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Doing The Math on the Atari VCS Classic Joystick & Modern Controller

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“Have you played your Atari today?”

We have been on a roll lately with product reviews that have surprised us. For this review we test drive Atari’s VCS Wireless Classic Joystick and their Wireless Modern Controller.

Atari needs no introduction for many of you, so we will spare you their history, as it stretches back almost 50 years! The modern Atari company is a very different beast from the one that Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell found all those years ago.

With a back-catalogue of awesome Atari IP to choose from, the modern Atari has brought two controllers to the market, one being a throwback to their single button CX40 joystick with a modern twist with their VCS Wireless Classic Joystick, and the other, the Wireless Modern Controller being for the modern gamer that requires total control for their games on contemporary gaming systems. Oh yeah, seeing the Atari logo on a controller is another big selling point!

Atari Wireless Classic Joystick – $104.95 at GAMORY

First cab off the rank was always going to be the joystick! We started our gaming life on a joystick with a single fire-button, so the Atari VCS Classic Joystick felt right at home. We must admit, we were sceptical at first, but upon opening the package, the joystick looked top notch. But looks aren’t everything if the device isn’t much chop. The stick is on the short side, so if you like to grip the joystick by forming a fist around it,  then you are out of luck – unless you have really small hands. However, we never like to grip our joysticks that way, preferring the thumb and index finger control, which works and feels superb on this Atari modern joystick. The fact that the joystick doubles up as a paddle for games like Break Out (and Arkanoid), is another feather in the cap for this modern take on a classic stick. Oh yeah, there is also a second fire-button, which is conveniently positioned on the base for those games requiring two fire-buttons. Remember the orange band around the rubber boot/base of the original Atari joysticks? Well, on the modern stick, the band is replaced with a very cool LED light effect, which immediately makes you smile. Rotate the stick and watch the orange lights glow! It is these little touches that add up to a darn cool joystick for any retro or modern gamer.

Getting a grip!

We much prefer using our thumb and index finger for precision control

The joystick can be connected via USB (micro-USB cable supplied) or Bluetooth – we had a few issues trying to connect via Bluetooth (getting the dreaded unknown device message) on our Dell XPS laptop, but didn’t experience this on our other Lenovo laptop. With that said, once you are connected, you can really only play games that require one or two fire-buttons, which means this joystick is perfect for playing your old Amiga, C64, Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Atari 2600, 7800, 400/800 and ST games (via emulation).

Love the orange light-up ring!

We tested this joystick on our LaunchBox (RetroArch / MAME) setup playing all of the two button Neo Geo games, and we must admit, the stick was absolutely flawless playing Sonic Wings 2 (Aero Fighters 2) with no lag, just total precision movement and firing, which helped us get very close to our personal best score, which says a lot for a stick we’ve had minimal amount of play time. The stick does have more freeplay when compared to something like the old TAC-2 joystick, but it snaps back to centre quite rapidly, which is exactly what a gamer needs, especially in games requiring ultra quick reflexes with precision control.

The stick is about as tall as the Sega Master System Control Stick

The old school QuickShot is built for a fist grip, whereas the Atari Classic Joystick isn’t!

The Atari Classic Joystick looks retro but has all the modern conveniences, like Bluetooth connectivity – the best of both worlds!

The more we played with the Atari VCS Classic Joystick, the more we grew to love it. It doesn’t knock the TAC-2 off the perch for our favourite joystick of all time, but the advantage of the Atari joystick is that it can be played on a multitude of gaming systems, albeit via emulation (mainly). We were going to test hooking up the joystick to our THEC64 Maxi, but ran out of time for this review. We will be sure to update this post when we do so and tell you all how we fared.

If you are yearning for a joystick to play your (one or two button type) games on PC or Android, then we highly recommend this Atari Wireless Classic Joystick – it is pretty darn awesome!

Atari VCS Wireless Modern Controller – $104.95 at GAMORY

After the awesome experience with the Classic Joystick, the Modern Controller had a lot to live up to!

It really isn’t fair to compare the joystick with the modern controller, as they couldn’t be further apart in aesthetics, controls, buttons and their use. Where the joystick can only really be used on games that don’t require too many buttons or multi-analogue input, the modern controller is right at home to be used on most (if not all) modern video games.

Just like the joystick, the controller can be connected via Bluetooth or cable (micro USB cable supplied) to your PC or via Bluetooth with an Android device. The detection and setup was a cinch. For comparisons, the Atari VCS Modern Controller is closest to the Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One controllers, so if you are familiar with those, then the Atari controller will feel right at home.

