Original analogue joysticks for Tandy Color Computer
The 'Black Beauty' are the original official joysticks of the Color Computer, supplied with most CoCo bundles of the 1980s. Unlike Atari-type joysticks (digital, 8 directions), these are analogue potentiometer joysticks, using the CoCo's native joystick port. They use a 5-pin DIN connector (first CoCo-native generation), supporting a single fire button. They are incredibly rugged and withstand abuse — hence their flattering nickname, but they were also criticised for their ergonomics (short stick, weak centre return, average precision for fast action games), which fuelled a whole market of Atari adapters and third-party joysticks among CoCo users. These joysticks also work on the Tandy 1000 (PC-compatibles), Tandy having deliberately kept the CoCo port on its PC line to create an ecosystem of proprietary accessories.
One of the sticks is slightly bent :(
