View Full Version : Which came out first? The Atari 5200 Trak-Ball or the Coleco Roller Controller?
I know from doing some searching around that the Coleco Roller controller came out in the fall of 1983. http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n4/18_1983_Winter_Consumer_Elec.php shows that Atari was planning on releasing the Trak-Ball controller in mid-83. Did it come out first or did Coleco beat them to the punch?
The Track-Ball came out in the mid 70s for the Atari arcade game Football, so maybe Atari's came first?
j_factor
05-21-2012, 05:02 PM
The egg.
The egg.
That's not a good answer. . .
That's not a good answer. . .
Alright, I am pretty sure I got the answer- in a bunch of early 80s Electroning Games magazines I had stashed away. . .
Here's what I've figure out:
1) Wico released the first home console trackball controller (for the Atari 2600) in either 1982 or 1983. It was pretty expensive. . . $49- and that's in 1983 dollars!
2) Coleco is reported in a June 1983 issue to be claiming to have their Roller Controller released in July. A websource mentions that it was released in the 3rd quarter of 1983. I'd have to assume that it either came out in July or August.
2) Atari took a full page ad out in the September 1983 issue introducing their new 5200 "Trak-Ball" controller, and I believe that Coleco beat them with their Colecovision Roller Controller. The 5200 Trak-ball controller beat the 2600 Pro-Line Trakball controller (Atari) to the market, though. Interestingly the Pro-Line Trakball controller isn't even mentioned in a feature article of the December 1983 EG that goes over 2600-compatible trackballs. This article only mentions the Wico and Accu Company trackballs. It looks like the Atari Pro-Line Trakball didn't come out until 1984.
I researched this so I'd have the info for my article on ball/sphere video game controllers. Check it out: http://n4g.com/news/1003686/get-on-the-ball-with-your-video-games-spherical-controllers
Steve
Ah yes the Wico:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/joysticks-1.jpg
Wico also made a decent joystick for the NES way back....yes joySTICK, far more usable than the NES pad.
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