Atari vs Xbox

Face-off!

Since we do love our Xbox Series S controller, holding and using the Atari one to play games on our PC felt familiar and comfy. The triggers are just as clicky and the analogue sticks were equally as good. The D-pad is great and I prefer it to the clicky Xbox Series S controller. The Atari Modern Controller is great in hand, with smooth to touch surfaces – oo’er! We obviously love anything with a nostalgia inducing Mt Fuji logo, which is great to see dead centre on this controller. There is a feature that we didn’t understand which was the ability to switch the controller between PC or Xbox mode – we couldn’t figure this out, so if anyone has, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Both the joystick and controller charge quite quickly and hold their charge for a fair few hours – we only had to charge them once while using them during this review (and they still have charge juice left!).

If you are after a modern controller to play on your PC, be it Xbox Game Pass games, AntStream, Prime Games, Steam, emulators and anything in-between, then you should check out the Atari Modern Controller. And if you are a sucker for the Atari brand, like we are, then you may not need too much convincing.

Where to buy:

Both the Atari VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controller are available at GAMORY.

Too Cool For School!

 



Disclaimer: The Atari VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controller were kindly supplied by GAMORY for this review.

Pew Pew Pew – We Love These Galaga Pins!

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GalagaYou would have all guessed it by now that we are huge fans of Namco’s timeless classic arcade and iconic vertical shoot’em up, GALAGA. The constant pew pew pewing at enemy ships as they stream down and across the screen never gets old!

It seems that we are not alone in our love of Galaga, as Etsy seller Wardingers has created these awesomely cute 1 inch Galaga Enamel Pins which we would proudly wear on our lanyard as we blast those pesky enemy ships!

source: Wardingers on Etsy



LEGO 8-Bit Trip 2 – Awesome Stop Motion Animation

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Amazing Swedish band Rymdreglage have followed up their 2009 LEGO 8-Bit Trip stop motion video (which took them 1,500 hours to make!) with an even more awesome LEGO 8-Bit Trip 2!

The Trip 2 stop motion video pays tribute to some of the most iconic video games of all time in super duper 4K resolution – it is oh sooo lovely!


source: rymdreglage



15 Atari Facts You May Not Have Known About

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Gotta love video gaming related facts! Here at ausretrogamer HQ we absolutely love digging around and finding all kinds of video game related facts, especially the more obscure and lesser known ones. Since June is ATARI month, for this new ‘Did You Know’ series, we kick things off with 15 facts about the iconic Atari, which you may or may not have known (or perhaps forgotten about)!

Was it all fun and games at Atari? I would have given an arm and a leg to had been part of this great company that brought video games to the masses. If only I was born in a different era and resided in California back in the 1970s.

There has been much written about Atari – from well known facts to myths and even fan fiction. We set the record straight on a few unknown (and well known) historical facts at the once mighty Atari.

Fact 1. First video game to have background music
To contrary belief, it wasn’t Namco’s Rally-X that first featured background music (BGM), it was beaten to the punch by Atari’s Cannon Ball – an Owen Rubin developed game. Unfortunately, the feedback was not great from location testing. Arcade operators disliked the BGM, citing it as being annoying. Sadly, the game was never mass produced.

Fact 2. Space Duel was the first multicolour vector game
Another contradiction in video gaming folklore – Tempest was not the first multicolour vector game. That gong belongs to Space Duel – another Owen Rubin game. To rub salt into the wounds, Owen Rubin’s colour vector generator code was used by Dave Theurer in Tempest. Owen never received any credit for his effort.

Fact 3. Missile Command was going to be called Armageddon 
Atari had designs and cabinet prototypes created for Armageddon, later to be renamed by Gene Lipkin as Missile Command.

Fact 4. The Last Starfighter
In 1984, when Atari was being carved up and sold, two games in development based on the film, The Last Starfighter were redone to become Star Raiders II and Solaris.

Fact 5. The naming of Yars’ Revenge 
Howard Scott Warshaw (from E.T. fame) named his game Yars’ Revenge after Ray Kassar (Ray spelled backwards). The ‘Razak’ solar system was also based on Ray’s surname, with the letters ‘ss’ replaced with a ‘z’ and the surname spelled backwards. Very clever indeed!

Fact 6. Championship Soccer / Pele’s Soccer
Championship Soccer, aka: Pele’s Soccer was the first video game to license a sports personality, the lovable Brazilian soccer maestro, Pele!

