» PLATFORM: Atari 7800 » YEAR: 1989 » COST: £14.99 (launch), £100+ (today, boxed), £20+ (today, unboxed)
Joysticks had been the primary controllers of choice for Atari consoles ever since the introduction of the 2600 in 1977, but by the late-Eighties competing consoles from Nintendo and Sega had firmly established joypads in the console market, so this two-button joypad was Atari’s response. Its design is fairly conventional, although its d-pad is oddly positioned in the top-left corner, and like the Master System’s early controllers, it features a screw-hole for a miniature joystick.
The CX78 is intended for use with the Atari 7800, as shown by its two fire buttons, and pairs of them were packed in with consoles in PAL regions. The controller was also packaged with later Atari 2600 systems. As a result, very few were sold individually and boxed examples are extremely difficult to come by today. Compared to the system’s standard Pro-Line Joysticks, which are somewhat notorious for their poor ergonomics, the CX78 is preferred by many. However, the joypads are somewhat prone to failure with overzealous use due to their thin PCBs, prompting US Atari retailer Best Electronics to engineer upgrade kits for sale.