I still have a 2600. I'm sad.
I still have the custom controller I built for it, somewhere in storage.
I'd broken one of the joysticks (not uncommon, the ring that pressed the directional buttons was flimsy plastic), so I took it apart, and attached all of the leads to a 'keyboard' I'd made with a 2x6 and some girders from my erector set. I bent the metal 'keys' until they just barely sat above a crossbar that ran under them, and could tap or hold them to control whatever I was playing.
I'd gotten the idea from playing games like Wizardry on the ACE 2000 (Apple IIe clone) in the computer lab at my high school. I used the same basic WASD setup we see now, along with a 'space bar' that I could pound on with my thumb as a trigger. After I built that thing, games like Space Invaders, Yar's Revenge, etc.. got a whole lot more interesting.
Everyone in my neighborhood would come over to play with that thing, I think I may have had the most popular 2600 in town at that point. LOL
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