VIC 20 and Trackball

[thecollector]

Does anyone know if there are any games on the VIC 20 that support the use of the Atari Trakball, either the CX22 or CX80.

Just curious about this as I understand it is possible to use a Trakball with the game Video Vermin.

[rhurst]

You might find some answers from this thread. You'll get best results running such things from an emulator. Although the (occasional) jitter from a real paddle adds to the challenge.

[eslapion]

The Atari trackball, just like the Wico trackball, sends joystick direction pulses so a lot of VIC-20 games work well with it.

Atarisoft's Centipede is great with it, Exterminator and gridrunner are also nice.

@rhurst: paddle? jitter? the trackball works as a joystick and has absolutely no jitter. It doesn't use paddle signals at all.

[thecollector]

Thank you both for your replies, very helpful.

Just out of curiosity, any preference for which one is best the WICO or Atari ? I was temped to go for the Atari but now I am edging towards the WICO. I think the WICO is smaller than the Atari from what I understand and the Atari has buttons on both sides.

[rhurst]

Yes, as stated: jitter from a real paddle... not trackball, in this context, to be used in place of paddle(s)?

You know, Break-out! that polls for the joystick signal and paddle signal(s)? A trackball in joystick mode on a real VIC won't help much, unless you have poor paddle(s). But on a VICE emulator using a mouse (or trackball), it can be very smooth.

[eslapion]

@rhurst:
The Wico trackball doesn't have different modes of operations. It operates by sending joystick pulses only.

The Atari trackball has 2 modes but only the joystick mode does anything functional on the VIC. The trackball mode does not use paddle signals at all.

IMHO: The Wico is better. It is a lot tougher and sturdier. However, the Atari one might have an advantage if you're left handed because if has both left and right fire buttons and they both connect to the same signal.

I installed a second button on my Wico.

Also, the Wico trackball takes more power than the Atari one.

[thecollector]

Thanks for all the info.

I decided to go for the Wico the other day, it seems the best overall, and being right handed, the one button won't be an issue.

I will try it out on a few games next week and see how it goes. Probably Centipede etc.

Have heard about the power being more than the Atari one, but I understand this should not cause any issues, unless the machine is heavily expanded.