Custom Analog Rotary Pro-Controller (Atari Jaguar)

Jeff Minter (Llamasoft) added support for use of an analog "Rotary" controller within the Atari Jaguar game Tempest 2000 (even though Atari never had any intention of manufacturing such a controller!). It was Jeff's hope (or known eventuality) that home users would figure out how to make one themselves.

This pad was a standard Pro Controller purchased brand new several years ago from Telegames and skillfully modified by a U.K. gentleman named James. As you can see he did a beautiful job. I personally came to own this pad after putting in a successful bid on ebay and won the highest bid.

Most people who make a rotary controller replace the d-pad with a spinner. James didn't like the idea of a pad that could only be used for one game so he made a massively complicated project for himself! The project involved him drilling holes, chopping a section out of the main control board (so the encoder could fit where he wanted it) and bridging all the tracks with suitable wires.

He then learnt that the rotary encoder needed to be isolated when the controller is used on a normal game, so had to open it up again and squeeze 3 sub-micro toggle switches in the setup. "The joys of homebrew" James says!

As you can see the end result is perfect. As far as James knows, this is the only Jaguar pad in existance which has the functionality of a rotary encoder (for analog movement in Tempest 2000) AND remains a fully functional Pro Controller (for all other Jag games). It is therfore possibly unique (if you know different let us know) A lot of love went into the pad, and it was a reluctant sale for James.

The modification was made in 2006.

Operation of the controller is simple;

For 'Digital mode', (a normal game) the 3 micro switches are switched across to the left before switching the Jaguar on. This puts the pad in digital mode and the d-pad will function as normal. The rotary encoder will have been disabled.

For 'Rotary mode', (using the spinner) the 3 micro switches are switched across to the right before switching the Jaguar on. This puts the pad in rotary mode and the spinner can be used for analog control in Tempest 2000.

Before using any rotary controller (standard Jaguar controller modified to incorporate a rotary spinner) on your copy of Tempest, you must first enable the rotary mode within the game cartridge. To do this plug in two controllers, (make sure the rotary in in the right hand socket, player 2) go to the Game Option menu by pressing 'option' after the Tempest 2000 title screen and press Pause on both controllers. You can then select 'rotary' within the controller type option (for player 1 or 2). After enabling rotary control in the game, switch off the Jaguar, plug the rotary into contoller port one and switch the Jaguar back on. You only need to do the once as the cartridge saves the enabled rotary option.

Tempest 2000 is one of the best Jag games there is and it is made even better with a rotary controller. And of course, using a pro-controller in normal games is far better than the standard Jaguar control pad. The pro controller is a far superior pad and is a sought after Jaguar pad in-itself.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• atari
• atari jaguar
• jaguar
• pro-controller
• rotary
• analog
• pro controller
• rotary analog
• tempest 2000
• game
• spinner

[CPS2]

I miss this pad...

I miss my whole Jag setup actually. There's nothing like the real thing.

[meowmmmmm]

Check out my Ultimate Jag Rotary Controller > youtube.com/watch?v=jk2XY1rTCM­w

[MRMOGAVERO]

Dude I'd love one let me know please!!

[dde12321]

that cool dude make the jaguar port the best port if you have that controller

[mayamanign]

Is there any way to buy this from you?