Highlights
-
Plays on multiple systems — Atari 2600 (+), Atari 7800 (+) (both buttons), Sega Master System, MSX*, Amiga and Commodore 64
-
Knows* where it's plugged in — console detection happens the moment you power on
-
Auto-fire, three speeds — apply it to one button or both
-
True 4-way mode — no more accidental diagonals in Pac-Man, Popeye, Donkey Kong and more!
-
Assign multiple buttons — fire, up, down, left or right, even "press Up to jump" games can get a button
-
Left-handed mode — flips the directions, the buttons and the display
-
OLED menu — change everything on the controller itself
-
7800 two-button games fully supported
- Joy2b+ Mode
- Save and Load settings
- Booster Grip mode (Atari 2600 Omega Race)
- Amiga Mode - 2 buttons and assignable 3rd button
*SCREEN — AUTO / BRIGHT / DIM / SLEEP. AUTO is recommended: Because the MSX's joystick port can't comfortably power both the controller and the display. The screen sleeps on MSX, where the joystick port can't power it reliably, and stays dim on every other system.
*Note for Commodore 64 users: the controller treats a C64 as an Atari by default, which is correct for the vast majority of games. If you play one of the handful of titles that use two or three buttons, set MODE: C64 in the menu — that's the only setting you'll ever need to change.
Product Information:
One controller for more than one system
Most retro controllers do one job on one machine. The MultiPad does a number of them. Plug it into an Atari 2600, a 7800, a Sega Master System, an MSX or a Commodore 64, and it recognizes the system and configures itself. No switches to set, no adapters to lose, no guessing.
On a 7800 you get both buttons, properly. On the Master System and MSX you get both buttons. On a 2600 the fire button is where it should be; games built for the CBS Booster Grip, like Omega Race, get their second action with nothing extra to buy.
Tuned to the game you're playing
Maze games want directions that refuses diagonals. Shooters want auto-fire. Platformers want a jump button instead of pressing Up.
The MultiPad has 2 quick button modes, and you switch between them in seconds:
-
4-way or 8-way at the tap of a button
-
Auto-fire at slow, medium or fast — on one button or both
-
Assign either main button to fire or to any direction
A screen, so you can see what it's doing
The OLED model adds a small display that shows your settings at a glance, lights up as you press buttons, and gives you a menu for everything — console mode, auto-fire, D-pad behavior, button assignments and handedness. Your settings are stored on the controller and survive being unplugged.
Left-handed? Flip it
One menu setting reverses the directions, swaps the button roles and rotates the display, so the controller works upside down for left-handed players.
Built to last, built by hand
The MultiPad is based on a controller design that's been in use by US manufactured since 2017, with gold-plated (ENIG) contacts for a crisp, responsive feel. Each one is assembled, programmed and tested by hand.
A cable you can actually trust
Original joystick cables were made for a living room from 1982 — short, stiff, and never quite long enough. The MultiPad ships with a full 8 feet, so you can sit where you want, put the console in a cabinet, or hand the controller to someone on the other end of the sofa.
The plug is a molded Sega Genesis-style DE-9: fits recessed ports without a fight, comfortable to grip when you pull it out, and molded around the cable so the wires aren't taking the strain.
Specifications
|
Compatible systems
|
Atari 2600 (+), Atari 7800 (+), Sega Master System, MSX, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari 5200 with RetroGameBoyz Keypad Adapter Module.
|
|
Connector
|
Standard DE-9, 9-conductor cable - 8ft (before assembly)
|
|
Buttons
|
8-way D-pad, two main fire buttons, two function buttons
|
|
Display (LCD model)
|
0.91" OLED
|
|
Settings storage
|
On-board, retained when unplugged
|
Safe on original hardware
Three questions we get asked a lot. The CIA one is the right thing to ask.
Switching modes
Hold the two small buttons together for a second and the menu comes up on the OLED. MODE is one of the settings: ATARI, C64, JOY2B+, BOOSTER or AMIGA. It asks before it saves, and your settings come back next time you plug in.
Most of the time you will not touch it. Atari, Sega Master System and MSX are recognized automatically at power-up. The C64 and Amiga are the two you set yourself, because those machines are electrically identical to an Atari at the port and genuinely cannot be told apart.
Power
It runs from the port itself. Pin 7 on Atari and Commodore, Pin 5 on Sega and MSX using Schottky diodes, so nothing can feed back the other way. No batteries, no external supply.
The C64 CIA question
The failure people have seen is a specific one: a controller that holds the direction and fire lines high while the keyboard scan is trying to pull those same lines low. The two fight, and the current goes into CIA #1. That is why Sega pads have the reputation as they pull their lines high. A real joystick never does.
The MultiPad is open-drain on all five of those lines, in every mode. Each line is either pulled to ground or completely released — the internal pull-ups are switched off in firmware, not just left alone. It cannot hold a CIA line high, so it cannot get into that fight. There is also 470 Ω in series on every line.
The only two lines it ever drives high are pins 5 and 9, POTX and POTY, and only for a second or third button. That is the same method the C64GS joystick uses — and we run 470 Ω in series where 270–330 Ω is the usual recommendation, so it sits on the conservative side.
RetroGameBoyz is an independent manufacturer and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Atari, Sega, Commodore, MSX Licensing Corporation or any other console manufacturer. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here only to describe hardware compatibility.
Hand-made and tested in the USA on real hardware — Atari 2600 and 7800, Sega Master System, MSX, Commodore 64 and Amiga.
