The Atari Pro-line Joystick

[CyberAxe]

I don't see what people disliked about the Atari Pro-line Joystick, I bought two for my Atari 2600.

I find it an extremely comfortable controller, hold it in your left hand and fire with thumb or trigger finger while moving with the right hand.

My only gripe is that twisting left and right doesn't work as a paddle, as that would have been cool.

What are everyone else's opinions?

[Cynicaster]

I think it's one of the worst controllers ever conceived, honestly.

I grew up on Atari 2600 in the early 80's, then got a 7800 for Christmas in 1987. I realized right away that I hated the 7800 joysticks; the only time I'd ever use a 7800 joystick over a 2600 joystick was when 2 buttons were needed.

[tcv]

I think it's one of the worst controllers ever conceived, honestly.

Sorry, bro, gonna have to give that to the 5200 "joy" stick.

[BydoEmpire73]

It's my least favorite controller ever because it cramps my hands within minutes. Almost totally unusable, imho. Worse than the Colecovision' stock controllers. I've had a 7800 since they came out, and I've tried many times to "get used to it." I just didn't bother playing 2 button games until I got one of the pads. It's awful.

I do like the 5200 stick. There isn't a lot of resistance on the stick or side buttons, so while it's not the most comfortable controller ever, it's not the least by far. How well the analog works with 4 or 8 direction games is entirely up to the programmer. 5200 Pac Man is my favorite home port - looks great, plays great, and controls great. I have almost no deaths due to the controller causing problems in Pac Man. Keystone Kapers on 5200 plays fantastic. A handful of games definitely have problems, but that's due to the programmer not doing their job. And it adds a nice level of control for games like Missile Command and Breakout that were designed to use the analog functionality.

Yes, you do have to calibrate your system every so often to keep the stick centered. Yes, they have reliability problems. But you can order rebuilt controllers and rebuild kits very easily, and they work great.