atari 5200 Starcon Joystick.

[vintagegamecrazy]

The DB needs an update, there was one recently sold on Ebay for the sum of $500Buy it now, it is the second one to surface so far, with the guide still says only one is found, this should be changed to a R10 and $500 since it's the only price we have on it.

[video_game_addict]

There's more than 2 of them. I'd say at the very least that makes 12 of them so far. I own one myself & I paid alot less than $500 I'd say maybe DP pricing would be around $250 tops. Boxed maybe more though.

Do you have a link to the auction?

I know someone had one up a few weeks ago it was in the box, just wondering if this is the same seller/auction.

[slapdash]

Not to mention that somebody found the guy behind Starcon a couple years ago and he made a few more with the materials he had on hand.

Like an idiot, I didn't have the money and didn't buy one anyway...

[video_game_addict]

Yeah I'm not sure how many he had, or was able to make, but I'd guess it was less than 20. I was thinking around 10-12 based off the people who responded in the thread about them over on AA. I wish I had bought two, silly me. I know one collector, Mcgrail007 auctioned off his, a year or so back & BuyAtari won it. Actually ended BIN or single bid win with a $400 price tag. Not sure if that Mcgrail had a second one or that was his one & only. But Sean has been a longtime 5200 collector, so I kind of thought he picked up two & just sold one.

I know one other collector had bought two. Several bought just one, like myself. But these are not as rare as they once were. But if only one was known previously, I was guessing it's sitting in John Hardie's garage somewhere, and then the one that hit ebay recently, then the stash from the original creator, that still doesn't make a lot in collector's hands. I think it was said somewhere that around 100 of the plastic molds were created & that most were used for 2600 versions. Oddly enough, I don't believe I've ever seen a 2600 version, but still there should be some more out there somewhere. In some form.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I searched in completed listings on Ebay and the auction is gone now. I knew someone found the creator on AA but it sounded like he had less than a dozen of them and they were shells and needed circuitry, he did assemble some but also included a schematic for them, even with these found that still only accounts for roughly a dozen maybe 15 tops. Why didn't I buy the one boxed complete on Ebay when I had the chance?

I was also reading message boards on atariage and they were talking about the Fire Command Stick and Only one person admitted to owning one and no one else has ever seen one or seen one sold in auction, it appears that this along with the 4 way joystick guide are extremely rare, and need to be noted in the database. They are probably at least R9 in rarity now, it's even hard to find info on the web on these obscure Atari 5200 items. Also with the Triga Elite, is there any confirmation that they exist? no one anywhere has ever seen one or know of ones existance, I know they were worked on but were they past proto stage at all or are these things better off in the rumor mill section now?

[RangerG]

When Fred Rubatino (I believe that is his name) sold his remaining stock a year or so ago he definitely had less than 12 (all without bottoms). I emailed him later and he said that he had nothing left in that he put any spare parts in with the sticks he sold and he even sold the stick he had used twenty odd years ago as a tester.

P.S. The Starcon is the best joystick I have ever used (including trying some of the other 3rd party sticks at CGE) for the 5200. To me the equivalent high quality stick for the Colecovision is the Questar (another really rare one). Mr. Retrogamer at AA has nice pics of them all.

[slapdash]

The name sounds right...

Man, I always wanted Questar sticks, but never saw them anywhere; if they're rare, they're probably pricey too, which means I may never have any. :-(

[video_game_addict]

They're on ebay every now & then too.




Atari version even better

I have my doubts over the Fire Command & Triga Elite. Until I see them (5200 versions that is) in my grubby little hands I will continue to doubt their existence. :P

The 4 way joystick guides are rare but definitely exist. I know MrRetro has a pair & I have a pair. I've never seen these on ebay though. I really would like the bubble mailer packaging that MrRetro owns, I need them complete!

