but regretting it now your "woodys" joystickless and theyre worth more than 48k speccys :P
Alas, the wooden 2600 console itself (which I got second or rather third hand) was a really early model. It weighed a ton and suffered from overheating problems and eventually got chucked out.
I later got the small plastic version of the 2600, which was dirt cheap brand new (Must've been around 1990).
I don't think those plastic ones are worth much nowadays.
My favourites were Midnight Magic (also in the ad),
Golf ( 1978 ), Q-Bert, Dragonfire, Jr Pacman, Frogger, River Raid II
Pacman was infamously bad.
I've now got one of those "Atari 2600 plus 128 games inside a game pad", I think it's called a TV Boy or something.
In this device, they changed the colour pallete in most of the games. e.g. Golf has a purple background instead of a blue one. The pacman colours are different. I heard this was something to do with copyright issues?
Unfortunately, most of the best 2600 games are missing from this handheld device, maybe it only contains the ones which use the smaller ROM sizes.
Some of my favourite games were from Imagic, but I'll be damn if I remember them correctly: Demon Attack, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark ...
Was in the cellar before to dig out my favourite joystick but I think I've lost it ... found a Competition Pro-rip off and a Quickshot II gathering dust there (all were a bit broken anyway), but the one I was talking of had a rather large, very robust black metal case, a yellow fire-button and a thin metal stick with a red plastic 'ball' at the top. It gave you a nice arcadey feeling, though while it was my favourite stick for that, it was probably not the best one (performance-wise) I had back then - that must have been the Competition Pro.
I managed to find something on Google after a bit of searching, but that picture shows the 'deluxe' version with two fire buttons and other switches which I didn't buy as it was too pricey: http://www.kultboy.com/gfx/joystick/multifunktion2002.jpg
Wow! I remember that ad too. Also completely forgot about it until I watched it now. Didn't have a 2600 but I had the next best thing* - a Binatone TV Game system which contained 4 different versions of Pong. It's still back at the parents' attic too but I'm not sure it works anymore.
* but not necessarily the next best thing to the Atari console. :)
I remember seeing pictures of a "hand grenade" joystick, actually one of the guys in the Crash Challenge (reviewer vs mere mortal) was in a photo joking around with it, as if he was gonna pull it with his teeth.
So, that grenade stick - did anyone have or try it? Was it crap, as I assume?
When I sold my Speccy and eventually got a monitor for my Atari ST I even hacked the joystick wire and created a monitor cable so that I could connect my Megadrive to the monitor. It was the only cable that I could find that had 9 wires inside it. I had hours of fun (not) sticking that wire in the back of the console and monitor to eventually get a picture - which was awesome when it finally worked!!
The Terminator hand-grenade joysticks is on the first pages.
Your point being? Vertigo only posted a link to a picture of it. But I've specifically asked if anyone on WOS had one back in the day and if it was good or crap.
These days I have become very accostomed to the PS Dual Shock pad, a close second to that which most people do not like but I do is the original Sega Saturn pad.
I have the white and ice blue USB Saturn pad for PC gaming, but soon will be stealing the chip from some old USB pad to make an adaptor for my favourite stick of all. I have one still native and two that have been converted for super gun, so the per-button output will be perfect for pushing into an adaptor for USB use :)
Oh and I absolutely despised the 1 red circular button and squishy edges Atari joysticks. Hated them with an absolute passion. But I did enjoy Solaris, even if it does have a rather big bug in it.
I have one still native and two that have been converted for super gun, so the per-button output will be perfect for pushing into an adaptor for USB use :)
You own a Super gun, you snappy git! I always wanted one of those and I remember seeing them in a mag when I was about 14, saying you could pick up older versions or the hacked versions of Streetfighter II for about 80 quid, and you could pick up older PCBs like a bootleg of Double Dragon for a tenner!
Bet you can't now though :lol:
People know that retro is worth money, and I bet all the hacked SFII and Bootleg Double Dragon PCBs are on Ebay with "L@@K! R@RE!!" tagged onto the page :evil:
You own a Super gun, you snappy git! I always wanted one of those and I remember seeing them in a mag when I was about 14, saying you could pick up older versions or the hacked versions of Streetfighter II for about 80 quid, and you could pick up older PCBs like a bootleg of Double Dragon for a tenner!
Bet you can't now though :lol:
People know that retro is worth money, and I bet all the hacked SFII and Bootleg Double Dragon PCBs are on Ebay with "L@@K! R@RE!!" tagged onto the page :evil:
Actually, you can get arcade boards for quite cheap now :) The money focus seems to have headed off to the NeoGeo Home System, so MVS stuff is mostly cheap and standalone PCBs aren't too pricey. Some are, I still want to get my old Super SF2 Turbo back but the price on CPS2 seems to have gone up since the battery problem was solved properly.
