RetroGaming At Cyberphreak.com

General Notice

In order to focus on controllers, I finally have to admit I am not set up for performing modifications and repair work.  I will finish off my current repairs and mods, but in the future, I will not offer mod work as a standard product.  If you live in Chicagoland, I will still work on Atari 5200, but that’s it. Just e-mail me (retro at cyberphreak dot com) I don’t want people to wait an excessive amount of time for me to turn around systems and have my controller output suffer for it.  I really enjoy making and developing new controllers so it is time to focus.  Thank you everyone for your understanding.

-David Nelson

I have had some issues with non-US customers with Paypal so I added a bunch of new payment options, such as Google Pay and many more. I am still working through a bunch of back-orders, so please be patient.

I also added options to ship to Canada, UK, Italy, and Australia. Sorry about the steep costs, ugh, international shipping has just gotten crazy expensive. If you would like your country added to the list, please email me at retro@cyberphreak.com.

Controller wise:

I am working on an IntelliVision Sprint, USB controller, similar theme to my True 16. I am also working on improving my quality of my 5200 controllers, specifically the pinning on the potentiometers in the joystick for improved performance. I had a couple of returns and I did a deep dive on the root cause and am making changes to improve the joysticks.

My controller backlog is a little too large right now, I set all the stock quantities to zero until I get caught up. If you have an order in already, I am working through them. With any luck, all orders will be shipped by the end of March, 2026.

I do have parts on hand for more controllers, but I want to get my existing orders out in a timely manner. If you do order a controller on backlog, it will probably not be processed until I am done clearing the backlog. This makes it fairer for everyone.

This is copied from my main blog, but applies here:

Well, shucks, not again.

A few days ago, I was laid off from my day job. I am not going to go into who it was, but it was very disappointing.

My previous employer was heavily invested in the automotive tools industry. In this case, they made a massive investment in the electric vehicle market. Turns out it was a bad investment and myself and 18 other engineers, managers, buyers, and support personnel paid the price.

As you may of guessed, it was a perfect storm under this administrations to: levy very large tariffs on American manufacturers. Guess what? The importer pays the taxes/tariffs on imported goods. American manufacturers have taken a horrible pounding since April 2025.

The other shoe was ending the electric vehicle incentives. This caused a huge drop in demand for the vehicles and the tools needed.

I have been laid of once before, this time was different. No apologies, no thanks for your years of work. Just pack your desk up in 3 minutes and get out. My work account was closed before my butt hit the seat of my car. At least the severance was decent, but personally the coldness of this separation was just shocking.

Well, at least I have my fun little side job, which I will have some more time to enjoy that for at least a few weeks. Who I feel really bad about are some great engineers here on a H1B visa. They need a new job in 60 days or they have to return to their home country. These engineers have mortgages, one was on maternity leave. Just so callous. An engineer with decades experience with the company was laid off. All that experience…gone. I understand why the decision was made, millions of dollars spent for little or no return on investment, but it still hurt.

I hope they do continue, but with the loss of knowledge, and what are certainly some angry customers, who knows? My guess is when the owner gets tired or passes a larger corporation will buy the company and patents and keep the name going on and hopefully keep some of the talent on board.

For now, I am looking for a new job and taking stock of how to move forward. I am 51 and really need something stable so I can finish saving for retirement and retire while I still have all my marbles and health.

Happy New Years to all those who use the Gregorian calendar.

Some announcements:

I updated a bunch of prices and ended the sale on 5200 controllers. I will update the stock levels when I finish the 9ish controllers in the queue right now. Most prices went up $10, except for the 5200 AV out, which went up $15. Modding systems is honestly not my favorite thing to do. I used to do mods/repairs all the time, but it is tedious work.

New controllers:

I released 2 new controllers recently, my first digital only controller for the 5200 to replace my Jaguar to 5200 conversion, and a new IntelliVision True 16 Ultimate, which added 4 independent fire buttons for the fire for Night Stalker. I can’t claim credit for this one, a customer requested this specific controller, much like the purist design.

Upcoming controllers:

DiDi, a digital digital dual stick controller for the 5200, an IntelliVision Ulitmate+ with 9 dedicated fire buttons for Tron et al. The long delayed 5200 LT handheld controller, and finally IntelliVision 2609 themed and connector compatible controllers.

I went through and added up the costs and time for all my controllers and I will be raising the price a little on IntelliVision (they take a lot more labor than I originally expected) and put all the 5200 controllers on sale. Thank you everyone for your continued support.

It is the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the leaves are just starting to turn, and my summer sale on Atari 5200 has come an end. A special thank you to everyone who has ordered, I am building up a large batch right now. In the next 2-3 days, I should be shipping out all the overlay compatible orders all the way through August orders. Once these are shipped, I have a couple of classics to work on, then I will get the IntelliVision backlog cleared out. Here is to hoping in the next 2 weeks to be caught up on orders.

I am also out of stock on one critical component for the 5200 stick (the 15 pin cord) for at least another week, so I set all the quantities to 0. You can still order, but I can not fulfill until I get more cables in.

Happy gaming everyone, I will do my best to get everything caught up and release at least 2 new controllers in the coming weeks!

In case you missed my Youtube videos, I now have ‘handed’ versions of my IntelliVision True 16.

Left hand stick: https://retrogame.cyberphreak.com/product/intellivision-ii-true-16-left-hand-stick-copy/

Right hand: https://retrogame.cyberphreak.com/product/intellivision-ii-true-16-rhs/

I have photos/video for the Left Hand, the right hand will be up in a day or two, along with a Super Video Arcade version as well 🙂

I think just about everyone who order an ambidextrous responded to my e-mail with their preference, if they wanted to change. You can always email me at retro at cyberphreak dot com and I’ll make sure I make a note on paper and in my order tracking.

Turns out with all the tariff nonsense, I overbought parts for the Atari 5200! I have no less than 32 joysticks on hand. My closet is a little full, from now, June 1st, 2025 to July 4th, I will be having a sale on almost all of my 5200 controllers. The only exception is the Jaguar to 5200 conversion, sadly, I just sold my last conversion and will be replacing it with the LT.

The IntelliVision II True 16 has sold even better than I expected and I really only have 1 joystick left until my next batch arrives. If you have a little patience, you can score a 5200 controller with a nice discount.

Happy Summer!

In case anyone missed it, I released the IntelliVision II True 16 Arcade controller.

I will also be releasing 2 other variations:

1. Handed joystick (left hand stick by default).
2. IntelliVision 2609A themed, with wood grain and gold accents. This will also be released in a handed version as well.

For the IntelliVision II, a side type will be Sears Super Video Arcade themed. It is mechanically identical, just with brown and wood accents. I am busy building as quickly as possible, since this is a new controller, I am really testing out each joystick to make sure it really works as advertised.

In addition, I am expecting a 2609A in a few days to facilitate controllers for that system and see if I can get the test software to work correctly. My IntelliVision II does not seem to be 100 compatible with every game and from forums this appears to be the case. Luckily, PGA Golf and Ice Trek really are good test games that work.