Atari Had Wireless Controllers Planned in 1981. The 2700 Never Shipped.

Atari had wireless controllers planned in 1981. The Atari 2700 would have let you play your VCS cartridges without a cord running from your hand to the television. There were prototypes, an advertisement and a rather handsome new console. What there wasn’t, in the end, was a release.

Picture a round of Combat: two tanks, two players and someone trying to land a shot around the edge of a wall. The 2700’s pitch was that you could have that same argument from a more comfortable spot on the couch. The cartridges were familiar. The freedom to sit farther away was the attraction.

Atari had already made the sales pitch

The original 1981 advertisement called it the Remote Control Video Computer System and promised to eliminate controller wires. Its wedge-shaped case had a cover for storing the controllers, and the handheld controls included Game Select and Game Reset. Starting another round wouldn’t mean getting up and leaning over the console.

There was a clever extra inside the controller, too. You could move its stick like a joystick or turn it like a paddle. Think of steering your bat in Breakout, or scrambling to keep a fireball away from your castle in Warlords. Those games show why getting the twisting motion right mattered. A paddle that wanders when your hand doesn’t is a quick way to lose a wall.

The signal went a little too far

According to the Atari Museum’s hardware account, testing found that the controllers could transmit across roughly 1,000 feet and interfere with other 2700 systems nearby. The museum also describes a possibility of interference with other remote-controlled devices. That isn’t evidence of someone’s garage door actually opening during a game, although it is an excellent reason to keep testing.

Former Atari employee Jerry Jessop recalled another headache: the paddle controls had so much jitter that their paddle function was disabled for the show units. His recollection, preserved by Atari Compendium, puts a less glamorous problem behind the futuristic sales pitch. Even before worrying about the neighbors, Atari still had to make the controls behave in front of the television.

The museum says a redesign of the radio hardware was judged too expensive, and the 2700 was shelved. Wireless gaming would have to wait, but Atari didn’t abandon it for long.

The 2600 got wireless joysticks anyway

In 1983, Atari offered the CX42 Remote Control Wireless Joysticks as a separate accessory. The original Atari instructions show a receiver plugged into the 2600’s controller ports and a nine-volt battery inside each joystick. You could keep the console you owned and lose the controller cords. You just had another box to find room for beside the television.

Sources

• Atari’s 1981 Remote Control Video Computer System advertisement, preserved by the Atari Museum, for the contemporary sales pitch and console features.
• Atari Museum: The Atari 2700 Wireless Video Computer System, for prototype photographs, controller construction, interference and cancellation.
• Atari Compendium: Atari Remote Control VCS/2700, including Jerry Jessop’s recollection of the paddle problems.
• Atari Remote Control Wireless Joysticks installation instructions (1983), for the later retail accessory.

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