New ICBM Attack controller in the works

[doubledown]

So I was thinking recently...what type of custom controller should I build next.  I was looking for a new challenge, and something that I hadn't done before.  Then I remembered that I had an Astrocade from way back, and I started researching the system and its games library, to see what kind of arcade controller would work with it.  During my research for what will be a general arcade-type controller for the Astrocade, I came across some information regarding a rare game called ICBM Attack, that requires an even rarer controller, the "Spectre Handle", to play it.  So as I like to build custom controllers, I started looking into this elusive game and its mating custom controller, to see what I could come up with.  After a couple of hours of research on the old internets (Bally Alley and the Balley Alley message group), I had a game plan.  So here is my initial prototype for a new ICBM Attack controller ("Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it" - Dr. Emmett L. Brown):

 

 

Bear in mind, nothing here is finalized, its just a starting point to test my concept, using a re-purposed enclosure that I had machined for a previous prototype controller, hence the extra holes to the left of the joystick.  Additionally I am not looking to forge a perfect replica/reproduction Spectre Handle, with the full keypad, as most of the keypad functions are not necessary for ICBM Attack, and it's a little small for my liking. 

 

So the original Spectre Handle had an analog joystick, an 11 key keypad, and 2 side buttons.  The analog joystick was wired to the hand controller potentiometers pins for controller ports 1 and 2, allowing you to move the crosshair with a 2-axis, non-self-centering analog joystick, which can also be done with 2 Bally hand controllers, much like drawing on an Etch-A-Sketch.  Ten of the 11 keypad keys were wired to the 2 hand controllers' digital functions, Up/Down/Left/Right/Trigger, with the following specific I/O used for the game:

 

Joystick 1 - Left - Launch from left Base

Joystick 1 - Trigger - Launch from center Base

Joystick 1 - Right - Launch from right Base

Joystick 2 - Trigger - Start each round

 

Then the 2 additional side buttons and 1 of the keypad keys on the Spectre Handle, were used for playing Bally Pin.

 

So, I had read where Brett had said that they built about 100 of these controllers in their basement, and they used a Radio Shack joystick...for the joystick component.  Well being a loyal customer of Radio Shack back from the early 80s, and an employee of Radio Shack in the mid-90s, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what joystick they used.:

 

 

This joystick was in Radio Shack's catalog from 1981-1991, and it was their only joystick in 1982 when ICBM Attack was sold...so like I said, this is my guess on what they used...and what I was going to start with.

 

So I bought a pair of these off of ebay, and started testing.  As a PC joystick the potentiometers in these are 100K ohm, versus the 50k ohm pots in the Bally hand controllers...so no biggie, install a 100k ohm resistor in parallel with each of the potentiometers, and voila, you have a joystick with 50k ohm pots, perfect for playing ICBM Attack.  Everything else is simply digital contacts, wired to their proper joystick port pins.

 

Currently I'm still working on the lever for the joystick.  These original Radio Shack joysticks, had either an aluminum or a silver plastic straight-ish lever knob (later black plastic), screwed onto the joystick shaft, but I want something with a small ball, that's a little bit taller than the original, making it a bit easier (and more comfortable) to use/manipulate.  The one in my picture above is a test part I simply 3d printed, testing for overall height and ball diameter.  I like the 3/4" ball diameter, but I think I'll make it a little bit shorter...and in the end, they will be purchased/machined components, not a 3d printed part.  Then I need to decide on a final layout for the buttons, and work on some artwork.  Obviously the original Spectre Handle didn't have any artwork on it, but I like a little more flash.  And as Missile Command was the inspiration for this game, I'll borrow some cues from the Missile Command arcade cabinets and come up with something.  I'll probably also include the side buttons, and a control panel button for the ball launch, for Bally Pin.  It'll probably take me another week or two to get this finished, so stay tuned.  

[128Kgames]

While this sounds amazing and certainly people have wanted this controller preproduced for years, if memory serves the original controller wasn't all that user friendly to begin with, so I'm not sure recreating it makes that much sense, other than for personal satisfaction. 

 

I have often hoped someone would make a trackball compatible with the Astrocade and / or one that could be used with the ICBM attack game.  Previously, the game itself was hacked to work with the standard controller, but its literally unplayable.  

 

Either way, I wish you luck in your endeavors.  Its always good to see people working on my favorite console from that era. 

[doubledown]

20 hours ago, 128Kgames said:

While this sounds amazing and certainly people have wanted this controller preproduced for years, if memory serves the original controller wasn't all that user friendly to begin with, so I'm not sure recreating it makes that much sense, other than for personal satisfaction. 

