Okay- let's try this again- Controller question

[Cousin Vinnie]

Are there two "fire" buttons on a 5200 controller? With the keypad, how many possible button inputs are there... 11?

 

And which games require the key pad? Is there an online resource that lists the games?

 

 

[doubledown]

Each controller has (4) total "fire" buttons, (2) on each side, (1) Lower & (1) Upper.  So (2) unique buttons, that allow for ambidextrous control.

 

There are 15 unique keypad buttons 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/*/0/#/Start/Pause/Reset.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 hours ago, doubledown said:

Each controller has (4) total "fire" buttons, (2) on each side, (1) Lower & (1) Upper.  So (2) unique buttons, that allow for ambidextrous control.

 

There are 15 unique keypad buttons 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/*/0/#/Start/Pause/Reset.

 

 

In theory, it should be possible to add a 16th button.  Take a look at this schematic:

 

 

By putting a switch between pins 4 and 8, this should give a 16th input.  Not sure if something in the OS would prevent this registering or not, but it at least looks possible.

 

FWIW, the keypads on the Atari controllers work pretty much the same way as touch-tone landline telephones do in terms of how different values of keypresses are generated.

[Cousin Vinnie]

15 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

In theory, it should be possible to add a 16th button.  Take a look at this schematic:

 

 

By putting a switch between pins 4 and 8, this should give a 16th input.  Not sure if something in the OS would prevent this registering or not, but it at least looks possible.

 

FWIW, the keypads on the Atari controllers work pretty much the same way as touch-tone landline telephones do in terms of how different values of keypresses are generated.

You're smarter than me

[Cousin Vinnie]

5 hours ago, doubledown said:

Each controller has (4) total "fire" buttons, (2) on each side, (1) Lower & (1) Upper.  So (2) unique buttons, that allow for ambidextrous control.

 

There are 15 unique keypad buttons 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/*/0/#/Start/Pause/Reset.

 

Thank you for responding... I felt like the ugly girl at the school dance for a moment.

 

Let me just clarify:  there are 4 possible "fire" buttons, but they only register as two inputs, "Fire" and "Jump" for example... and these 4 buttons are doubled inputs intended to make the controller ambidextrous. Is that right?

Then the keypad buttons are for less action oriented inputs... like bringing up maps or lowering landing gear, etc. Is there an online resource that spells out the games and which ones utilize the keypads?

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Cousin Vinnie

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 minutes ago, Cousin Vinnie said:

Let me just clarify:  there are 4 possible "fire" buttons, but they only register as two inputs, "Fire" and "Jump" for example... and these 4 buttons are doubled inputs intended to make the controller ambidextrous. Is that right?

Then the keypad buttons are for less action oriented inputs... like bringing up maps or lowering landing gear, etc. Is there an online resource that spells out the games and which ones utilize the keypads?

 

Correct.  Not aware of anywhere that specifically breaks the games out by use / don't use the keypads, but someone else will probably have a better answer for that one.

[doubledown]

I've never seen a master list of what games use what buttons/keypad keys.  When I was doing some checking for this, I simply played the games, as well as read through the manuals here at AA.  Most games might only use 1 or 2 keypad keys for selecting the difficulty or number of players at the start of a game, some obviously will use more...and during in-game play.  Some, like Frogger, offer a keypad control option (versus joystick controls) for a game-play alternative.  When in doubt, read the manuals.  

[MrMaddog]

You can just look at the overlays on AA's 5200 database.  Most of the games only use the # and * keys to select levels and number of players (much like the Select & Option keys on Atari 8-bit versions).  But if certain games do need to use the numbers on the keypad then the overlay will tell you.

 

 

 

[Cousin Vinnie]

3 hours ago, MrMaddog said:

You can just look at the overlays on AA's 5200 database.  Most of the games only use the # and * keys to select levels and number of players (much like the Select & Option keys on Atari 8-bit versions).  But if certain games do need to use the numbers on the keypad then the overlay will tell you.

 

 

 

Good idea!