You can make your own supergun, you just need one JAMMA loom, a SCART output, 2 joystick inputs, 2 sticks made to match the inputs, a couple of switches and an arseload of wires and time on your hands for soldering about 80 ends :) Easier than it supposedly is, just time consuming.
Next time you're in the UK near London, feel free to come and play mine :D
Next time you're in the UK near London, feel free to come and play mine :D
Cheers, may take you up on that, if I ever do come home? I wanted to this year but it doesn't look like it's happening now.
Anyway if I do come back to England sometime I'll be in the vicinity of London cos' the wife loves the place (personally I'm a hater, can't stand London :D).
My personal favourite joystick backed in my Spectrum days was the Cheetah 125+. I personally preferred it over the quickshot 2 as although the QS2 had much nicer styling, the directional movement always felt too stiff for my liking.
I've gone and purchased a second hand Konix Speedking tonight for use with my Speccy2010 FPGA board... Never used a Konix Speedking before, but I hear they are tough old beasts, and the microswitches are easy to replace and a good solid steel shaft. Just as well it's built to last, because it's gonna get a good waggle on Daley Thompson's Supertest later (no I haven't gone blind yet), but will be suffering from w4nkers cramp later courtesy of Daley Thompson's Supertest 128k :lol:
I never really bothered with joysticks all that much, preferring instead to use good old Q,A,O,P,Space (or, occasionally, M). I actually still use those keys to play games wherever possible (they're my default key configuration in MAME).
So when I did use a joystick, I'd tend towards using the (let's face it, fairly rubbish) Sinclair SJS1 sticks that came with my +2. I always sort of wanted a Kempston, but mostly because it kept being there in the control options and I wondered what was so special about it.
That pesky Konix Speedking used to give me cramp in my left hand, at the base of my thumb. Always thought it was a bit unnatural to hold the thing in your left hand and also use your left hand fingers to push the buttons. It was a cracking waggler for your Daley Thompson-type games though.
Used to have a Quickshot II but it broke, first the trigger fire button then the joystick itself. While it lasted I thought it was particularly good for any 3D space/shooting games, felt like I was in the spaceship cockpit! :)
Overall I preferred keys but I will confess to always being a bit jealous of the original Kempston that my mate had.
I have never used another computer joystick once I bought one of the Anerousis series (manufactured in Greece in the 80s with several names [Tomahawk, StreetFighter2000, Pacman etc]). I collected them all eventually.
They came with a "punch" guarantee...steady,firm and precise.
I have even moded one of my XBOX1 pads (I by-passed the switches) to let me use this joysticks in emulators.
Comments
Alas, the wooden 2600 console itself (which I got second or rather third hand) was a really early model. It weighed a ton and suffered from overheating problems and eventually got chucked out.
I later got the small plastic version of the 2600, which was dirt cheap brand new (Must've been around 1990).
I don't think those plastic ones are worth much nowadays.
The fun is back oh yesiree! It's the 2600 from A...Tar...Reeeee!
I'd forgotten about that!
Here it is:-
It mentions Solaris (The game, not the OS :D )
I never did get around to completing that game. One of the better 2600 efforts.
haunted house
smurfs
ET (maybe loves a strong word there)
yars revenge
pac man
combat
sure there was another space shooting one too
this was slightly pre speccy days too...so about 1981 / 1982 maybe, maybe actually 1983
Golf ( 1978 ), Q-Bert, Dragonfire, Jr Pacman, Frogger, River Raid II
Pacman was infamously bad.
I've now got one of those "Atari 2600 plus 128 games inside a game pad", I think it's called a TV Boy or something.
In this device, they changed the colour pallete in most of the games. e.g. Golf has a purple background instead of a blue one. The pacman colours are different. I heard this was something to do with copyright issues?
Unfortunately, most of the best 2600 games are missing from this handheld device, maybe it only contains the ones which use the smaller ROM sizes.
This is probably why two out of the three copies of it I found on youtube had been forcibly removed due to "copyright violation issues".
Erm, more like "embarrassment issues". :D
Was in the cellar before to dig out my favourite joystick but I think I've lost it ... found a Competition Pro-rip off and a Quickshot II gathering dust there (all were a bit broken anyway), but the one I was talking of had a rather large, very robust black metal case, a yellow fire-button and a thin metal stick with a red plastic 'ball' at the top. It gave you a nice arcadey feeling, though while it was my favourite stick for that, it was probably not the best one (performance-wise) I had back then - that must have been the Competition Pro.
