Digital Joysticks

Technical

The CPC joystick port is (more or less) based on the Atari-standard, for details on the pin-outs (and differences between Amstrad CPC and normal Atari/Commodore ports), see:

• CPC Joystick Port Pin-Outs

At software side, the joystick port is part of the keyboard matrix, accessed via the general purpose I/O port in the PSG chip, which is itself accessed indirectly via the 8255 chip.

Official Amstrad Joysticks

Amstrad JY-2 Joystick

• Amstrad JY-1/JY-2 joysticks

For the CPC+/GX4000, Amstrad seems to have also made Joypads (which work identically as joysticks).

Compatible Standard Joysticks

All Atari-compatible digital joysticks with Single Fire Button and Four Direction switches should be usually working with the CPC. For example, classic Competition Pro joysticks.

Incompatible Standard Joysticks

• Joysticks that do require 5V/GND supply (eg. for built-in auto-fire circuits) won't work on the CPC.
• Joysticks with 2-3 buttons may also be problematic (in the Atari standard, 2nd/3rd button are wired between POT0/POT1 and 5V).
• And, in lack of the POT inputs, any kind of analog devices (like Atari paddles) won't work on the CPC.
• Newer joysticks with PC-style 15pin or USB connector obviously won't fit to the CPCs 9pin port (unless one eliminates the electronics inside of those joysticks, and re-wires their botton/dirction switches directly to the CPCs joystick port).

Y-Cable

The original CPC models have only one joystick port, but can be used with 2 joysticks when using a Y-cable:

• Joystick Y-cables

The CPC+/GX4000 have two digital joystick ports (which work equivalent to the Y-cable).

Is this true?

Some modification occured, especially for the PLUS range as Amstrad aimed the console market (GX4000) and used a politic of "Exclusive Hardware" like all console manufacturers of the time.

As a result is may be a problem to find proper Joysticks for your PLUS/GX4000 WHAT? The digital joystick should be same as ever? Theoretically, only the new analog joystick port is nonstandard?

Joystick Related stuff... Sega Controllers...

• Digital Joystick Related

Analog Joysticks

The CPC+/GX4000 additionaly have an Analog Joystick Port.