Well I would probably agree with you, in that, the original controller:

 

(Photo borrowed from Bally Alley)

 

...probably wasn't the most comfortable/ergonomic controller to play with.  But I can understand/imagine that they were attempting to make something that would be reasonably small, and reasonably affordable (2 concepts I don't think about...at all).  I don't know what the Spectre Handle controller sold for back in the day (I'm sure this info is archived from a magazine ad or some such similar somewhere), and/or if it the game was available without it, or if only as a package deal.  As the controller is necessary to play the game, I'd have to imagine that it was only available as a package.  As I personally prefer to be able to completely rest my hands/palms on any arcade type controller that I'm playing with (not resting on the edges, or hanging off of the sides), I'd start with saying that the original was too small...again for my preferences today, as an adult.  I also prefer my joystick to be on the left side of the controller, and my buttons on the right.  This is why my prototype is in a larger enclosure, joystick on the left side, and arcade buttons (versus a keypad) on the right.  Now I've played many various versions of Missile Command, and Missile Command type games over the past many years, and I fully applaud the guys from Spectre for creating a game/port that included all 3 firing bases from the arcade version, (which is a lot more than Atari ever did), and with analog crosshair control; and because of all this, they had to create a custom controller to play it with...and again, I sincerely applaud them for it.  

 

But when researching this game, I was totally amazed that there is more info on the internet, on how to set up an emulator to play this game with a mouse or trak-ball, than there is on how to recreate an original-type controller, regarding its functionality, so that it can be played on original hardware...hence me taking on this challenge.  I like to build custom controllers, especially those with unique control schemes, even if they can only be used with 1 single game, on 1 single console.  My mission in life, is not to sell as many tiny cookie-cutter joystick controllers as I can on Facebook, ebay, or Etsy.  And while many others are most interested in some sort of small/inexpensive adapter,(s) that they can use which will allow them to use their 1 Sega Genesis control pad on every system that them have (for space savings, cost savings, or similar), I am the complete polar opposite, regarding both of these mindsets.  😁

 

21 hours ago, 128Kgames said:

I have often hoped someone would make a trackball compatible with the Astrocade and / or one that could be used with the ICBM attack game.  Previously, the game itself was hacked to work with the standard controller, but its literally unplayable.

I get that, but then that's not the original control scheme for ICBM Attack...right or wrong.  I've played a few games with my prototype controller this weekend, and I will say, the small analog joystick controlling the crosshair movement is very good, and very enjoyable/playable. 

 

I've seen the info regarding Missile Attack, and I agree that the control scheme seems like it would be pretty tough to play with.  Analog control for horizontal crosshair movement, digital control for vertical crosshair movement (with screen wraparound), 2 joystick directions and the trigger for base firing...probably not the most fun way to play a game like this. But I assume this was done so that the game could be played with 1 standard Hand Controller...even though you wouldn't actually want to probably, after you tried it once.   

[ballyalley]

On 3/25/2023 at 12:48 PM, 128Kgames said:

On 3/25/2023 at 12:33 PM, doubledown said:

I came across some information regarding a rare game called ICBM Attack, that requires an even rarer controller, the "Spectre Handle", to play it.  [...] [...] here is my initial prototype for a new ICBM Attack controller

 

Very nice!  I've used those little Radio Shack controllers (nicknamed the "black beauty," I think) and they're okay for some games but terrible for others.  I'm glad to see you tinkering around on the ol' Bally!

 

Adam

[ballyalley]

I posted a link to this thread in another thread on the Astrocade discussion group called "ICBM Attack Controller," here:

 

https://groups.io/g/ballyalley/message/20029

 

It looks like you have all the information required to make this joystick and you don't need Mike White's note, but here is a link to them just in case you haven't run across them yet.

 

https://ballyalley.com/documentation/spectre_systems/icbm_attack_joystick_notes.pdf

 

If you need anything more, than let me know.

 

Perhaps if you need inspiration for the art for the joystick you can find some here:

 

https://ballyalley.com/documentation/spectre_systems/ICBM_Attack_concept_art/ICBM_Attack_concept_art.html

 

or here:

 

https://ballyalley.com/documentation/spectre_systems/ICBM_Attack_Notes.pdf

 

Great stuff!

 

Adam

[128Kgames]

1 hour ago, ballyalley said:

 

Very nice!  I've used those little Radio Shack controllers (nicknamed the "black beauty," I think) and they're okay for some games but terrible for others.  I'm glad to see you tinkering around on the ol' Bally!

 

Adam

I still use those controllers with my TRS-80 Color Computer 😉

[doubledown]

I had a Tandy 1000EX back in the day, so I had the Radio Shack Deluxe joysticks...the beige 2 button ones, that were clones of the Kraft IBM joysticks.  But as I spent a lot of time at Radio Shack in my youth (just a short bike ride away from my house), they always had a COCO on display with these little black joysticks hooked up that I would play with, and I am very familiar with them.  The sales guys were always very nice and very accommodating to me.  But yes, as a non-self-centering joystick, and being very small, they're not great for every game.  But then, a lot of PC games back then didn't even have joystick support, and a lot of games were simply played with the keyboard.  

