Atari 5200 Analog Controller Reimagined on a PCB

According to Dr. Scott M. Baker, the Atari 5200 came with a “famously terrible controller.” Naturally, this means it’s ripe for improvement, and he set to work building his own device, with an auto-centering joystick and configurable buttons.

The thumbstick he used will be familiar to many readers, resembling something from a modern gamepad. While readily available, they have one big limitation when working with the 5200; they feature a 10K pot, rather than the 5K model in the original controller. After a brief attempt at correcting this using discreet components, he instead turned to an ATtiny85 microcontroller to interpret the signal. It receives inputs from the analog X/Y axes, then outputs the needed signals to the Atari via an MCP42100 digital potentiometer.

Other features include a matrix keypad for numeric input, and a board designed so that the fire buttons and joystick can be positioned on either side. The new auto-centering joystick function seems to be a big improvement in most cases, though Missile Command, is a notable exception, as the player has to constantly fight the X/Y springs to properly place defensive shots.

Be sure to check it out in the video below, with a demo starting around 9:00.