I grew up with my Commodore 64 using the one buttoned variation of this stick. Thanks for the informative disassembly and maintenance tour. Keep up the great work Maddi! 👍🏿
oh man i never thought that i would ever see this little fella again .this Stick wasnt that cheap since but it was worth that price.together with the c64 this thing delivered many many hours of gaming fun. but mine was fom Epyx without Auto-Fire-Button.thanx for this short journey into the past^^
I Just found couple of days Your Amazing channel. First I saw Marantz repairing and it was so helpful and I learned a lot. You are so happy and kind person. I noticed that I simile when I look your videos. Keep it style. You get all others peoples on good mood. Regards from Finland!
My favorite joystick of the olden days! I remember using them on the Apple II series, the NES, and now on my Atari 2600 and C64! I'm glad to know that a little Deoxit will do wonders for getting rid of that mushy sounding gunk and getting the switches working properly! I should give mine a little blast; my one 500XJ has a bit of a mushy fire button. Thank you for another wonderful video, and much love for the shoutout! ❤
I'm in Canada and I used the Epyx for my Atari 800 and then for my Amiga 500 when I upgraded. Mine only has 1 button though, and no autofire. I loved it for most games. I sure wish I had your joystick tester back in the 80s!
I have owned many of these Epyx (Konix) controllers over the years. I still own three. And, they still work more or less the same way that they did when I purchased them. It is overall in my humble opinion the most robust vintage controller ever made. I noticed you own some TIC-2 controllers as well. TIC stands for the Totally Inaccurate Controller for those unaware. Mine has been totally inaccurate for years. Looks fine inside, but misses button and direction responses just when you need them the most ;)
The way deoxit managed to fix the situation instantaneously was quite impressive! I love seeing the joystick tester, nothing better than lighting up leds by clicking random stuff :P *clickety clickety clickety*
I enjoyed making that tester, big chunky 1cm LEDs :oD I'm more impressed with Dioxit the more I use it, it was expensive but definitely worth it. i used to always use Super Servisol 10... and back in the day WD40 (so glad I got out of the WD40 phase :op)
The Epyx Stick was my weapon of choice back then! I think Epyx must've marketed it in the US while Konix was Europe. Wico makes a brilliant clone, and that's what I use these days.
Thank you heaps for sharing this MsMadLemon. I have two of these (konix) for my c64 and one has the same mushy fire button! Will be able to fix this now. Close to the best joystick I've used with only the konix navigator besting it.
The Cheetah BUG uses the same type of spring loaded micro switches …… Had to un-freeze one of them and now I really like it and the one shown here especially for Defender
I have a single fire button type and that one actually has the normal micro switch for the fire button, the prongs have been cut away and the wiring soldered to the contacts that remain. It's the same as this one for the directions.
Seeing the insides of a Speed King like this is fascinating! - I'd love to see you design your own joystick, perhaps moulded perfectly to your hand? Even a Zipstik mark 2, with two separate fire buttons! :)
I've always wondered how these looked inside, but never wanted to damage the label finding out. The Epyx 500xj was the only controller that could stand up to my abuse as a child. The regular atari sticks always broke at that actuating ring, and I guess pa got sick enough of buying new ones to try out these. I have to switch hands every 5-10 min on them though.
Great video but was sad to see you cut out the section dealing with the label/sticker on the top of the joystick. Is it necessary to cut or remove some of that sticker to be able to open the two halves of the joystick? What did you do?
@@MsMadLemon Ah - that's what I thought. Looking closely it looks like you cut the label along the seam apart from a small part near the joystick handle. BTW, thanks for the amazingly quick reply - much appreciated. Love your videos :)
That is the AMIGA SpeedKing valued at £80 to £100 today the A and B buttons can be used for different actions the C64 SpeedKing has only one button and both have auto fires they are different inside the C64 one has an actual microswitch sealed for the fire button but can also be sprayed with electrical contact spray the SpeedKings have the print on top the none SpeedKings are just the 500/XJ Konix joysticks for different systems and never cost as much... Research it... They are awesome but the Zip stick is better if you like to sit at a desc with the joystick stuck down for left or right handed the Konix EPYX are designed for right handed folks only although left handed folks easily learned to use them
I never liked this Joystick. A classmate had one back in the days and I always had problems hitting the diagonals. Even when he just got it and it was brand new. I should have an Amiga one and the NES one, but I've never seen that Master System one. There is at least one more variant. I've seen an analog one in an old video from Ashens. I have to get myself a can of contact cleaner. Maybe I can actually revive some of my joysticks as well. It's pretty easy to replace the ones in the Competition Pros, but I have tons of joysticks with similar switches to this one and I guess it's probably impossible to get any replacement for them.
I must admit it's a joystick that's always confused me, i'm not used to holding joysticks this way, but i find for simple short gameplays, lets say on an Atari 2600 or something like this where you're not going to be playing for an hour, it's fine. I would recommend Diox-it, it is a touch pricey and I used to always use Servisol Super 10, but dioxit beats it hands down! Yes I was initially worried about the same thing, microswitches you can get hold of easily, but i cant imagine parts for these will be so readily available.
