It's interesting that you included footage of Haunted House at the end, as that game had a better horror atmosphere than any of the games based on horror movies. As for the limitations of a one-button joystick, both the C64 and Amiga used the same joysticks, and there were many games for those systems that managed to pack a wide range of moves into those eight directions and single button. You had games where you could walk, run, jump, roll, shoot, couch, etc. I won't argue that eight directions, and one button are all you'll ever need, but many programmers managed to squeeze quite a bit out of them. One thing I find interesting is that the Atari 2600 could have easily supported a three button joystick. They could have used the two paddle lines as additional buttons. Technically, if they wanted to mess around with resistors to vary the readings on those lines, they could have added even more buttons, but two extra buttons definitely would have worked. And because the standard remained largely unchanged, the C64 and Amiga could have inherited three button joysticks as well. However, it was a catch-22: Nobody wanted to make a 3-button joystick if there were no games to take advantage of it, and nobody wanted to write games for a joystick that didn't exist yet. Historically, packaging a game and special joystick together didn't work that well. If the game itself wasn't great, nobody would want to pay the extra cost to get the joystick as well, especially if it only worked on that one game.
Haunted house honestly holds up pretty well, glad you noticed it for my video :) . The Atari 2600 system really is something special, something that outlived its competitors and even its own successors. A blessing and a curse in some ways. The innovation by programmers on the system is something else even today, something that a lot of these types of movie based titles weren't too keen to capitalizing on for one reason or another. I didn't know about the potential in a 3 button joystick, at most i remember some third party controllers like the Sega genesis controller were usable on the 2600 system but limited in full functionality. Some c64 and amiga systems supported 2-button joysticks like with Turrican, Bonk, and some other schmups but I guess that never really caught on either. Uncharted waters with the growing pains of staying afloat. Thanks for watching and thank you for your insightful commentary! More Atari-related content coming soon.
@@suppositoryrepository Early on, Atari had a keyboard controller, but they only made 2-3 games that used it. They were needed for Atari's BASIC Programming cartridge, which let people write VERY limited programs. Later, it was redesigned and packaged with the game Star Raiders as the Video Touch Pad, but internally, it was identical to the keyboard controllers. Other companies also made larger, kid-friendly versions for use with simple learning games. I mention this, because these controllers all had 12 unique buttons on them, showing that more than just four directions and a button were possible. Although, since you were never intended to press more than one button at a time, they could have cheated. For example, maybe when you pressed one of the buttons, it could tell the console that both up and down were being pressed at the same time. I mean, from a technical standpoint, pressing up and down together is a perfectly valid input, it just doesn't make sense in the context of a joystick. In fact, I used to open up Atari joysticks and try pressing odd combinations like that just to see what would happen. As I recall, if you pressed up and down together in the game Mountain King, it would make the guy instantly freeze in mid air, whether he was falling, or in the middle of a jump. Then there was the Booster Grip attachment from CBS Electronics. This was a handle that slipped over a stock Atari joystick, and provided an extra button. This was packaged with the game Omega Race in order to duplicate the arcade game's control scheme of one button for thrust, and one button for fire. Unfortunately the fact that it was designed to fit onto an Atari stick limited its use for people using other brand joysticks. And as far as I know, no other game ever used it. To be honest, I would have preferred if the game had just used up to thrust. That's the way the C64 version was. People have since hacked the Atari game to play like that, but back then, you had to use the Booster Grip to play it.
@@lurkerrekrul You really know your stuff! Are you from the Atariage forums by chance? I like to lurk there from time to time. My exploration for these specific accessories is limited, but damn is it fascinating.
It's interesting that you included footage of Haunted House at the end, as that game had a better horror atmosphere than any of the games based on horror movies.
As for the limitations of a one-button joystick, both the C64 and Amiga used the same joysticks, and there were many games for those systems that managed to pack a wide range of moves into those eight directions and single button. You had games where you could walk, run, jump, roll, shoot, couch, etc. I won't argue that eight directions, and one button are all you'll ever need, but many programmers managed to squeeze quite a bit out of them.
One thing I find interesting is that the Atari 2600 could have easily supported a three button joystick. They could have used the two paddle lines as additional buttons. Technically, if they wanted to mess around with resistors to vary the readings on those lines, they could have added even more buttons, but two extra buttons definitely would have worked. And because the standard remained largely unchanged, the C64 and Amiga could have inherited three button joysticks as well. However, it was a catch-22: Nobody wanted to make a 3-button joystick if there were no games to take advantage of it, and nobody wanted to write games for a joystick that didn't exist yet. Historically, packaging a game and special joystick together didn't work that well. If the game itself wasn't great, nobody would want to pay the extra cost to get the joystick as well, especially if it only worked on that one game.
Haunted house honestly holds up pretty well, glad you noticed it for my video :) . The Atari 2600 system really is something special, something that outlived its competitors and even its own successors. A blessing and a curse in some ways. The innovation by programmers on the system is something else even today, something that a lot of these types of movie based titles weren't too keen to capitalizing on for one reason or another.
I didn't know about the potential in a 3 button joystick, at most i remember some third party controllers like the Sega genesis controller were usable on the 2600 system but limited in full functionality. Some c64 and amiga systems supported 2-button joysticks like with Turrican, Bonk, and some other schmups but I guess that never really caught on either. Uncharted waters with the growing pains of staying afloat.
Thanks for watching and thank you for your insightful commentary! More Atari-related content coming soon.
@@suppositoryrepository Early on, Atari had a keyboard controller, but they only made 2-3 games that used it. They were needed for Atari's BASIC Programming cartridge, which let people write VERY limited programs.
Later, it was redesigned and packaged with the game Star Raiders as the Video Touch Pad, but internally, it was identical to the keyboard controllers. Other companies also made larger, kid-friendly versions for use with simple learning games.
I mention this, because these controllers all had 12 unique buttons on them, showing that more than just four directions and a button were possible. Although, since you were never intended to press more than one button at a time, they could have cheated. For example, maybe when you pressed one of the buttons, it could tell the console that both up and down were being pressed at the same time. I mean, from a technical standpoint, pressing up and down together is a perfectly valid input, it just doesn't make sense in the context of a joystick.
In fact, I used to open up Atari joysticks and try pressing odd combinations like that just to see what would happen. As I recall, if you pressed up and down together in the game Mountain King, it would make the guy instantly freeze in mid air, whether he was falling, or in the middle of a jump.
Then there was the Booster Grip attachment from CBS Electronics. This was a handle that slipped over a stock Atari joystick, and provided an extra button. This was packaged with the game Omega Race in order to duplicate the arcade game's control scheme of one button for thrust, and one button for fire. Unfortunately the fact that it was designed to fit onto an Atari stick limited its use for people using other brand joysticks. And as far as I know, no other game ever used it. To be honest, I would have preferred if the game had just used up to thrust. That's the way the C64 version was. People have since hacked the Atari game to play like that, but back then, you had to use the Booster Grip to play it.
@@lurkerrekrul You really know your stuff! Are you from the Atariage forums by chance? I like to lurk there from time to time.
My exploration for these specific accessories is limited, but damn is it fascinating.
The Towering Inferno was a horror movie? 🤔
I wont lie I might've conflated Disaster film and horror film together. Sorry!