# Input

The **Input** tab maps your PC's keyboard, joysticks/gamepads, and mouse onto the
emulated Atari controllers. Use **Save** for your global defaults or **Save for
ROM only [*]** to apply the bindings to the
[selected ROM](index.md#global-vs-per-rom-settings).

The tab is split into views, selected from a sub-menu:

- **Player 1**–**Player 4** — each player's controller.
- **UI Input** — the emulator's own actions: **Exit** (quit kat5200), **Back**
  (return to the GUI), **Fullscreen**, **Screenshot**, **Debugger**, and
  **State Load 1–9** / **State Save 1–9** for the quick-state slots.
- **A800 Keys** — the 8-bit computer keyboard.

## Binding a control

kat5200 binds controls by **capturing** real input rather than by typing device
numbers:

1. Open the view you want (a player, **UI Input**, or **A800 Keys**).
2. Click the control you want to bind (a stick direction, button, keypad key, UI
   action, etc.). This opens that control's action menu.
3. Choose an action:
    - **Change** — replace the current binding.
    - **Add Entry for *control*** — add an *additional* binding, so the control
      responds to more than one PC input.
    - **Delete** — remove a binding (available when the control has more than one).
4. In the **Input Capture** dialog, *provide the input* — press the key, button,
   or move the axis on your device — then **release all inputs to continue**. The
   captured binding appears next to the control.

Press ++esc++ to cancel a capture.

Multiple inputs can be assigned to the same emulated function. This lets a
keyboard, mouse, and game controller all drive the same Atari control, and it
also supports useful combined setups. For example, the **Castle Crises** Setup
preset maps mouse left/up to 5200 left and mouse right/down to 5200 right, which
improves paddle control when the useful motion is in the lower-left part of the
screen.

## Device enables

| Setting | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Joystick Enable** | Allow joystick/gamepad input. |
| **Use Specific Joystick** | Bind this player to one particular device. Opens a chooser that lists each detected device's **ID**, **Type** (Joystick or Gamepad), **Name**, and **S/N**, so the right stick is used when several are connected. |
| **D-Pad Enable** | Allow D-Pad (hat) input. |
| **Keyboard Enable** | Allow keyboard input as a controller. |
| **Mouse Enable** | Allow mouse input. |
| **Show Disabled** | Show controls that are currently disabled. |

## Mouse

| Setting | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Mouse Speed** | Pointer/translation speed (range 1–5; 3 is the moderate default). Lower is finer, higher is faster. |
| **Mouse Optimize for** | **Cursor** mode feels more precise for games such as *Missile Command*, *Centipede*, and *Bug Hunt*. **Paddles** mode has a more floaty or gliding feel for games such as *Super Breakout* and *Kaboom*. |

## Auto fire

| Setting | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Auto Fire** | Repeatedly trigger the fire button while it is held. |
| **Auto Fire Speed** | How fast the auto-fire repeats. |

## Analog tuning (5200 stick / 8-bit paddles)

These apply to emulation of analog controllers and are key to making many 5200 games
playable with a modern stick or D-Pad.

| Setting | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Joy Deadzone** | Deadzone of your analog controller. Lower = wider analog range but possible jitter; higher = less jitter but reduced range. Default is 20%. Aim for the lowest value with no jitter. |
| **Joy Sensitivity** | Range of emulated Atari pot values. For games like *Gorf*, *Missile Command*, and *Super Breakout*, ~50–75% with an analog stick can play better. |
| **Analog To Digital** | Treat analog input as digital (direction rather than position). |
| **Digital To Analog Enable** | Simulate an analog stick from digital input (keyboard, D-Pad, or digital stick). This is the former **Simulate Analog** option. It makes D-Pad/digital controls change analog velocity instead of jumping directly to an axis position, which helps position-critical games such as *Gorf* and *Super Breakout*. |
| **Digital To Analog Speed** | How quickly the simulated analog position moves when using digital input. |

!!! tip
    The fastest way to set up the 5200's tricky analog titles is the
    [Setup](misc.md#setup) window's game presets, which apply known-good bindings
    and analog tuning for specific games.
