Super Action Controller - Thumbwheel Output Help?

[edladdin]

Hi Everyone!

 

I need help from someone who has both a well-functioning Super Action Controller AND an AtariMax cart. Here's the situation:

 

We are in the home stretch on building out the Edladdin "Super Arcade Controllers" that were funded through our Kickstarter campaign back in the Spring. These controllers replicate the functions of a vintage Super Action Controller with an arcade (Sanwa joystick), keypad, and the four fire buttons - yellow, red, purple, and blue. We are simulating the action of the thumbwheel with another pair of fire buttons - one for left and one for right. These buttons behave like the arcade version of "Track and Field" - the faster you tap the button, the faster the response in that direction.

 

The problem is... I have the Nuvatec diagnostic program which shows a number readout for thumbwheel action. The faster I tap the buttons, the higher that number goes. But I don't have a way to make sure button output is in the range of what the original controllers could do. The pair of vintage Super Actions I have are almost trash and yield no results from the thumbwheels, so I don't know if a "really fast" speed is reported as 5, 10, or 15 in the diagnostics.

 

My signals are fed up by a microprocessor, so we can adjust them as needed to fall within the range of the originals. This will make sure that our football/baseball/soccer players can move at a competitive speed - too slow and you will always get caught by the defense, too fast and your guy moves like The Flash. Neither would be that much fun in the game.

 

So this is where I need help. Would someone with a good Super Action Controller be willing to test the thumbwheel using the Nuvatec diagnostic software and report the results? I'd be interested to know the numbers shown for a reasonable "medium" versus "fast" speed that you could realistically use your thumb to produce during a game. I know there is some subjectivity with these terms, but any data shared will help us to be sure we are in the right ball park.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Ed

 

Here's a link to the ROM for Super Action Controller Tester (1983) Nuvatec:

http://atariage.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=419922

 

 

 

 

[fiddlepaddle]

I tried it:

 

spinning direction LEFT:

 

slowest speed: 1

medium speed: 45-54

fastest speed I could get: 97

 

spinning direction RIGHT:

 

slowest speed: 1

medium speed: 47-63

fastest speed I could get: 102

 

Notes: I've never used my spinner before, but have used the controller many times, and have taken it apart and liberally applied Pro Gold to all contacts (but did nothing to the spinner) and everything seems to work as expected in the diagnostic program you posted. Until now, I had not used my SA controller for three or four years, though. Hope this helps.

 

Edit: by the way, getting the fastest speed is not easy, generally top speed was about LEFT:85 and RIGHT:97

Edited October 9, 2016 by fiddlepaddle

[edladdin]

THANK YOU so much!!! That is exactly what I needed!

[Daverey1956]

I got a different count. a slow rotation was about a 5, but usually a steady rotation was 13. the fastest I got was about 38

Dave Reynolds

[fiddlepaddle]

OK, I tried another SAC that is old and beat up, some contacts don't work (probably needs to be taken apart and cleaned, but I remember what a pain it was to take apart and put back together and can't do that right now), but I was able to start the program and test the spinner:

slowest speed either direction was still 1 (other than no movement=0), but fastest speed was:

Left: 58
Right: 39

I suspect a new, good controller would have results range approximately 1 to 100 and anything with a significantly lower high speed is related to the physical condition of the controller.

 

But maybe there really are wide variations on how they work, due possibly to uneven quality control on those particular components (for the spinner), or maybe they didn't really pay attention, or maybe they even packaged "matching" SA Controllers together, based on spinner readings.

 

I have several more SAC I could test, but they are packed away and not easy to get to right now.

[edladdin]

Following up on the thread, we decided to go ahead and find a SAC of our own that was in decent condition. I lucked out and found a pair on eBay that are nearly pristine, still in-box with all accessories, Baseball cart, overlays, warranty cards, etc. Measurements with the "new" ones were right in line with fiddlepaddle's first post:

 

* VERY easy to get a reading of 40-60 in either direction with medium effort

* Zipping my palm across the wheels for maximum impact, could just break 100 in either direction.

 

This is in sharp contrast to our "old and busted" SACs that I'd gotten as part of a lot, where:

 

* one was completely dead

* the other yielded "medium" results of 5-7 and the max possible was about 10.

 

Thanks again for sharing your data!