classicgamesnut Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Hi, Colecovision fans. I've been making compact controllers for Vectrex for a while now, as well as a few for Atari. Always liked the Colecovision, so I decided to make a compact multi-function unit for this classic system. Initially my intent was to make a batch of these for sale, but that's not likely at this point. The parts cost is too high, and it's way too labor intensive. The average MiniVex for Vectrex takes 8-10 hours from start to finish. THIS beast easily took more than twice that, and I don't see the time coming down much. Just too much going on internally. Months of development involved here, and my plan is not coming to fruition, but that's the way it goes sometimes. At least I got a fully-working prototype out of all that work. Of course I wanted to show off my cool toy here, but that's not all. I ran into countless frustrating roadblocks and failures while developing this. The Colecovision uses some very strange--and FINICKY--voltages in the controller circtuiry. The worst part was the keypad functions. So if any of you are making your own Colecovision controllers, and have slammed into some brick walls, I'll be happy to share whatever might help. In case you're wondering (no pun intended) the case is made of 22-gauge steel like all the other MiniVex controllers. Many wadded-up pieces of graph paper and aspirin tablets later, this thing works great. It was worth it. Larry 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youki Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 it is really pity you did not release that. I would love to have one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 That’s a beauty! Would love to try that out with Kaboom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allansim Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Excellent work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 I can attest Larry does great work. I only have the MiniVex for my Vectrex but it is glorious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 On 12/7/2021 at 6:16 AM, NIAD said: That’s a beauty! Would love to try that out with Kaboom. Here is me playing kaboom with one of my early prototype paddles. I ended up selling 5 for the intellivision, but none for the colecovision. I made an easier to build and 3d print version and open sourced it. Thingiverse for the paddle shell: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4316115 github for the guts: https://github.com/evg2000/ATTiny84_Version3.1 video early prototype: Last prototype: Arkanoid: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicgamesnut Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 That's a nice paddle controller! Kaboom and Breakout-style games just aren't the same with a joystick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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