Review of Rotary Knob Controller - Atari Jaguar Tempest 2K

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I just recently got a new Atari Jaguar Pro Controller that has been modded with an Analog Rotary Knob Spinner for use with the kick-ass shmuppy game of Tempest 2000.

I had to configure the Tempest 2000 game to "recognize" my new rotary controller placed in the Player 1 joystick port and a standard Jag D-pad controller in the Player 2 joystick port. Why have two Jag controllers when playing a "one-player" gaming session of Tempest 2K? Answer: you'd use the Rotary Knob controller on the Web portions of the game whereas on the "Bonus" rounds of the game, then you'd switch to the player 2 controller to use the D-pad to play the bonus rounds that need use of it.

Jeff Minter did include built-in support for an optional "Rotary Knob Spinner Controller" for the Tempest 2K game. Atari was thinking about producing such a controller for it's Jag game of Tempest 2K but it never came to be.

How does this Atari Jag Pro Controller modded with Rotary Knob Spinner fare with the original arcade Tempest coin-op upright? The original Tempest spinner knob controller could spin freely for a long time (especially when they were brand new back in 1981 in arcades across the USA). The Jaguar rotary knob controller has a notchy feel to it and does not spin freely like the original Tempest spinner does but still does give the same control method of spinning though.

The original Atari Jaguar consoles that were sold upon it's intial launch (November 1993) had built-in support for analog-to-digital interface inside the Jag's PCB. The second Jaguar PCB does not have the analog-to-digital interface which is the model that I have. It is cool that I can use a rotary knob controller when playing Tempest 2K on my 2nd generation produced Jaguar console.

Tempest 2K was also released for the PC along with various releases for the Sega Saturn, the PSX (under the name of "Tempest X3"), and even Tempest 3K for the Nuon as well.

Logitech did release it's Wingman Warrior (a digital joystick with analog knob spinner controller) for use in PC games like Doom, and Tempest 2K. I like how much faster & smoother you can spin the "spinner" controller when playing Tempest 2K on the PC using the serial port in DOS mode.

I'm surprised that the current Atari (formerly known as Infogrames) hasn't developed a new Tempest sequel. They should ask Jeff Minter back and see what happens.

The original Tempest arcade upright goes for a pretty penny these days...about $600.00-$700.00+ U.S. dollars depending on it's condition.

There is a cool article in the latest issue of the UK produced video game magazine called "Retro Gamer" that has a "Q&A" session with Jeff Minter and his take on developing Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar just before it's official release (which would be March 1994).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Neon]

Kewl...

Was the Saturn version really better than the PSX version? I liked the game on PSX but I've never seen a copy of the Saturn version for sale, wondering if it's worth tracking down.

[beeboy]

I've held on to my Jaguar just to play Tempest, I keep trying to track down a scart cable to replace the poor RF one.
I've never played the PSX version but the Saturn is a great. It has a different feel but that's probably just down to the controler.
I got my copy from ebay a few months ago for £7. well worth it.
They rarley seem to come up and I have seen them go for £20+. That's a bit too high, but I'd say that its easily worth 10-15.
I can remember spinning those arcade spinners like it was yesterday

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Hey there beeboy,

You might want to check on eBay or eBayUK as I've seen the Atari Jaguar SCART cable for sale from time to time. I use a Japanese RGB cable on my Jag when hooking it up to my XRGB-2 upscan convertor with a SVGA monitor...looks super crystal clear when piped through analog RGB with a Atari Jag.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

-------------------------

I've held on to my Jaguar just to play Tempest, I keep trying to track down a scart cable to replace the poor RF one.
I've never played the PSX version but the Saturn is a great. It has a different feel but that's probably just down to the controler.
I got my copy from ebay a few months ago for £7. well worth it.
They rarley seem to come up and I have seen them go for £20+. That's a bit too high, but I'd say that its easily worth 10-15.
I can remember spinning those arcade spinners like it was yesterday