Deoxit is really pricey... not sure if I should try it. The only contact cleaning method I know is a 3 pass process. First deoxidize, then clean it and finally apply some stuff to prevent future corrosion. I can get those 3 cans for about the same price on can of Deoxit would be.
It is, and I hesitated for a while before buying too. I would look into it because I think some variants of it actually have it in one, i'm not 100% sure about this. i'm not entirely sure which variants. My can lasted me longer because I didnt have to spray as often as i did with Servisol Super 10.
I'm using Teslanol Oszillin T6 Tuner Spray which from all I've heard and seen is the stuff that comes closest to Deoxit and is readily (and inexpensively) available in Germany (maybe it's cheaper than Deoxit in the UK, too). Served me well for nearly every purpose for years now.
Awesome stuff as usual lem, I had one that was exactly like that for my amiga but it was blue not red hahaha not sure if it was speed king or some other brand who made it :)
I have this for NES, and I must say it sucks. It has Select and Start on the lower side, about where your autofire toggle is. But those are of the clicky dome type (like in the old Atari CX40), held in place by the the sticker. Mine both broke/badly misaligned almost immediately and were completely unusable. It's a shame, really. I love this design, and with a few minor tweaks, it could have been one of the best joysticks ever.
@3:05 If Robocop and Ronald McDonald had a baby. It looks like you are tweaking his little clown nose. @6:05 That's an aesthetic assemblage of computing collectables.
I grew up with my Commodore 64 using the one buttoned variation of this stick. Thanks for the informative disassembly and maintenance tour. Keep up the great work Maddi! 👍🏿
Nice way to restore a truly historic joystick. Have to do the same for my Speedking to !
Just came here to hear the sound of the stick again, it is engraved in my memory. :)
Just ordered one on ebay. Loved this joystick in the early 90s
oh man i never thought that i would ever see this little fella again .this Stick wasnt that cheap since but it was worth that price.together with the c64 this thing delivered many many hours of gaming fun. but mine was fom Epyx without Auto-Fire-Button.thanx for this short journey into the past^^
I Just found couple of days Your Amazing channel. First I saw Marantz repairing and it was so helpful and I learned a lot. You are so happy and kind person. I noticed that I simile when I look your videos. Keep it style. You get all others peoples on good mood. Regards from Finland!
My favorite joystick of the olden days! I remember using them on the Apple II series, the NES, and now on my Atari 2600 and C64!
I'm glad to know that a little Deoxit will do wonders for getting rid of that mushy sounding gunk and getting the switches working properly! I should give mine a little blast; my one 500XJ has a bit of a mushy fire button.
Thank you for another wonderful video, and much love for the shoutout! ❤
I'm in Canada and I used the Epyx for my Atari 800 and then for my Amiga 500 when I upgraded. Mine only has 1 button though, and no autofire. I loved it for most games. I sure wish I had your joystick tester back in the 80s!
I have owned many of these Epyx (Konix) controllers over the years. I still own three. And, they still work more or less the same way that they did when I purchased them. It is overall in my humble opinion the most robust vintage controller ever made. I noticed you own some TIC-2 controllers as well. TIC stands for the Totally Inaccurate Controller for those unaware. Mine has been totally inaccurate for years. Looks fine inside, but misses button and direction responses just when you need them the most ;)
The way deoxit managed to fix the situation instantaneously was quite impressive! I love seeing the joystick tester, nothing better than lighting up leds by clicking random stuff :P
*clickety clickety clickety*
I enjoyed making that tester, big chunky 1cm LEDs :oD
I'm more impressed with Dioxit the more I use it, it was expensive but definitely worth it. i used to always use Super Servisol 10... and back in the day WD40 (so glad I got out of the WD40 phase :op)
WD40... almost as bad as hot glue! ;)
But we found a winner which beats both of those...Straight HDMI cable ;o))
One of the most clever joystick ever... only for right-handed
The Epyx Stick was my weapon of choice back then! I think Epyx must've marketed it in the US while Konix was Europe. Wico makes a brilliant clone, and that's what I use these days.
Summer Games, 100M race. Made that great BRRRRRRRRP noise as you wore a hole into the palm of your hand for that gold medal....
Thank you heaps for sharing this MsMadLemon. I have two of these (konix) for my c64 and one has the same mushy fire button! Will be able to fix this now. Close to the best joystick I've used with only the konix navigator besting it.
It's my pleasure, i'm glad I could help :o)
If only everything in our retro life were so simple! :) Have fun with your "new" joystick! Greetings from Doktor64 (Germany)! ;-)
I'm in the UK...Hi to you. What were your Speedking days like?
The Cheetah BUG uses the same type of spring loaded micro switches …… Had to un-freeze one of them and now I really like it and the one shown here especially for Defender
I have a single fire button type and that one actually has the normal micro switch for the fire button, the prongs have been cut away and the wiring soldered to the contacts that remain. It's the same as this one for the directions.
Really an easy and "clean" work!
