Any 5200-like controllers that work with the VCS?

[Erzak]

Aside from the native VCS operating system and games, I also run Batocera off of a USB drive for emulation.  Wondering if there are any controllers that mimic all the buttons, etc. of the 5200 controller for use in emulation?  I've seen the build-to-order one by RetroGameBoyz, though that is designed to be used with a real 5200 console, so would have to use a USB adaptor with it.  Or maybe it's just easier to hook a small keyboard up to the VCS?  I'm not a huge fan of how the keypad was implemented in the vault games that run in the VCS OS, and most folks say that the original 5200 controllers are pretty wonky and unreliable.

[zzip]

I'm not aware of any, but I'm surprised if it hasn't been done-  such a controller would be extremely useful for emulating a number of systems:  5200, INTV, Coleco, Jaguar,  even a handful of 2600 games use a keypad controller.

[MrMaddog]

There is the 5200-daptor that uses 5200 controllers for USB, but it mainly works with Altirra & MAME in Windows.

[+MrZarniwoop]

There's also iCode's Atari 5200 Controller USB Adapter Pro – 2 ports. I've bought some other items from him in the past, nice designs custom-made in small batches.

[zzip]

So I have an idea-

 

What about a mobile App that displays the keypad for various controllers or displays the overlay for particular games.    The phone can be connected either with USB OTG cable or bluetooth and pose as a keyboard and send keyboard commands for each of the on screen buttons.   So it would be easy to map this to most emulators.

 

Seems a lot easier to do this than create new hardware

[MrMaddog]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:58 AM, zzip said:

So I have an idea-

 

What about a mobile App that displays the keypad for various controllers or displays the overlay for particular games.    The phone can be connected either with USB OTG cable or bluetooth and pose as a keyboard and send keyboard commands for each of the on screen buttons.   So it would be easy to map this to most emulators.

 

Seems a lot easier to do this than create new hardware

 

This might work...

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_kbaustin.BluetoothKeypad_V1_0_release&gl=US

 

I use a Fire TV app on my phone to act as a virtual keyboard for my Fire TV when using it's web browser.  Plus I miss having the Xbox Glass app to type chat messages on my 360...

[zzip]

On 1/21/2023 at 6:06 PM, MrMaddog said:

 

This might work...

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_kbaustin.BluetoothKeypad_V1_0_release&gl=US

 

I use a Fire TV app on my phone to act as a virtual keyboard for my Fire TV when using it's web browser.  Plus I miss having the Xbox Glass app to type chat messages on my 360...

I've been messing around with this one:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=softigloo.btcontroller&gl=US

 

And I created a 5200-style keypad for it:

 

 

But I had issues getting it to connect with the PI 400 I was using to test it,   Connecting it is a bit convoluted, with a maze of permissions and you have to make this app your Android keyboard (why?  it's an extra step and you have to change back when not using it).   I wonder if that other app works the same way...