Faithful emulation and controls for arcade games

[Tempest]

It will be great to finally have all of the console games available but I am most excited for the arcade games. I hope that there will finally be faithful emulation, including proper 4:3 aspect ratio and support for the appropriate controls, including paddle/spinner/mouse/trackball, throttle, pedals. If not, unfortunately, the arcade games will be just like existing ports, like Atari Vault, that don't have 4:3 aspect ratio. I remember when Atari Vault first launched and there was no proper support for spinner or trackball, and it wasn't pretty. That was eventually fixed, but there still is no 4:3 aspect ratio.

It would be nice to have control of the DIP switches, as well, but this is less important.

Please, Atari, make these arcade games true to the originals.

[DanteFaust]

YES, please add proper controls for the PC version.

[Wasabi Alt]

Atari 50 couldn't be better. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1643326827

[Tempest]

That is a massive video with a massive intro. Please skip a tad past six minutes.

[DanteFaust]

They mention the Atari VCS controller having spinner functionality and working with Tempest 3000. Really hoping a standard spinner will work too.

[Tempest]

They said it would work. A spinner is just an X axis or Y axis mouse and they said it would work. I only saw mention of Tempest and Tempest 2000, not Tempest 3000 or 4000.

[DanteFaust]

Sorry, meant Tempest 2000.

[Tempest]

Not a problem. There are too many fancy graphics in Tempest 4000. I have Tempest 2000 on CD-ROM but I don't play it much. I don't like the stupid messages that appear. I never saw Tempest 3000. I would be interested in Tempest Tubes. That's available on one of the old compilations on CD-ROM.

[Dan Amrich]

Originally posted by DanteFaust:

They mention the Atari VCS controller having spinner functionality and working with Tempest 3000. Really hoping a standard spinner will work too.

I am using an Ultimarc Mini-Pac Opti with the matching SpinTrak spinner. No special setup was required to play arcade Tempest on Atari 50.

Tempest 2000 currently only has d-pad support, as the original Jaguar game was d-pad control by default. DE considered adding analog but focused resources on other aspects early on in development.

[Tempest]

I have Tempest 2000 on PC CD-ROM and it supports spinner. It's too bad Atari 50 lacks support for spinner for this game.

[rehtroboi37]

That doesn't surprise me. But spinners are way too niche to be commercially successful. That's why they're all DIY. That and getting them to work on PC is painful.

They didn't have mouse support for Beast Busters in the SNK 40th anniversary either.

[Tempest]

Spinners are just mouse X-axis or Y-axis devices and some are plug and play. They are easy to install. If I did it, anyone can do it. If you want, you can buy the classic controller for the Atari VCS, which has spinner functionality and is compatible with Atari 50.

Another easy workaround is to buy a USB trackball like the Logitech Marble Mouse, and use that as a spinner. The motion of the wrist spinning the trackball is the same as the motion spinning the spinner.

[rehtroboi37]

I do have a Legends Gamer Pro w/trackball. When it comes to using it with Steam (forget about streaming a PC to the puck, by the way) it's a little janky due to it being a Direct Input controller as opposed to the now more universal x-input. (If you don't have one of these controllers, you aren't missing much, by the way)

Even with the trackball, getting the Avalanche and Astroblast achievments was quite a challenge. It's also tough IMO to find the right settings for Centipede, Missile Command. and Circus Atari. I never could get the right feel.

[DanteFaust]

Originally posted by rehtroboi37:

I do have a Legends Gamer Pro w/trackball. When it comes to using it with Steam (forget about streaming a PC to the puck, by the way) it's a little janky due to it being a Direct Input controller as opposed to the now more universal x-input. (If you don't have one of these controllers, you aren't missing much, by the way)

Even with the trackball, getting the Avalanche and Astroblast achievments was quite a challenge. It's also tough IMO to find the right settings for Centipede, Missile Command. and Circus Atari. I never could get the right feel.

I modded mine with a GRS spinner which works great with PC games.

[Tempest]

I used a Logitech Marble Mouse trackball for trackball and spinner games for Atari Vault for years and it worked fine except that the ball would pop out when aggressively rolled but this was a hardware design issue not a compatibility issue.

I have since used a trackball and spinner from GroovyGameGear and they are awesome. I had a huge number of pictures of my arcade cabinet and control panels posted in the community hub of Atari Vault and unfortunately they will be gone now that Atari Vault is delisted. If folks don't mind, I might repost them here.

[DanteFaust]

Does anyone know if the Atari VCS controller is plug and play in steam. I ended up using a Legends Gamer Pro and had a miserable experience trying to get it to work and I refunded the PC purchase and bought this on console. But, I'm finding that using an analog stick for paddle and spinner games is not a good experience. Does anyone know if that Atari VCS controller also works on an Xbox Series X?