analog joystick / four ports research

[LiquidPenguin]

I was doing a bit of research for an article I'm writing about another console. Part of the research involves tracing origins back to their original sources.

 

So I was studying the 5200 information and I noticed that none of the articles or papers about the 5200 ever say that the 5200 is the first console with four controller ports nor is it the first console with analog joysticks.

 

I did some further research to see if I can find a reference to another, earlier, console that has four controller ports and analog joysticks. I did find that one console has analog controllers (not a joystick, more like a paddle) but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

 

Is there a previous console(s) that has four controller ports and/or analog joysticks? I'm aware of computers that probably harbored such features, but I'm looking specifically at consoles.

[MrRetroGamer]

As far as programmable consoles go, the Bally Professional Arcade (aka Astrocade) had 4 joystick controller ports. I know that some of the dedicated PONG systems also had 4 player ability for paddle games, and even the Telstar arcade had an add in that came with cart #2 for two additional paddles to play up to 4 players.