Would you buy a new Atari licensed 5200 Controller?

[Riko]

If Atari re-issued new 5200 controllers for purchase, would you buy one? If so would you make any improvements to the overall design such as the joystick or keypad, or opt for something different or keep it mostly the same?

Edited November 5 by Riko

[+Intellivision Master]

17 hours ago, Riko said:

If Atari re-issued new 5200 controllers for purchase, would you buy one? If so would you make any improvements to the overall design such as the joystick or keypad, or opt for something different or keep it mostly the same?

If I had a 5200 and Atari re-issued new controllers, I'd buy one.  As for making improvements, update the joystick and keypad.

[+DamonicFury]

I, for one, would prefer to see an entirely new design of the controller (I really don't care for side mounted fire buttons!)  

[CrazyChris]

Yes. Anyone that has a 5200, or is getting into it, is constantly fighting to get working controllers.

Edited November 6 by CrazyChris

[RB5200]

44 minutes ago, CrazyChris said:

Yes. Anyone that has a 5200, or is getting into it, is constantly fighting to get working controllers.

Um, not completely accurate, I've been running controllers for at least 13+ years without problems.

I agree on getting in to one now, yes the controllers are most likely not going to work, and need fixed, but when fixed properly, one should not really have any problems, for a long time.

Edited November 6 by RB5200

[CrazyChris]

36 minutes ago, RB5200 said:

Um, not completely accurate, I've been running controllers for at least 13+ years without problems.

I agree on getting in to one now, yes the controllers are most likely not going to work, and need fixed, but when fixed properly, one should not really have any problems, for a long time.

If your an auto mechanic you can keep an old car running forever.

[RB5200]

6 minutes ago, CrazyChris said:

If your an auto mechanic you can keep an old car running forever.

That's very fitting, since that was my main profession, 23 years, but there again you can fix a old car PROPERLY, and it is just as reliable as something much newer, and in some cases still better. 

 

1 hour ago, CrazyChris said:

is constantly fighting to get working controllers

 

50 minutes ago, RB5200 said:

I've been running controllers for at least 13+ years without problems.

 

[Atari Nut]

I'd buy if it was original form factor.  I would like the buttons to be hard plastic instead of rubber and the joystick to be true self-centering.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

1 hour ago, Atari Nut said:

I'd buy if it was original form factor.  I would like the buttons to be hard plastic instead of rubber and the joystick to be true self-centering.

I wouldn't want hard plastic buttons. You end up having to press them a lot in some games and it would tire my fingers out fast. I do agree it needs to be self centering as analog type joysticks exist now that would make that more possible. I think the buttons would be better with something more tactile until them vs the carbon membrane approach. At least for the fire buttons. And while I would also be all for the one button on one side and the 2nd button on the other, that doesn't work for all folks. So a replacement would either need the ability to have both sets of buttons as they did originally, or perhaps a switch on the controller that would flip their functions so that both left and right handed folks could use them easily.

 

[Riko]

Having never owned or used a 5200 controller i would want it to be the same, BUT maybe have a secondary option that can be sold on the side that is a redo of that controller but with more sensible design choices.

 

Edited November 7 by Riko

[GoldLeader]

I was thinking 2 choices;  Original and Self-Centering.  I'd buy 2 of each.  (I have an untested 5200 that probably doesn't work,  but has a complete case.  Bit of a back burner project)...

[Giles N]

If Atari releases an Atari 8-Bit Line+ (5200, 400/800, 130XL etc & what-not), they need to make sure the controller ports at least reads ‘original devices’ with perfection.

 

So at least customers who want to spare themselves from the akward position of paying to be annoyed by getting quality 3rd party stuff.

 

 

If Atari is serious, they get something like this developed:

 

 

Which means they ought to buy as much Atari 8-bit IP they can get for a reasonable price, converting cassette and disc games into cartridge releases.

Edited November 7 by Giles N

[+Gemintronic]

No.  It's a table with Adventure II stuck in it permanently.

 

That being said, something like a Bliss-Box with a 5200 adapter that lets me use an Xbox controller would be a must buy.  My hands are starting to cramp with original 2600 and Jaguar controllers.

[+swlovinist]

I am not a fan of the original controller, but if they improved upon it with the recommendations above I might consider it for the right price.  

[+Gemintronic]

A general question for 5200 people:

 

My brain might be conflating things, but.. I sorta remember people talking about calibration problems with original joysticks.

 

If that's an actual thing.. is it just in the joysticks or inherent to the 5200?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

29 minutes ago, Gemintronic said:

A general question for 5200 people:

 

My brain might be conflating things, but.. I sorta remember people talking about calibration problems with original joysticks.

 

If that's an actual thing.. is it just in the joysticks or inherent to the 5200?

Little of both actually.

 

There is a trim pot wheel to adjust how the pokey is reading the values from the cartridge ports. There are ways to eyeball this pretty closely, but the best way is to use one of the loop back test boards that provides semi static readings to adjust that from.

