Please don't vote this the dumbest question ever!

[jenjoseph]

Hi everyone! Quick question - at the risk of sounding very dumb - do they make rollerball controllers for the 2600??? Thanks to moycon, I am now once again the proud owner of a 2600 Darth Vadar! Yes, I am a happy little girl.

 

One of my favs was always Centipede, and I could kick some serious butt on it! But with just the joystick, and not the rollerball as on the arcade game, I stink! Do they make a rollerball controller?

[CPUWIZ]

Yes, there is 3 different kinds of trak-balls, the regular Atari brand, a Wico model and one called the un-roller controller.

[Adrian M]

Hi everyone! Quick question - at the risk of sounding very dumb - do they make rollerball controllers for the 2600??? Thanks to moycon, I am now once again the proud owner of a 2600 Darth Vadar!      Yes, I am a happy little girl.  

 

One of my favs was always Centipede, and I could kick some serious butt on it! But with just the joystick, and not the rollerball as on the arcade game, I stink! Do they make a rollerball controller?

 

Welcome to the forums!

To answer your question, you'll be pleased to hear that yes, there is a trackball controller made for the 2600! Sadly, there's no picture listed on AA, but the listing can be found here! http://www.atariage.com/controller_page.ht...ControllerID=26

[sku_u]

Yes there were several models released. Some were third party and some were first party.

 

Here are some ebay auctions with good pictures for reference:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41009

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41009

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41009

 

The auction in the middle is for a third party trak ball.

[Robert M]

While it is true that there are rollerball controllers available for the 2600, there are no original titles that support it. The trackball requires special code to implement its proportional movement. Atari in their infinite wisdom, did not implement a coporate policy of supporting exotic controllers in as many titles as possible. Hence the lack of support for the light gun and the trackball. The trackball has a "joystick" mode which reduces motion to 8 directions like a joystick, but you have to keep rolling the ball to move. You also have to roll at top speed constantly, or the player will move along jerkily.

 

There is a hack of missle command that supports the proportional mode of the track ball. http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...&products_id=31

 

Maybe you can convince Thomas to make a similar hack for centipede.

 

Cheers!

[jenjoseph]

While it is true that there are rollerball controllers available for the 2600, there are no original titles that support it.     The trackball requires special code to implement its proportional movement.  Atari in their infinite wisdom, did not implement a coporate policy of supporting exotic controllers in as many titles as possible.  Hence the lack of support for the light gun and the trackball.    The trackball has a "joystick" mode which reduces motion to 8 directions like a joystick, but you have to keep rolling the ball to move.  You also have to roll at top speed constantly, or the player will move along jerkily.      

 

There is a hack of missle command that supports the proportional mode of the track ball.   http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...&products_id=31

 

Maybe you can convince Thomas to make a similar hack for centipede.  

 

Cheers!

 

So even if I get one of the rollerballs available, I won't be able to use it with Centipede? Why would anyone purchase it, then? I'm slightly confused!

[ApolloBoy]

Well, you can still use the Trak-Ball in place of a joystick. I've heard it works better than a joystick on some games.

[Robert M]

So even if I get one of the rollerballs available, I won't be able to use it with Centipede? Why would anyone purchase it, then? I'm slightly confused!

 

You can use it with centipede, but you will have to use it in joystick mode. What that means is it will behave like a rolling joystick and not a trackball like in the arcade. Since you are a fan of centipede, it would probably be worth your time to pick one up and see if you like it better than a plain joystick.

 

Sorry if I came off as very negative about Atari trackballs. I paid $40 for one when they first came out and I was disappointed when Atari provided zero games that supported true trackball mode.

 

Cheers!

[jenjoseph]

Thanks for your help! I appreciate the info, and will probably track one down.

[slapdash]

I should probably point out that the Un-Roller Controller is not a trakball, but rather a trakball shaped joystick -- i.e. it's a sphere that moves in the 8 directions a joystick would, but doesn't actually roll at all.

 

Also, besides Wico, there is at least one more third-party trakball, but it might not have been intended for the 2600 -- it has a 9-pin plug like 2600 controllers do, but other systems (such as Atari computers and Commodore computers) used the same 9-pin plug too, so it might actually be for one of those. I don't know about the internals.

 

Hmm, it strikes me that besides the one I was thinking of above -- either a "no-name" brand, or a very obscure third-party company (I only got to look at it briefly, but could find no manufacturer info on it) -- I think that also TG Products (or TC or something like that) made one for Atari computers.

[tiw]

jenjoseph, just sent you a PM about trakballs.

[Rob Mitchell]

jenjoseph:

 

I like your avadar: Frank Loyd Wright's Falling Waters.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[homerwannabee]

I think I personally have a no name brand track ball controller, it says accuball on it. I noticed that no one is bidding on the trackball controllers, I wonder if they labeled it a centipede/millipede joystick if it would get better responses.

[Cootster]

Well, because no original games used them . . . Nobody really cares . . . I had a Wico one until it wore out, and Centipede/Millipede are better on it . . . So is about any game with full range of motion . . .

 

If Thomas does more of the TB conversions, why not Crystal Castles? Or, heck, Thrust?

[jenjoseph]

jenjoseph:

 

I like your avadar:   Frank Loyd Wright's Falling Waters.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

I am so lucky to live so close to this masterpiece. It is truly amazing!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

If Thomas does more of the TB conversions, why not Crystal Castles?  Or, heck, Thrust?

Because those games have a way too tight timing.

 

The trakball requires quite a lot of CPU time during the display kernel (much more than even a paddle) and only because the MC display kernel was so simple (0no playfield graphics, only some sprites) and had a lot of unused CPU time a trakball hack was possible at all. I haven't looked at CC or Centipede, but I am 100% convinced they don't have enough free CPU cycles by far. Sorry!