Fact 7. The Atari and Nintendo deal
Atari was in talks with Nintendo in regards to their Family Computer (Famicom). The deal would be for Nintendo to design the printed circuit boards and engineer all the electronics, while Atari would design the console case and packaging. Basically, Atari would be selling Nintendo’s product for them in the USA and the rest of the world under the Atari brand. Imagine if this deal had gone through.

Fact 8. Naming the Atari 7800
After the Atari 5200 debacle, the marketing department at Atari would not dictate the functions or features of the new Atari 7800. However, they did come up with the product name by adding 2600 to 5200. Absolute genius (Ed: stop being sarcastic!).

Fact 9. Burying Atari
Atari could only wish they could bury the E.T. myths. When the decision was made to close the El Paso (Texas) plant, truckloads of unused and faulty stock was being ferried to the Alamogordo, New Mexico city dump. The deal was to dump the goods and steamroll them. As the media got wind of this, it was made out as if Atari was trying to “cover up” and they became the media whipping boy with the video gaming woes of the early 80s.

Fact 10. Cloak & Dagger
At the end of 1983, Atari was manufacturing upgrade kits to turn rival Williams’ Robotron:2084, Defender, Stargate and Joust cabinets into a new Atari game called Cloak & Dagger. Cloak & Dagger (originally titled Agent X) was designed to plug directly into the existing power supply in these games. Indeed, this was very cloak and dagger like of Atari. By the way, the movie of the same name was a gloried Atari advertisement.

Fact 11. Clandestine sale to Philips 
Without the knowledge of James (Jim) Morgan at Atari, Warner Bros. management (Manny Gerard and Rob Newman) were surveying Atari at the request of Steve Ross (Warner Bros head-honcho). The staking out of Atari was to take visual inventory and current status of projects for a possible sale to the Dutch electronics giant, Philips. There were a series of talks between Steve Ross and Wisse Dekker (Philips CEO), but in the end, after being burned by the Magnavox Odyssey, Philips chose to walk away from the deal.

Fact 12. First Nintendo, then the Amiga Hi-Toro
It seems that Atari had a knack of getting itself into some wheeling and dealing, but ultimately, choosing to opt out of certain deals. After the Nintendo deal fell through, Atari struck a gentleman’s agreement with the Amiga Corporation in early 1984. The ‘Letter Of Intent’ between Atari and Amiga had Atari advancing $500,000 to  the cash strapped Amiga Corporation so that they could continue developing the ‘Lorraine’ chipset. Atari was never interested in acquiring Amiga, they just wanted to get their hands on the chipset that Jay Miner and Joe Decuir had created. The chipset was going to be used in Atari’s arcade machines, consoles and home computers. Dave Morse’s intention was always to find a buyer for his fledgling and struggling Amiga Corporation. This is where Commodore stepped in and the rest, as they say, is history. Hindsight is always 20/20!

Fact 13. Shedding Atarians
The gravy train at Atari was coming to a screeching halt. Under James Morgan’s NATCO (New Atari Company) cost saving plan, Atari’s ranks shrivelled from 7,800 employees in January 1983, to an astounding 1,500 by the end of May 1984.

Fact 14. Atari MindLink – Bionic Breakout
Atari was always at the forefront of product development. Atari’s MindLink product was a headband controller that controlled game play by the player just looking at the TV screen and ‘thinking’ about moving an object. There was no extra sensory perception going on here, the MindLink controller would  read the resistance of the muscles in the player’s forehead and interpret them into the appropriate joystick or fire button signals. Was it ahead of its time, it sure was. The market did not take the product seriously so Atari chose not to pursue production of the MindLink.

Fact 15. I, Robot – The last Atari, Inc. Coin-op 
The final coin-operated game under the Atari, Inc. banner was I, Robot (1984). Created by Dave Theurer and Rusty Dawe, I, Robot was the first commercial arcade game to feature filled 3D polygonal graphics. Sadly, only 750 machines were produced, with even less being sold. If you have one in your possession, hold onto it, it is worth a small fortune!

With a vast amount of information out there on Atari, we cross referenced facts, myths and misinformation with the definitive book, Atari Inc. – Business Is Fun by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg. If you weren’t aware, Curt Vendel is an Atari historian (since the mid 1980s) and has the largest Atari collection in the world. Curt has collected vast amounts of Atari paperwork and other memorabilia over the last few decades. His intimate knowledge of Atari is second to none.

image sources: various



Celebrating The 35th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda

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Game and Watch: The Legend of ZeldaAfter this week’s Nintendo Direct, we are obviously most excited about the Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda announcement, with the green G&W beauty slated for release later this year (Friday, November 12 2021 to be exact)!

