/vr/ - Retro Games

So I had some more ideas about a C64 joystick that would somewhat differentiate it from an Atari joystick. Some games work around the C64's 1 button limitation in weird ways, like how in Commando grenades are mapped to the button on the joystick in the other port, and in Great Giana Sisters you press up for jumping (which is a pretty common workaround, albeit not a very appealing one).

If I were to put a second button on the joystick and a toggle switch, I could make it so that on the first setting, button 2 is mapped to the up direction, so in games like Great Giana Sisters you have a dedicated jump button instead of having to push up. In the second position, it could be mapped to a second joystick cable coming out the back of the unit that plugs into the player 2 port, and it acts as the player 2 fire button. The two cords would be wrapped up nicely in a piece of gray or black paracord with a piece of shrink tube on the end, and the primary serial header would be labeled so as to not mix the two jacks up.

If this was going to be a product those extra components would make it more expensive, but I think it'd be a feature worth adding. I'm also thinking that if I could find a good color match, it would be nice to spray paint the plastic breadbin beige to match the C64 itself.