THE WEIRD WORLD OF ATARI 2600 ACCESSORIES

THE STELLAR SUCCESS OF THE ATARI VCS/2600 LED TO AN EXPLOSION OF PERIPHERALS BEING RELEASED FOR THE MACHINE, SOME OF WHICH WERE VERY STRANGE INDEED, ENCOMPASSING EVERYTHING FROM FOAM EXERCISE MATS TO PLASTIC MACHINE GUNS

- LEWIS PACKWOOD

If they were shown a picture of it, almost everyone would be able to recognise the Atari 2600’s iconic one-button joystick, even if they weren’t a particular fan of videogames. The fact that it’s not a particularly good controller, with its stiff joystick and sweaty-palm-inducing rubber, is by the by. Its image has almost become a shorthand for the concept of retro gaming itself; in fact, it graces the spine of this very magazine.

By contrast, relatively few people are aware of the various other controllers and unusual accessories released over the Atari 2600’s lifetime. “I have found that generally, they go under the radar a bit,” says Rees Stephenson, presenter of the Ctrl-Alt-Rees YouTube channel and avid Atari collector (indeed, you can see his impressive Atari assemblage in issue 236’s Collector’s Corner). Rees notes that original Atari accessories can generally be picked up for a pittance.

Of course, it isn’t just joysticks we’re talking about. Back when it was launched in 1977, the 2600 (or the VCS as it was known then) came with a pair of paddle controllers in addition to the iconic CX10 joystick, harking back to Atari’s history as a purveyor of Pong machines. Four of the VCS’ nine launch games were played with paddles, although paddle controllers quickly fell out of fashion, and the vast majority of games in the VCS library can only be played with a joystick.

Relatively few third-party peripherals were made for Atari’s console in the early days, but that changed at the dawn of the Eighties. The home conversion of the smash-hit arcade game Space Invaders in 1980 sent sales of the VCS into the stratosphere, and further killer apps, like