Add that HUGE box that the 5200 Carrying case came in, where only 2 are known to exist now, someone find me one of them. I don't even care for the case I've already got that, I just want the box.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Here's the link to atariage, it looks like Mrretrogamer is the only one that has admitted to owning one in the entire gaming community period! From the looks of it they are at least as rare as the Starcon stick. John Hardie had an article about speaking to GIM Electronics and they confirmed the existance and sales of them, there was probably more sold than the Starcon but less accounted for so far these should be equally as rare as the Starcon in the Database. If anyone owns one please say so now so we can get an idea of how many exist.
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index...howtopic=20388

It also appears that the Wico Keypad is become far more rare than we expected, they don't even turn up on Ebay often at all any more and not too many collectors have them either, they should be changed to R7 or even R8.

[video_game_addict]

I've got 5 or 6 Wico Keypads right now, a couple boxed keypads by themselves & one boxed keypad & joystick combo. I've owned more in the past. It is not an R7 or 8. More like a 5 in my opinion. Like most everything finding it in the box is a little tougher, but these pop up loose all the time on ebay. There have been a couple up just in the last week in mixed lots.

Retrogamer's Fire command is for the Colecovision not the 5200.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Would the Colecovision version have a built in keypad? How would you use the keypad functions? It states that the 5200 one required a Y Splitter like the Wico did, I don't see why that would be for the colecovision. There is a pic on atariage some where with a fire command stick and it looks the same as mrretrogamer's. I'd say his is for the 5200.

[video_game_addict]

You would encounter the same problem with keypad whether you are playing on a 5200 or CV. Most games do not use them. But Mr Retros Fire Comand is a 2 button digital DB9 stick.

It works on the 5200 the same way any 2600 or CV stick would work on the 5200, thru the use of a Masterplay.

1) it doesn't have a compatible plug, it uses db9 instead of db15

2) it isn't analog

3) it isn't even mapped to the 5200 for both fire buttons, only one fire button works thru the Masterplay, unless you wire into the aux port of the masterplay, and Retro's Fire Comand isn't setup for that either.

However,

It was common pratice back in the day to use 2600 sticks on the CV, it was so popular infact that you can find spliters out there for the db9s so you can have your Atari stick & CV stick with pad wired up at same time. They were marketed for the CV as such.

Champ even sold a stand alone CV pad, no stick, just the pad for this purpose, much like the 5200 Wico pads.

And some joysticks like the Hi Score stick for example have ports on the side for original CV controllers to pluged into & then you can use the aftermarket Hi Score stick for playing, and the CV pad for when you need those options.

Competition Pros are available for the CV with a 2nd contoller port wired on, just like the 5200 versions, but instead of db15 on the 5200, they offer a db9 for the CV.

There are many options out there for controllers. But most of these companies making sticks back in the day were trying to hit the largest market possible, which was 2600. 2600 & CV cross-compatibility was 2nd. 5200 was way down the line unfortunately.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Wouldn't his fire command be fully functional with the 5200 if you plugged it into a Wico Y splitter for the 5200, wouldn't both fire buttons work that way? If it won't maybe they were only made for the colecovision and none for the 5200 at all. Someone needs to email John Hardie and see if he has anymore info on this and if he can confirm their existance. In that case maybe it's better to move this and the Triga Elite to the rumor mill since no one can confirm their existance.

[video_game_addict]

The Wico spliter was a pack-in with the the wico controller. 5200 Wico was an analog stick. The spliter was only so you can use the 5200 pad & start/pause/resets.

Mr Retro's Fire Command is digital, you can plug it in to a Wico spliter but it will not work. That's they same thing as pluging a 2600 stick into a wico spliter for that matter.

The 2nd buttons on the Fire Command that Mr Reto owns is for the CV specifically.

The Questar I posted above was offered in both a 1 button & 2 button design. Mine is a 1 button for Atari but Mr Retro owns a 2 button Questar as well, designed just like the 2 button Fire Command for lefty/righties & it is made for the CV.

This was a pretty common design making CV sticks which could still be used on the 2600. But for any of them to work with the 5200 you need a masterplay.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Thanks for the explanation, I just didn't understand you before, better off in the rumor mill though for that one.

On another note though, neither the Fire Command or the Questar sticks are in the Colecovision section and need to be added to the next update.