Commodore Joystick (Commodore) (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

Model 1311 Joystick.

A joystick is a gaming control device. The C64 is compatible with an old standard first used in the Atari 2600 gaming console; the same standard used on the VIC-20, the C128 and the Amigas.

Joysticks that are compatible with the 64 have a stick that the user may push in one of eight directions, and a "fire" button. The control stick is mechanically connected to four switches; "up", "down", "left", and "right". Pushing the stick in a direction in between two of these "cardinal directions" activates two of the four switches.

Some Commodore compatible joysticks may have more than one such fire button, but in those cases both buttons will "do" the same things in a game; the software has no way of determining which fire button is used. Together with the directional switches for the control stick, a standard joystick requires five connections and a common ground wire.