TI Remote Controllers Question

[mutantcamel1979]

Hi all - Quick question: Are The TI Remote Controllers compatible with every joystick based game on the 99?

 

I have found my controllers don't work with 2 Atarisoft games: Ms Pacman and Pacman, although I can use an Atari joystick fine with an adapter om them.

 

Also Ms Pacman seems to work with the arrow keys but Pacman doesn't use the keyboard!

 

The Remote Controllers work fine with my other games, so don't know what's going on!

 

Sorry if this is a duplicate thread!

 

Thanks!!

 

[pixelpedant]

Some games are Joystick 2 games rather than Joystick 1 games.  So there's that, as far as "compatibility" goes, but obviously, the TI Wired Remote Controllers come with both a Joystick 1 and Joystick 2. 

 

Also keep in mind that those things fail as a matter of natural course.  As inevitably as any Atari 5200 joystick.  So if you have a painstick you aren't getting inputs from as expected, that's more or less just what's expected, at this point.  You can open it up and clean the contacts.  But you may just find the damage is irreparable.  Which is why almost everybody uses third party joysticks, in the TI community.  Or keyboard.  And pretty much always has. 

[+mizapf]

And I still have my Competition Pro joystick, the one I already used 30 years ago. This is clearly not in the sense of "planned obsolescence"; they only earned money from me once. Rookie mistake.

[+Torrax]

Went through 3 sets of the TI Pain Sticks which TI replaced each of.  The handles kept breaking off on me.  Got a Wico adapter (Tenex) and two Atari joysticks which are still working to this day.  Just needed to clean the contacts once.  Also have a few other atari compatible joysticks stored away -- Wico Command Pro (both the bat and ball versions); Epyx 500XJ; SunCom; TAC-2; spare Atari 2600's; and a few others.

[mutantcamel1979]

So back to my initial question:

 

It looks like only one of the Remote Controllers works.

 

So the joystick that is usually used for player 1 on most games, is used for player 2 only with Ms Pacman and Pacman!

 

I like the TI joysticks personally. They are quite stiff which work with Pacman quite well.

 

I think I have another pair in storage somewhere so gonna try dig those out...

 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by mutantcamel1979

[Airshack]

On 2/2/2022 at 11:23 AM, mutantcamel1979 said:

Are The TI Remote Controllers compatible with every joystick based game on the 99?

 

You're really doing yourself a disservice by using those horrible TI controllers. 

 

Solution: Tex Elec low profile TI-99/4a to Atari joystick adapter (arcadeshopper.com) 

[JB]

I have a fondness for the TI sticks, as they're what I grew up on, but even when working they're way too stiff. I've considered taking the housing and putting something with a bit better engineering in it.

[SteveB]

On 2/3/2022 at 6:39 PM, mutantcamel1979 said:

It looks like only one of the Remote Controllers works.

Some thirty years ago one of my joysticks also failed and I found the circuit path was damaged, but nothing some conductive varnish couldn't fix. Have you checked the plastic sheet with the printed circuit path?