 

@ballyalley, Yes, I believe I had found all of those links, and they provided me most of the info that I needed.  Which again, with all this info available, is probably why I am so surprised that there aren't more homebrew controllers that would have been made over the years, for playing this game.   

 

I got about 90%-95% of the CPO artwork done last night.  I need to order the buttons and a new enclosure now, and then finalize the artwork.  I should be able to get everything in, in about a week or so, and during that waiting time, I will start working on the design for a general use Arcade controller for the Astrocade.  It should work well for most of the game library, but it may not be the best for the few games that require Joystick/Paddle/Trigger (like Gunfight)...unless I can work out a control placement orientation, to where it can be useable for these few triple control games.  My initial thought for this general arcade controller would be something like this:

 

 

This is a 2600 Kiosk controller that I built a while back.  Something like this should work pretty well for the Astrocade, as most games are Joystick/Trigger control (upper control set), or Paddle/Trigger control (lower control set).  The few games that need Joystick and Paddle and Trigger...may simply need to be played with an original Hand Controller...unless I can come up with something different that would allow to access all 3 controls simultaneously.  Have to wait and see.  

[128Kgames]

Same here, always had access to Radio Shack for all my projects, wish they were still around the corner...

Funny thing with the CoCo - mine was my Uncle's, he worked for Raytheon when I was growing up, first home computer I ever used, my Cousin and I played the heck out of it.  The guys at Raytheon had a "club" where they would buy the games for the CoCo and make copies for the rest of the club.  They even copied the physical cartridges to disk!

Polaris was a great game for a Missile Command clone and used the non-centering joystick to great advantage if I remember correctly.  

 

My Uncle actually mailed me that very same CoCo and everything he had to go with it during Covid as it was collecting dust in his attic 😉

[doubledown]

So my Spectre Handle "recreation/reimagining controller project" is now complete, so allow me to present, my:

 

ICBM Attack Edition - VVG Experience Controller

 

 

 

 

Details:

 

** Hammond 14" x 8.25" aluminum sloped top enclosure (braced, reinforced, & weighted)

 

** Radio Shack 26-3008, 2-Axis, non-centering analog joystick, w/ 11/16" black ball knob & 1/4" black aluminum shaft sleeve

 

** Ultimarc Gold Leaf pushbuttons, (6) white

 

** NKK LP01 pushbutton, (1) white

 

** Rear-mounted cord cleats for cable management, w/ twin 10’ custom crimped controller cables, w/ port ID labels

 

** ICBM Attack / Atari Missile Command (cabaret arcade cabinet) inspired, CPO artwork

 

So I decided to stick with the overall black & white look of the original Spectre Handle for this project, which also allowed me to incorporate some CPO text/artwork inspired from the Atari Missile Command cabaret arcade cabinets.  For the joystick, I removed the original straight lever, plastic handle, and installed an 11/16" black plastic ball knob (which is a lot easier to manipulate and to hold on to), and covered the 3mm steel joystick shaft with a black aluminum shaft sleeve...so that the joystick wouldn't look like a lollipop.  Installed into the control surface, are (4) white Ultimarc GoldLeaf pushbuttons, which provide the (3) "missile launch" buttons, for each of the (3) bases (left/middle/right), plus a game/round start button.  Then, to provide the Bally Pin compatibility found on the original Spectre Handle, I installed (2) side-mounted (1 left & 1 right), white, Ultimarc GoldLeaf pushbuttons, for the left & right flipper controls, and a smaller NKK LP01 pushbutton on the right side, which acts as the "ball launch" button.  

 

Now, I can properly enjoy playing ICBM Attack (and Bally Pin), as it was intended to be played.  Jealous?!? 😁

[ballyalley]

12 minutes ago, doubledown said:

So my Spectre Handle "recreation/reimagining controller project" is now complete, so allow me to present, my: ICBM Attack Edition - VVG Experience Controller [...] Now, I can properly enjoy playing ICBM Attack (and Bally Pin), as it was intended to be played.  Jealous?!? 😁

 

I just wrote an email to the Astrocade discussion group asking how progress was going on the ICBM Attack controller.  A moment after I pressed Send, I got the notification that it had been finished.  This controller looks incredible and I love the B&W motif that was used.  I hope that video can be made showing it being used.

 

Great work!

 

Adam

[doubledown]

Thanks...I got it finished up and play tested last night, then got a chance to photograph it this morning.  I'll post about it in the Astrocade group in a bit.