the best (imho) atari 2600 joystick

cleverlyj

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just picked up two of these yesterday. the suncom TAC-2. I got rid of the radio controlled joysticks cause the novelty wore off and they started to suck. i've rebuilt a cx-40 joystick but it still doesn't feel perfect.

anyways, i know a lot of people like the cx-10 (heavy sixer joysticks) with it's spring loadedness, but i prefer this new joystick. it's got a ball, for one, and it's got buttons on either side so you can play it either left or right handed. also, it's durable as fuck. feels real solid, kind of similar to a midway pac style joystick. and, it's got a 5' long cable on it so you've got a little room to move around when playing.

tac2.jpg
 
I always liked the Wico Command Control
atari_joysticks_command_control.jpg


And the Slick Stick
atari_joysticks_slik_stik_box.jpg
 
+1 on the Wico Command Control. I've got a pair of them, and they still work good. They do have one weakness, the cable. I've had to replace the cable a few times when one of the wires inside would break. That's where all the dead Atari joysticks come in handy :D When I was a kid, I don't know how many of those I broke (the plastic ring in it was the weak part). My mom bought a few different kinds, none of which really were any good, until she got a pair of the Wico's. They lasted me thru my C-64 days too.
 
The Tac or the Wico? I'd look on Ebay, or thrift stores.. I've been finding alot of the Wico Boss at the goodwills down here.

The boss is as well built, but its gray/black with more of a flightstick handle..

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The Wicos were very well built. Their trackballs were even better. I own several of each. I still prefer the original Atari joystick.

The problem with the Wicos is they are a little slow compared to a brand new Atari joystick. The "throw" on the Wico is just a little long. (I've never tried it, but it might be possible to adjust the leaf switches in the Wico to make it more sensitive.)

Atari used to run tests on joysticks and I once read that the Atari 7800 joystick tested almost as good as the original Atari Joystick.
 
Where do you pick one of those up?

the tac, i picked two up at a local game store. i was gonna grab one on ebay but i ended up getting lucky and a local game store had it buried. the guy knew they were better quality joysticks so i ended up paying $20 for the pair. but i was able to make one really nice one (the plastic had scratches and gouges on the bottom half of one and the top of the other) and have a spare for parts.

here's one on ebay that's a little more $, but it looks to be in very good shape.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Arc...228?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5646a80e14

here's a pic showing the inside -

tac2_open-thumb-520x327.jpg


it's a very primitive design, but works well. there's a ground attached to the joystick and you move the metal ball which hits the metal piece inside the center square at the base, and completes the circuit for whatever direction. as far as the buttons, there is a ground and signal piece of metal under each button, and a copper washer under the button that connects them to complete the circuit when you hit the button.

here's a video. if you jump to two minutes in, it shows the inside, which explains it a little better than i did.

 
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oh, and the slik stik was made by suncom, the same company that made the tac 2. it just has a shorter stick and one less button.
 
The problem with the Wicos is they are a little slow compared to a brand new Atari joystick. The "throw" on the Wico is just a little long. (I've never tried it, but it might be possible to adjust the leaf switches in the Wico to make it more sensitive.)

agreed. i had a wico bat style stick for a while and the throw is just too much. if the stick was half the size it would be perfect. the only way to compensate is to open it up and bend the leaf switches. but mine still wasn't perfect after that, so i got rid of it.
 
Yep I have the command control and the slik stik, both pretty nice. I kind of like the 500XJ, though these days I usually just use a Genesis or Euro 7800 gamepad, is that blasphemy?

On another note, how about passing those remote joysticks over here?
 

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Here's one I whipped up. I used a Monroe joystick and a leaf switch button.
 

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I can understand what your all saying about the Wico.. I've been using it since the 80's so I guess I just have adapted to the stick.
 
The tac2 is a good stick, but I always prefered the wico bat. It has leaf switches inside.. I think I have some wico ball sticks too. The one I did not like was the wico boss.
 
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i've never seen the tac2 but have always thought slik stik was the best as it was always sturdy and small stick making it less movement necessary. this was the preference for atari or commodore, especially various olympic type games where you had to move back and forth quickly and for a long time.
 
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