Some Questions on Competition Pro Joystick

[Tizoc]

I finally got a hold of the Competition Pro Joytick. I have to admit that the arcade style buttons and stick feel alot better than the original 5200 controllers. The first game I try is Pac-man,this is where I start having problems. The movement was not very responsive. I found that it was very difficult to get moving toward the left. Up and Down was fine. So tried Space Invaders to check the right/left movement. Worked just fine, perfect. I tried Mario Brothers, worked great also, very responsive in all directions. Ok, so my question is, is the competition pro soupposed to work with Pac-man? Is my joystick bad? I'm wondering if I should return it.

[Gunstar]

Is this "competition pro" stick the one that was made by WICO specifically for the 5200? I need a little more info to give an opinion. If this is a stick that is made for the 5200, and it works on everything BUT Pac-man, it doesn't sound like the stick is the problem...but I really don't know why it would behave that way with Pac-man...If a stick is malfunctioning, it will malfunction no matter the game, if it's a problem with one game, well, I want to say it's the game, but I really don't know why it would be...curious!

[Tizoc]

Thats what it's called 'Competition PRO', made by Coin Controls. It's the all black one with the two big red arcade style buttons in the front. It has a arcade style handle too. It is different from the Wico joystick. It has a sticker on the box that says "for Atari 5200 systems Not for use with all software"; but pacman not compatible?!?

 

I'm thinking the same thing, if the stick is bad it shouldn't work for any games. I tried Ms.Pacman and had the same problems, so maybe these titles are not compatible? I'm really curious to find the answer to this too.

[+Mitch]

I don't remember having problems with Pac-Man but when using my Competion Pro or 2600/Masterplay combo with Ms Pac-Man, I had a similar problem. But I have found that if I "calibrate" the joystick while the opening song is playing, it will usually work fine. I calibrate it by moving the joystick in moderately slow circles making sure to hit all the corners. I can usually make two full circles before the song ends.

 

Try it and see if it works for you. Oh, and make sure that the standard 5200 stick you have plugged into the Y-cable is centered.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[MrRetroGamer]

I find that I really don't like the Comp Pro for the maze games, because I have similar trouble with it being less responsive than I like. However, I have never tried the calabration method just described. Keep in mind that this stick is digital, and the regular 5200 controllers and the WICO are analogue, not sure how much this comes into play. I think I prefer the WICO's for most games over this one, even with their mushy feel.

[Tizoc]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mitch:

make sure that the standard 5200 stick you have plugged into the Y-cable is centered.

---

 

MANY THANKS MITCH! This is one of the many times you've helped me out. Seems this was my problem, I was using my 5200 'paddle' for the Start, Pause, Reset functions. Which would make sense since the paddle was probably NOT centered properly after playing a game of Kaboom. As soon as I plugged in the standard 5200 stick (which was centered) into the Y-cable, the response from the Competion PRO Stick was so much better.

 

Off I go to play Pacman!!!!