As part of its 35th anniversary celebration, this Game & Watch will let you play The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy version), and a special Game & Watch edition of Vermin (featuring Link)! Just like the Game & Watch Super Mario, this will have a playable clock and timer too!

At a cost of AU$79.00 (via Amazon), who is pre-ordering one? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook to let us know.


source: Nintendo



The Retro Gaming Vault – April 2021

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We are excited to start a new monthly feature, which we hope becomes a regular on ausretrogamer.com.

So what’s this newfangled feature we are so excited about? Well, as the title suggests, we’ll be delving deep into our photo vault full of retro gaming photos from years gone by. The aim is to give you all a dose of nostalgia and hopefully connect with new audience members.

For this very first edition, we dug through thousands of our images from the last dozen years and came up with a swag of nostalgia inducing photos; from the best joystick ever made, board games based on classic arcade titles, to our Commodore 64 smart watches and playing classic games on our Game Boy Micro – it’s all easy money 😉

Enjoy!

Original image copyright: ausretrogamer

 


June is Atari Month!

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Attention our fellow Atarians (fans of the old Atari),

The month of June is fast approaching and you all know what that means – it’s !

To celebrate 49 years of Atari, we are asking you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and get writing about your affinity for this iconic brand.

This is your opportunity to let your writing juices flow! To get you started, check out Matt Lacey’s Atari story from the last time we ran for Atari’s 42nd anniversary.

Once you are satisfied with your written masterpiece, just submit it to us here. The most entertaining submissions will be immortalised on ausretrogamer.com!

There is no word limit, so go for your life (just keep it clean)! Article submissions are opened from now till June 25 2021. That means you have (almost) 3 months for your submission, so get cracking you awesome Atarians!

 

 

Iconic TAITO STATION To Close In March

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Not the arcade gaming news we wanted to see in 2021 – another iconic arcade building is set to close.

First it was Sega’s (GiGo) Building 2 that closed in August last year, and now as reported by SoraNews24, Taito Station’s iconic Nishi Shinjuku branch is set to close its doors on March 21st, 2021.

If you are anywhere near Shinjuku, go and check this out before it closes. Unfortunately we will never get to tick this one off our bucket list 🙁

 

Things Are Afoot At The Ausretrogamer Fun Factory in 2021

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With having a lot of time at home in 2020, we had been thinking about changing things up in the Ausretrogamer Fun Factory!

Things are afoot with designing the new space, which will see new additions, things being moved around and unfortunately, stuff that will go to a new home. We are quite excited with the next chapter of our games room, so we’ll be sure to share our journey throughout 2021 of the new and improved Ausretrogamer Fun Factory.

For now, you can have a read how the Ausretrogamer Fun Factory has evolved over the years.

Taking one last look at the current Ausretrogamer Fun Factory (click to enlarge)

 

Battlezone: One of Atari’s Best

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Several years ago, my brother bought an Atari Flashback 64 console, and I became obsessed with playing the 1983 tank video game Battlezone. As crude as the first-person shooter graphics may be, the game feels like a real tank simulator (minus the volcanoes and UFOs).

I’ve always loved tank games. Usually, the more realistic ones are the most entertaining, but Battlezone’s simplicity is what makes it so fun and interesting. I didn’t know until I did some research that Battlezone is often considered the first virtual reality arcade video game. The home version doesn’t feel like virtual reality, but I can definitely see how the original 1980 arcade version can be seen as a “3-D success”. Looking through the “periscope” viewfinder, which the player used to play the game, had to be exciting and different. The originality of it had to help the player immerse themselves in the classic game. I’ve never had the pleasure of playing Battlezone in an upright arcade cabinet; I hope one day I will.

There is also a smaller version of the cabinet where the screen was angled upwards, and there was no periscope. I think I remember seeing that version of Battlezone at a local supermarket when I was little.

When I play Battlezone, I have a battle manoeuvre where I circle around and pick off enemy tanks and flying saucers, then I pick up speed in one direction for a while until something pops up on my radar. I wish the game had a better radar, but the primitiveness of it adds to the retro feel. You must be fast on the joystick’s trigger when opposing tanks just pop up on screen in front of you. Playing the ’83 game is still a challenging and thrilling experience.

Atari 2600 version of Battlezone. Source: Retro Gamer