Question for Atari 5200 Vanguard owners

[Scott Stilphen]

The manual mentions the game fully supports the analog controls.  From what I know, there's only 12 games for the 5200 that fully support analog controls:

 

Centipede *
Galaxian *
Jungle Hunt *
Missile Command *
Pengo
Pole Position *
RealSports Basketball *
RealSports Football
RealSports Soccer
RealSports Tennis
Space Invaders *
Super Breakout

The ones marked with an asterisk are noted on Atari's 5200 catalog/poster as being Trak-Ball compatible, which would indicate full analog support.  Vanguard is listed on the poster and is not indicated.  So did Atari forget to note it on the poster, or is the manual incorrect?

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

If I remember correctly, Vanguard doesn't support the TrakBall.  I tried that BITD and it did not work or work well.  I can't test it now because I have not found a TrakBall yet.

[Scott Stilphen]

You don't need a Trak-Ball to confirm whether or not it fully supports analog controls.

[Justin]

[CrossBow]

As @Scott Stilphen noted you don't need a trak-ball because games that support and really use the analog controls will behave differently depending on how far the controller is moved from the center position. In the case of Vanguard's instructions, it clearly states that your ship will move faster the further you move in that direction. That alone would indicate it does support the analog nature of the controllers.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I misunderstood about the TrakBall thing.  I never paid attention to the analog controls in Vanguard.

[Scott Stilphen]

Someone confirmed for me the game doesn't support full analog movement.  That is to say, the ship moves at the same speed no matter how far over you push the joystick.  I know GCC programmed it but I don't know who the programmer was.  Whether they planned to support full analog movement (perhaps a prototype exists with it?) or if the person putting the manual together made a mistake, who knows.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

It's possible, especially with the 5200, analog controls were originally in the game when the instructions were being written.  At last minute the controls could have been changed before the instructions went to press resulting in inaccurate instructions.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

And I tried Vanguard last night.  No difference in ship speed no matter how much you move the joystick.

[Scott Stilphen]

Besides Kaboom and Gorf, are there any other 3rd-party games that support analog controls? 

[CrossBow]

2 hours ago, Scott Stilphen said:

Besides Kaboom and Gorf, are there any other 3rd-party games that support analog controls? 

Dreadnaught Factor comes to mind as with that game, you can control how fast you move across by adjusting where the joystick position is.

 

[Scott Stilphen]

The 800 version does have some variable movement with the controls, so if the 5200 version supports analog, then the position of the stick should determine how fast you move in any direction, and not how long you hold the joystick in one direction like it does with the 800 version.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I was thinking but I don't have a whole lot of 3rd party games for my 5200.  I have Blue Print, Star Wars Arcade, Q*Bert, Popeye, Frogger, Buck Rogers, and ... Lemme check...Zaxxon.  I don't think any of those took advantage of the analog controls.  I would have thought Star Wars would due to the arcade setup but I don't remember if it was analog either.  Been way to long since I've seen that game.

[Scott Stilphen]

Star Wars: The Arcade Game supports analog controls, which it should, since the arcade game did :)  But games like Pengo and Jungle Hunt supporting them makes no sense to me.  I read somewhere Jungle Hunt actually doesn't, even though Atari indicated it was "Trak-Ball" compatible on that poster.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I dont think Buck Rogers is but at times it feels like it is.