makes a 90 degree turn for the firebuttons on the right or for the firebuttons and control panel on the left. In either case, Best Electronics, mentioned above, sells the flex circuit, inexpensively.

 

The other possibility is that the cord is shorted or has broken wires. Again, Best Electronics sells replacement cords.

 

If you're going to be a happy 5200 owner, you're either going to find a digital alternative to the joystick, (and write off the titles that require analog control), or you are going to learn how to maintain and fix the stock controllers.

[Brian R.]

If you're going to be a happy 5200 owner, you're either going to find a digital alternative to the joystick, (and write off the titles that require analog control), or you are going to learn how to maintain and fix the stock controllers.

 

A Wico wouldn't require writing anything off, right?

[ymike673]

You can play all the games with a Wico.

Edited July 25, 2007 by ymike673

[Brian R.]

You can play all the games with a Wico.

 

That's what I thought. I have one.

[OldSchoolGamer88]

You can play all the games with a Wico.

 

That's what I thought. I have one.

 

Where can you find this said Wico controller? How much do they generally go for?

[MIKE5200]

You can play all the games with a Wico.

 

That's what I thought. I have one.

 

Where can you find this said Wico controller? How much do they generally go for?

Best Electronics had both Wico ball and Wico bat for $35.00 or if your luckly to try Ebay.

[NightSprinter]

You can play all the games with a Wico.

 

That's what I thought. I have one.

 

Where can you find this said Wico controller? How much do they generally go for?

Best Electronics had both Wico ball and Wico bat for $35.00 or if your luckly to try Ebay.

 

That would require a Redemption adapter or that one other adapter that's considered rare-ish and very expensive (the name escapes me). What he means is the Wico stick for the 5200. That's a bit more pricey to come by, and both of the sticks that I have are already failing. One doesn't work at all, while the other one I found at a thrift shop will stop wanting to move right after a while (which makes games impossible to play).

 

Plus with the Wico 5200 stick, you'll need the Y-adapter to connect a regular joystick or the Trak-Ball to. Or if you're lucky you can score one of the rarer keypads for the Wico on eBay.

[ymike673]

You could probably find the "Track Ball" for less money than the Wico Key Pad. Its more expensive than the stick.

Edited July 26, 2007 by ymike673

[Paranoid]

Point made. The 5200 is, in all ways, a system that takes a little more dedication and/or a little more money to support, maintain and enjoy.

 

I'm not knocking it. Favorite console *ever*.

 

And don't count on the Redemption being LESS expensive than a Wico 5200 stick. If they're out of production, I'd suggest that the Redemption is instantly worth MORE than the Wico. I mean, think about it. The Wico, you're buying a whole (old) stick that has mechanical parts that WILL fail. With the Redemption, you're buying a much newer product that has NO mechanical parts that you can plug your OWN mechanical parts into.

 

First $500 can have my Redemption. Only used once or twice. Like new.

[Brian R.]

Point made. The 5200 is, in all ways, a system that takes a little more dedication and/or a little more money to support, maintain and enjoy.

 

I'm not knocking it. Favorite console *ever*.

 

And don't count on the Redemption being LESS expensive than a Wico 5200 stick. If they're out of production, I'd suggest that the Redemption is instantly worth MORE than the Wico. I mean, think about it. The Wico, you're buying a whole (old) stick that has mechanical parts that WILL fail. With the Redemption, you're buying a much newer product that has NO mechanical parts that you can plug your OWN mechanical parts into.

 

First $500 can have my Redemption. Only used once or twice. Like new.

 

$500? What is it you think you got there, Battlesphere???

[OldSchoolGamer88]

Point made. The 5200 is, in all ways, a system that takes a little more dedication and/or a little more money to support, maintain and enjoy.

 

I'm not knocking it. Favorite console *ever*.

 

And don't count on the Redemption being LESS expensive than a Wico 5200 stick. If they're out of production, I'd suggest that the Redemption is instantly worth MORE than the Wico. I mean, think about it. The Wico, you're buying a whole (old) stick that has mechanical parts that WILL fail. With the Redemption, you're buying a much newer product that has NO mechanical parts that you can plug your OWN mechanical parts into.

 

First $500 can have my Redemption. Only used once or twice. Like new.

 

Hey. Yes I do agree with yu from how it seems...the 5200 can be a money pit....mostly for replacing the controllers. Someday I will be able to afford the 5200 controllers and such. Not for awhile it would seem. There does seem to be alot fo controler choices available. I am sure I can come to some sort of a decision eventually. I will need to look into all my options before making a for sure decision on what to do. I am going to attempt to clean and fix my stock controllers before I go any other route If i cant fix my own stock controllers...my 5200 will be a nice collection and conversation piece for the time being.n

[Paranoid]

$500? What is it you think you got there, Battlesphere???

 

Heh. I'll even thrown in a copy of the Ultra-Rare Superbreakout, loose!

 

As for repairing or replacing, try to repair what you have. If you take it slow and follow the instructions carefully, you should be ok. I wouldn't recommend taking apart a 5200 stick with a damaged stick boot until you've got a few under your belt. That is what makes it REALLY hard to put them back together again, if that is missing. Odds are that nothing but a cleaning will be needed to get the sticks into workable condition. If you find that this doesn't do the trick, CALL Best Electronics in San Jose and *talk* to the guy and explain your problem. The guy who runs the place is a talker, but he will tell you exactly what you need and he won't try to "upsell" you. If you only want the flex circuit, he won't pressure you into the gold dot kit.

 

Now, if you've never used a 5200 stick before, even once you have it working 100% correctly, you might still THINK it is broken... but that is just a matter of opinion.

[NightSprinter]

Excellent post, Paranoid. I know that my stick just has a damaged mylar flex-circuit (I've inspected it myself), rendering the start, pause, reset, and fire buttons unusable. The keypad buttons work fine. Though I think tomorrow (gonna be out all day) I'll give Best a call and see about that replacement. I might have to get a new 2-port case as well, as the bottom-left corner is severely damaged. Hopefully I can safely remove the P/N sticker from the old case and adhere it to the new one.

[Paranoid]

MrRetroGamer is the local guy who hangs out here who sells Flex circuits, too. You might want to drop him a line... he offers Atari Age members some sort of discount.

 

 

 

And thanks, NightSprinter.

[TunnelRunner]

Is it a 2-port or 4-port model? (Controller port if you didn't already know)

 

Allan

Hey Allan, can I borrow your avatar artwork for my Spitfire cart? It's much nice than the one I cobbled together. I can my trade labels for one of yours.

g