I managed to find something on Google after a bit of searching, but that picture shows the 'deluxe' version with two fire buttons and other switches which I didn't buy as it was too pricey:
http://www.kultboy.com/gfx/joystick/multifunktion2002.jpg
The site (albeit in German) has a lot of photos of old joysticks too:
http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=joystick
* but not necessarily the next best thing to the Atari console. :)
I think it was made by Ram, the same people who made the Ram-Turbo interface 2 clone.
I real great joystick for a wide range of games. So responsive.
This is closely followed by my two yellow and black Competition Pro Zip Sticks. Bomb proof, they are too.
Cheeta joysticks were always shit. Or anyhing that wasn't clunky or micro-switched. I used to destroy 'left-touch' joysticks rather rapidly.
Regards,
Shaun.
I don't know where I'd put my keyboard though.
So, that grenade stick - did anyone have or try it? Was it crap, as I assume?
The Terminator hand-grenade joysticks is on the first pages.
An' you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
i have one of those
When I sold my Speccy and eventually got a monitor for my Atari ST I even hacked the joystick wire and created a monitor cable so that I could connect my Megadrive to the monitor. It was the only cable that I could find that had 9 wires inside it. I had hours of fun (not) sticking that wire in the back of the console and monitor to eventually get a picture - which was awesome when it finally worked!!
Your point being? Vertigo only posted a link to a picture of it. But I've specifically asked if anyone on WOS had one back in the day and if it was good or crap.
Oh and I absolutely despised the 1 red circular button and squishy edges Atari joysticks. Hated them with an absolute passion. But I did enjoy Solaris, even if it does have a rather big bug in it.
You own a Super gun, you snappy git! I always wanted one of those and I remember seeing them in a mag when I was about 14, saying you could pick up older versions or the hacked versions of Streetfighter II for about 80 quid, and you could pick up older PCBs like a bootleg of Double Dragon for a tenner!
Bet you can't now though :lol:
People know that retro is worth money, and I bet all the hacked SFII and Bootleg Double Dragon PCBs are on Ebay with "L@@K! R@RE!!" tagged onto the page :evil:
http://velesoft.speccy.cz/other/muj_joy1.jpg
http://velesoft.speccy.cz/other/muj_joy2.jpg
You can make your own supergun, you just need one JAMMA loom, a SCART output, 2 joystick inputs, 2 sticks made to match the inputs, a couple of switches and an arseload of wires and time on your hands for soldering about 80 ends :) Easier than it supposedly is, just time consuming.
Next time you're in the UK near London, feel free to come and play mine :D
Cheers, may take you up on that, if I ever do come home? I wanted to this year but it doesn't look like it's happening now.
Anyway if I do come back to England sometime I'll be in the vicinity of London cos' the wife loves the place (personally I'm a hater, can't stand London :D).
I've gone and purchased a second hand Konix Speedking tonight for use with my Speccy2010 FPGA board... Never used a Konix Speedking before, but I hear they are tough old beasts, and the microswitches are easy to replace and a good solid steel shaft. Just as well it's built to last, because it's gonna get a good waggle on Daley Thompson's Supertest later (no I haven't gone blind yet), but will be suffering from w4nkers cramp later courtesy of Daley Thompson's Supertest 128k :lol:
Konix Speedking:-
Always preferred keys meself ;)
Magenta icon
but prefer that for hypersport type games.. have an x arcade joystick :)
even on c64 hypersports prefered keys
have a few zipsticks.. prefer em over comp pro.. and atari original sticks weren't bad either considering
Same here. Didn't get used to a stick until the ST. Quickshot if mammary serves me correctly.
The only Real Man's Stick I've ever liked was the Logitech Wingman with the hat on top ... solid, heavy and wonderful to use with Descent.
So when I did use a joystick, I'd tend towards using the (let's face it, fairly rubbish) Sinclair SJS1 sticks that came with my +2. I always sort of wanted a Kempston, but mostly because it kept being there in the control options and I wondered what was so special about it.
Used to have a Quickshot II but it broke, first the trigger fire button then the joystick itself. While it lasted I thought it was particularly good for any 3D space/shooting games, felt like I was in the spaceship cockpit! :)
Overall I preferred keys but I will confess to always being a bit jealous of the original Kempston that my mate had.
They came with a "punch" guarantee...steady,firm and precise.
I have even moded one of my XBOX1 pads (I by-passed the switches) to let me use this joysticks in emulators.