Atari Keychains mod idea

Auken · Post by **Auken** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:25 pm

The keychains are nice little nostalgia things yes, despite their NOAC cores...

Anyways, has anyone thought up a way to use those little joysticks and paddles as inputs on a portable, or is it possible? I'd love to be able to do that....

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:06 am

Entire joystick + small screen + easy battery mod in an Altoids tin = portable.

The paddle would be a bit harder to fit in a Altoids tin, if you want the paddle centered anyway, as the button would have to be relocated.

Auken · Post by **Auken** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:03 am

That's nice but what I am talking about is using the controls alone as the input system in an ACTUAL 2600 portable.

jedi knight · Post by **jedi knight** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:18 pm

Do you want to use the atari keychain as a 2600 controller?

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:25 pm

It'd be novell to do so, but you'd have to at least partially remake the joystick to get it to work. If the insides are anything like the insides of the paddle, the easiest way to use it as a joystick is to replace the circuit completely. You might as well do some stuff to reinforce the joystick while you're at it, as it seems very fragile. Grab one at a store, you can see how frial they seem even in the packaging. Mine still isn't out of it's package yet, and I'm still worried about it getting broken.

For using the paddle, take a hammer to the bottom section to free the cap and potentiometer, as the paddle cap is attached quite well to the potentiometer and board, with the top half of the bottom section wedged between. The cap would look awesome on a portable Atari.

usinoh · Post by **usinoh** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:18 am

Wonder if there would be a way to swap out games, remove Astroids and put in Halloween??

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:10 pm

Actually, someone has made one of these into a working controller, although not for the 2600, it was made into controller for a C64. It was made along with the Pico Commodore. Here is a link:

http://www.picobay.com/projects/2007/01 ... 4-pda.html

usinoh · Post by **usinoh** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:17 am

I had bought an Atari 2600 Plug and Play Keychain and got to wondering could it be converted into a working Joystick for my portable Atari 2600???? So I asked Longhorn Engineer if it could be done, so here is the link where you can see the working prototype:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... 109305&hl=

benheck.com Forums

Atari Keychains mod idea

Atari Keychains mod idea

Mini Atari 2600 Joystick IT REALLY WORKS!