 

But as the controllers also use analogue pots in them for supplying the values to the Pokey, those too can be off a bit and sometimes have to be tweaked. The way you do that is to force the teflon arms beyond their set limit to the left or right by a mm at a time to dial it in. When I have to do the controllers, it is best to manually set the arms to dead center manually and then see if they match up within the tolerance of what the test board would show. 

 

Even then you can still run into issues because the pots in the controllers can still have different readings on their extremes vs others. So you can only dial it in as best as possible and use a few games known to be problematic to test for full range of use with them. Gyruss and Bounty Bob being two of the main ones I use. But Popeye and Kangaroo are pretty good for testing too since with both of those games, they will tend to show issues with the up/down reading while Gryuss and Bounty Bob tend to show issues present with the left/right reading side of things.

 

 

[Crazy Climber]

Probably not.

 

I've tried hard to like the Atari 5200 but I just can't get into it... and yes... most of the problem is I hate the controller haha

(second place would be the lack of homebrews)

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

most of the problem is I hate the controller haha

If your primary problem is the controller, why not get a good-third party, modern arcade-stick (see my post above) or specially modded controller?

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, swlovinist said:

I am not a fan of the original controller, but if they improved upon it with the recommendations above I might consider it for the right price.  

If Atari reissues something in the same basic format as the original I’d neither buy it myself nor recommend it to others.

 

They need to go way beyond appeal to external plastic-shapes (and indeed other superflous stuff)

 

Good functionality = 90+ % of what really matters. If it looks kinda ‘oldschool’ or ‘Atari’ in addition, it’s a nice bonus, not much else.
 

In this case: if it doesn’t work, fix it.

Edited November 7 by Giles N

[SuperZapperRecharge]

10 hours ago, swlovinist said:

I am not a fan of the original controller, but if they improved upon it with the recommendations above I might consider it for the right price.  

I've actually loved these controllers since March of 1983.

 

Defender is an amazing game with the original controllers could go up into the millions on that game with laser fire all over the screen. I would press both bottom buttons at the same time although I'm sure ms apart thus doubling my shots.

 

Robotron, Space Dungeon: excellent dual controller games.

 

Gyrus, Missile Command, Centipede: great analog control.

 

I even liked Pac-Man. I don't tap a controller to turn, my hand is always on the controller so lack of self centering wasn't a thing for me.

[ledzep]

22 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

I was thinking 2 choices;  Original and Self-Centering.  I'd buy 2 of each.  (I have an untested 5200 that probably doesn't work,  but has a complete case.  Bit of a back burner project)...

 

Agreed, I would want them to finally treat the 5200 like the 2600, meaning more controller options.  So, paddle controllers would be required.  And/or maybe a spinner version for those paddle games that were coded to accept trak-ball controllers.

 

As for the joysticks, I'm pretty sure there are some Apple or PC-type analog joysticks that had little switches on them to lock in self-centering or leave them loose, right?  But I bet that wouldn't last for very long so offering a self-centering version and one that doesn't self-center would be probably better.  More money for Atari, too, hahaaha.  But the general shape would need to be maintained, meaning the keypad stays (for the few games that benefitted from those, and hopefully encourage the development of more) and having the fire buttons on the sides.  I would really want the fire buttons at least to be microswitches or something similarly accurate and solid when pressing on them, I remember mashing my thumbs into those things because occasionally nothing would fire (either I didn't press hard enough or the dome switch was slowly dying), it would be much better to actually feel (and hear) the little click.

 

And they should also offer a digital stick (self-centering, probably) that would just output the expected min/max values for the X and Y directions, with little POT adjusters in case the outputs were out of spec for the particular game, also with microswitches (not a lot of room in there) for the stick.

 

So, I'd probably be buying like 8 total (2 of each) depending on the versions.

[+Allan]

The original Atari should have created more controllers.

 

CX52=digital controller

CX53=Driving Controller

CX54=Analog Controller

CX55=Driving Controller

CX56=Light Gun

CX57=?

 

I meant to put TrakBall in there.

[Aking]

i would but at least 4

[phuzaxeman]

I like the original 5200 controller. Reliability was the issue not the controls itself for me. The controller is what sets the 5200 apart from all consoles and even the 8bit.

 

If someone released the same controller style with updating the buttons and keypad to have that fast click sound, plus improve the centering but kept it analog, the 5200 controls would be perfect.

 

My 5200 updated gold dot and new flex circuit controls are going on over 10+ years with no issues. The 5200 controls was more accurate and easier to control than the Intellivision and Colecovision controls. 

Edited November 17 by phuzaxeman

[CommodoreDecker]

Softer buttons, gold contacts to prevent oxidizing of the contacts (good grief), self-centering wouldn't hurt, and, least importantly, a micro-switch on the controller to enable digital mode (0/1) instead of potentiometer's more refined results being sent back as relevant to the game. 

 

The 5200 was forward-thinking with the more sensitive controls, it's just the implementation - combined with how most of its games didn't need the precision sensitivity, save for Centipede, Tempest, Millipede, Missile Command, et al...