Over the years, people have been ridding themselves of their Atari collections, and I could not
in good conscience, allow these items to see the eternal darkness of a landfill like E.T. had.
Here are some of the items I've both gladly salvaged, and unfortunately inherited over the years.
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ATARI STANDARD JOYSTICK
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Atari Standard Joystick
Manufacturer: Atari
Model: CX-10, CX-40
Type: Controller
The classic Atari joystick. The very icon of "video games". Durable and responsive, the CX-10/40
suitable for many years, and with Atari producing repair kits, many years after. The joysticks
came packaged with the Atari VCS as a pair, with the Atari CX-30 04 Paddle controllers, allowing
head to head multiplayer in Combat, right out of the box. Forward-compatible with the Sega Master
System and the Sega Genesis, with its fire button being recognized as 2 and B, respectively, the
joystick saw use in many households well into the 1990s.
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ATARI PADDLES
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Atari Paddles
Manufacturer: Atari
Model: CX-30 04
Type: Controller
Packaged with the Atari VCS, these twin rotary controllers provided precise, single-axis
movement for players, leading to many frenetic matches of Demons to Diamonds, Warlords,
Spider Fighter, and more. Over the decades, the paddles can become jittery due to oxidation
inside of the potentiometer (rheostats, variable resistors, or varistors) that transmit the
rotation angle to the game program during play. It's possible, albeit tedious, to disassemble
the potentiometers and clean the oxidation from them using contact cleaner spray, or any
gun-cleaning solution. It may still be less of a hassle to simply purchase replacement 1M
(1 mega-ohm) potentiometers to replace the existing ones, if there's a Radio Shack or other
electronics component dealer in your area. Just be sure to verify the dimensions of the
original potentiometers before buying replacements. Measure twice, (pay) once.
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ATARI DRIVING CONTROLLER
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Atari Driving Controller
Manufacturer: Atari
Model: CX-20 01
Type: Controller
Visually, but not functionally similar to the paddle controllers is the Driving Controller.
It operates with unlimited rotation in either direction, used for steering in specific games.
Also unlike the paddles, it only comes one to a DE-9 connector, so each player will need one,
rather than sharing a paired set.
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ATARI VIDEO TOUCH PAD
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Atari Video Touch Pad
Manufacturer: Atari
Model: CX-21
Type: Controller
Officially only usable with Star Raiders, this keypad controller makes use of inlays to label
its 12 buttons for various functions in the game, though only 5 are used in Star Raiders. An
undocumented function of the Video Touch Pad is that it is electronically identical to the
Atari CX-50 Keyboard Controller, and can be used with any keyboard games, provided you have
two of the touch pads. It is advised that you duplicate the markings of the buttons on the
Keyboard Controller for use as an insert for the Touch Pads, as the Touch Pad buttons are
unlabeled by default.
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RGA INTERNATIONAL VIDEO CONTROLLER
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RGA International Video Controller
Manufacturer: RGA International Limited
Model: RGA-1250
Type: Controller
This joystick compensates (?) for its lack of a massive base, by utilizing four vacuum-adhesive
suckers on its underside, for locking it to any smooth surface, such as glass, steel, or plastic.
When firmly affixed in place, the joystick provides responsive control, and provides particular
utility in games like Zaxxon, Solaris, and Tomcat: The F-14 Flight Simulator. All three of the
buttons on the controller perform the same function, and there is no rapid-fire capability,
although this could be added by a sufficiently skilled electronic engineer with a timer IC and
the appropriate assortment of components from Radio Shack. RGA produced other version of this
joystick, being the RGA-1160 which differs by having only one fire button on its base, and the
RGA-118, a pair of wireless (via RF) joysticks also having a single button on their bases.
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