Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I finally got a 5200 today and some games + 2 controllers. I'm having some strange issues with the controllers, but only with certain games. Honestly, it doesn't make any sense! For Pac-Man, neither controller will go in the down direction. For Vanguard, only one of the controllers will go in the down direction. For Q-Bert, only one of the controllers will go in the down direction. For all other games, they both work fine in all directions (Centipede, Kangaroo, Defender, etc.) I know that these controllers have issues, but I am baffled by this since in most of the games the sticks work just fine in all directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 most games have floaty centers and sort of auto compensate have you tried starting the games with the joysticks at the 12 oclock postion i noticed a bit of weirdness with vanguard once just keep playing it doing circles with the joystick it may take 30 seconds for it to catch the drift you are intending to go down its a flakey system find a high bridge over deep water and huck it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'll try it with the joysticks pointed up and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I've read that some games require a calibration at first before they will function properly. I would check the game manual for each game your having issues with, they might give calibration instructions. There's a whole 5200 game manual data base here... http://atariage.com/system_items.html?SystemID=5200&ItemTypeID=MANUAL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DamonicFury Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 The good news is there's probably nothing wrong with your joysticks. The bad news is that you'll need to open up your 5200 and adjust a small potentiometer, preferably while running Missile Command. Check out this thread... http://atariage.com/forums/topic/181930-my-5200-is-acting-kinda-strange/?p=2280867&hl=calibration%20pot&fromsearch=1&do=findComment&comment=2280867 In which zylon points out the location of the pot that needs adjusting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I don't have Missle Command, but I do have Super Breakout. Would that work for now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I've read that some games require a calibration at first before they will function properly. I would check the game manual for each game your having issues with, they might give calibration instructions. There's a whole 5200 game manual data base here... http://atariage.com/system_items.html?SystemID=5200&ItemTypeID=MANUAL Unfortunately I didn't see any calibration instructions in Pac Man, Vanguard, or Qbert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I read somewhere that the pot in the controllers can be adjusted too. Is that true? If so, do you just move the white arms so that the are not exactly at 9 and 6? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Unfortunately I didn't see any calibration instructions in Pac Man, Vanguard, or Qbert. My bad... I know I've read on here that people have done something with their 5200 controllers upon start up of certain games to make them work... I don't know where I got the idea that such info would be in the game manuals... I must have been wrong. My apologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Like sdamon said, you'll have to adjust the pot in the system. It's not too hard, as the pot is not under the metal shielding. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/181930-my-5200-is-acting-kinda-strange/?do=findComment&comment=2280176 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Thanks for the tips guys! It took me like 10 minutes to open it up and calibrate and it fixed the problem. I have a new problem now with one controller. Many of the keypad buttons don't work at all. I even tried the pencil eraser cleaning trick and that didn't help. I suspect some of the traces are messed up. Besides replacing the flex circuit, any other way of fixing it? I saw the directions for replacing the flex circuit and it seemed really complicated. Are there any video walkthroughs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 The wiring in the 5200 controller/trak ball harnesses are terrible. Even if you buy one from Best Electronics, they are still problematic because they are NOS from the 80's, not brand new. If it is the traces, there is no real fix unless newer, modern harnesses go into production. I was actually thinking of getting a pair of 5200/neogeo wire extenders and making new harnesses from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah98 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 My local game shop let me swap out the bad one for...a worse one. Then, I swapped that one out for a wotking one! Seems like a ticking time bomb but I knew what I was getting into! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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