Altoids 5200 Controller

[Jess Ragan]

So hey, I was thinking... all the controllers for the Atari 5200, from the crummy stock sticks to the cherry red Wico Command Controls, are huge. There's nothing available for the system that will fit in your pocket. However, an Altoids tin is the perfect size for a miniature controller... large enough to fit in your hands, but small enough to stick in your pocket or a drawer when you're done.

 

An Altoids tin controller for the 5200 could be a promising project, but is it a feasible one? The D-pad and joystick buttons shouldn't be too difficult to make... I've built adapters for the system before, so I know how the Atari 5200 reads input. However, I'm most concerned about the keypad. I'd need to find a keypad that's small enough to fit on the face of an Altoids tin, and the only one that comes to mind is the membrane keypad from a pocket calculator. Are calculator keys read with a matrix, like the 5200's keypad, or is there a lead for each key like in the ColecoVision controller?

 

Also, if I wanted to go with an analog thumbstick instead of a digital pad, what would be the best fit for the 5200? My understanding is that the thumbsticks for modern game systems use a different technology than analog controllers from the 1980s. Is there any way to make one of these sticks compatible with the 5200?

Edited October 15, 2008 by Jess Ragan

[Atari2008]

This would be awesome, since I've also noticed that all the 5200 controllers are huge. The system is already huge, no need for the controllers to be.

[bohoki]

calculators have the number pad reversed you need to take the number pad out of a phone

 

altoids is a bad idea as it is a metal casing find something that general size in plastic

 

i have an idea on how to make a gamepad using 2 no buttons and 2 nc buttons 2 500kpots

 

put one no and one nc on both sides of the pot leads the no button becomes up the no becomes down and use the pot for centering i need to gather some parts mainly the plug and pots (as i dont want to wreck a set of paddles)

here is the numbpad i'm gonna use

 

 

 

 

i wish i knew who made it or what it is from

Edited October 15, 2008 by bohoki

[SRGilbert]

What about using an original Gameboy Advance to make a controller? Lots of buttons already, and you could remove the screen and insert a keypad. Also, they are relatively cheap, and most people like the existing control layout.

 

[Jess Ragan]

calculators have the number pad reversed you need to take the number pad out of a phone

 

altoids is a bad idea as it is a metal casing find something that general size in plastic\

 

You can always reverse the order of the matrix, which should take care of the difference in number order. As for the metal case, I was thinking of using electrical tape as an insulator.

 

SRGilbert: I was thinking that a Neo-Geo Pocket would be a better fit, since its controller is superior to pretty much everything else out there.

Edited October 15, 2008 by Jess Ragan

[bohoki]

calculators have the number pad reversed you need to take the number pad out of a phone

 

altoids is a bad idea as it is a metal casing find something that general size in plastic\

 

You can always reverse the order of the matrix, which should take care of the difference in number order. As for the metal case, I was thinking of using electrical tape as an insulator.

 

SRGilbert: I was thinking that a Neo-Geo Pocket would be a better fit, since its controller is superior to pretty much everything else out there.

 

 

made it found all i really need was a start button since i had an extra 2 conductors in the 8 conductor cable i put a switch between pins 4 and 7

 

 

it would be so cool to have a genesis controller that worked with a b start and have c be pause

[shadow460]

The difference between the 5200's analog sticks and the more modern ones I've opened is that where the 5200 uses variable resistors modern controllers use encoders. An encoder setup is really a digital thing with enough possible positions that it feels analog.