Seeing the insides of a Speed King like this is fascinating! - I'd love to see you design your own joystick, perhaps moulded perfectly to your hand? Even a Zipstik mark 2, with two separate fire buttons! :)
I've always wondered how these looked inside, but never wanted to damage the label finding out. The Epyx 500xj was the only controller that could stand up to my abuse as a child. The regular atari sticks always broke at that actuating ring, and I guess pa got sick enough of buying new ones to try out these. I have to switch hands every 5-10 min on them though.
Great video but was sad to see you cut out the section dealing with the label/sticker on the top of the joystick. Is it necessary to cut or remove some of that sticker to be able to open the two halves of the joystick? What did you do?
Yes unfortunately otherwise it just wouldn't open... I tried to avoid it as much as possible.
@@MsMadLemon Ah - that's what I thought. Looking closely it looks like you cut the label along the seam apart from a small part near the joystick handle. BTW, thanks for the amazingly quick reply - much appreciated. Love your videos :)
I used to love that noise on joysticks :-)
I have 2 konix navigator I'd like to revive. Deoxit is however not easily available in Europe... some advice?
It's a bit pricey but it's available on amazon, I bought a can over two years ago and to be honest its lasted me a long time, it's still going strong.
Hi. Can you tell me the specs of the leaf switches in the Konix? I'm trying to refurbish one. Regards Dave
I had one of those of my commodore 64 :)
What cleaner are you using? I just bought a "tested" 500XJ off eBay and the stupid thing sticks in all directions. I'm not happy.
That is the AMIGA SpeedKing valued at £80 to £100 today the A and B buttons can be used for different actions the C64 SpeedKing has only one button and both have auto fires they are different inside the C64 one has an actual microswitch sealed for the fire button but can also be sprayed with electrical contact spray the SpeedKings have the print on top the none SpeedKings are just the 500/XJ Konix joysticks for different systems and never cost as much... Research it... They are awesome but the Zip stick is better if you like to sit at a desc with the joystick stuck down for left or right handed the Konix EPYX are designed for right handed folks only although left handed folks easily learned to use them
I never liked this Joystick.
A classmate had one back in the days and I always had problems hitting the diagonals.
Even when he just got it and it was brand new.
I should have an Amiga one and the NES one, but I've never seen that Master System one.
There is at least one more variant. I've seen an analog one in an old video from Ashens.
I have to get myself a can of contact cleaner. Maybe I can actually revive some of my joysticks as well.
It's pretty easy to replace the ones in the Competition Pros, but I have tons of joysticks with similar switches to this one and I guess it's probably impossible to get any replacement for them.
I must admit it's a joystick that's always confused me, i'm not used to holding joysticks this way, but i find for simple short gameplays, lets say on an Atari 2600 or something like this where you're not going to be playing for an hour, it's fine.
I would recommend Diox-it, it is a touch pricey and I used to always use Servisol Super 10, but dioxit beats it hands down! Yes I was initially worried about the same thing, microswitches you can get hold of easily, but i cant imagine parts for these will be so readily available.
Deoxit is really pricey... not sure if I should try it.
The only contact cleaning method I know is a 3 pass process. First deoxidize, then clean it and finally apply some stuff to prevent future corrosion.
I can get those 3 cans for about the same price on can of Deoxit would be.
It is, and I hesitated for a while before buying too.
I would look into it because I think some variants of it actually have it in one, i'm not 100% sure about this. i'm not entirely sure which variants. My can lasted me longer because I didnt have to spray as often as i did with Servisol Super 10.
I'm using Teslanol Oszillin T6 Tuner Spray which from all I've heard and seen is the stuff that comes closest to Deoxit and is readily (and inexpensively) available in Germany (maybe it's cheaper than Deoxit in the UK, too). Served me well for nearly every purpose for years now.
Thanks a lot for the hint!
I already found it at Conrad electronic and somewhere else for half the price ;-)
Ahh, contact cleaner. If hitting somthing doesnt fix it, contact cleaner will do! 😊
Awesome, as always (c:
I used one of these on my Toshiba MSX
Awesome stuff as usual lem, I had one that was exactly like that for my amiga but it was blue not red hahaha not sure if it was speed king or some other brand who made it :)
That's interesting, I cant recall ever seeing a blue and black one! It would look pretty cool lol
:D i will have to send you a pic of it when i dig out all my old stuff lol
I will have to send a pic of it when i dig out all my old stuff :) lol
I have this for NES, and I must say it sucks. It has Select and Start on the lower side, about where your autofire toggle is. But those are of the clicky dome type (like in the old Atari CX40), held in place by the the sticker. Mine both broke/badly misaligned almost immediately and were completely unusable. It's a shame, really. I love this design, and with a few minor tweaks, it could have been one of the best joysticks ever.
your fingernails look pretty :)
This one is excellent if you only use it as a 4-way joystick for no-button maze games like Pac-Man. 8-way gameplay not so much.
@3:05 If Robocop and Ronald McDonald had a baby. It looks like you are tweaking his little clown nose. @6:05 That's an aesthetic assemblage of computing collectables.
I had one of those but mine was analogue.. loved it but it died after a year ot 2. I used it as a "joymouse" in Win 1.0.3
I tried one in the 80s, but being a left hander, it wasn't a goer.