Gemini Paddle

[alienblue]

Here's my problem (well, one of

many...). I have three sets of

paddles that dont work...well

today I found a coleco Gemini

Stick/paddle combo and lo

and behold the paddle works great!

One problem...the button works

only on joystick games (I do not

have the Gemini system...I'm

using this on a 4 switcher and

7800)...HOWEVER it is possible

to "activate" the button by jiggling

the stick..so I can play BREAKOUT

and CIRCUS (awkwardly) but not

paddle games that require the button.

 

Interestingly, Indy 500 works ok!!!

No driving controller needed!

 

Query...is it possible to rewire

the button somehow

 

If not, can "dead" paddles be

revived (I'm not talking "jiggles"

I mean, no movement on screen atall)

 

thanks!

[Mindfield]

The problem with combined Paddle/Joysticks is that unless you have a switch on the console to switch from paddle to joystick mode (ala Atari 2800/Sears Video Arcade II) then the lines will never get remapped to where they're supposed to be (ala Gemini). By default, the paddle trigger is mapped to joystick right, so on the Gemini you have to move the stick right to activate the paddle trigger.

 

Conceptually, it would be possible to modify the controllers to insert a switch to which the joystick right and trigger buttons would be attached where the switch would swap the two when proper paddle mode is needed.

[Breakpack]

The problem with combined Paddle/Joysticks is that unless you have a switch on the console to switch from paddle to joystick mode (ala Atari 2800/Sears Video Arcade II) then the lines will never get remapped to where they're supposed to be (ala Gemini).  By default, the paddle trigger is mapped to joystick right, so on the Gemini you have to move the stick right to activate the paddle trigger.

 

Conceptually, it would be possible to modify the controllers to insert a switch to which the joystick right and trigger buttons would be attached where the switch would swap the two when proper paddle mode is needed.

And another thing with those controllers:You couldnt get a good 'ol fashioned four player game of Warlords goin'

[Mindfield]

And another thing with those controllers:You couldnt get a good 'ol fashioned four player game of Warlords goin'  

 

Actually, you could, but you'd need to use a pair of joystick couplers and you'd have to modify two of the paddle/sticks to remap the paddle lines on players 2 and 4. More work than it's worth, frankly. :-)

[Classic Pac]

What those 2 forgot about or simply don't know is that the Gemini came with a Y adaptor plug which activated the paddles. I should know I owned one, I still have 1 Gemini controller and the Y adaptor

[Mike OC]

With a Gemini Paddle/Joystick combo, Up (on the Joystick) is "fire" in Paddle games. The fire button is only mapped to fire in Joystick games. Just fyi.

[Room 34]

I haven't ever used one of these, but I always got the impression that having to jerk the paddle-stick in one direction to "fire" would be very lame. Too bad there wasn't a way to wire up a switch inside the controller that would change the function of the button and the stick if in "paddle" mode.

 

Still... I guess it was kind of cool that they combined them into one controller at all. (Kind of.)

[Mike OC]

I haven't ever used one of these, but I always got the impression that having to jerk the paddle-stick in one direction to "fire" would be very lame.  Too bad there wasn't a way to wire up a switch inside the controller that would change the function of the button and the stick if in "paddle" mode.

 

Still... I guess it was kind of cool that they combined them into one controller at all.  (Kind of.)

 

Actually it's pretty comfortable. I use the back of my thumb. The Paddle is below the stick and the controller case is long enough to be comfortably held with two hands and operate. It did take a few minutes for me to figure out though. I was testing Warlords, pressed fire, and nothing happened. After opening the controller and looking at the wiring I tried "Up" and found that it would fire.

[snorlaxnut]

I have 2 Gemini controllers, but lost the "Y" connector. What I did was open one controller and looked at the wiring. From top to bottom it was:

 

Yellow

Brown

Red

Orange

Gray

Blue

Green

Purple

 

I just pulled off the blue and yellow wires and switched them so it went:

 

Blue

Brown

Red

Orange

Gray

Yellow

Green

Purple

 

Put the cover back on and now the fire button works when I just use the one Gemini controller to play paddle games.

 

The only problems are that the joystick part does not work. And I don't know if the fixed controller works with all paddle games. The only paddle games I have are Super Breakout and Circus Atari. The one player games on those carts work fine with the fixed controller.