Controller Port Issue of Oddness

Yes.  I have had a 5200 for years but as many have had, I could never get the S/P/R buttons to work.

And laziness plus Best Electronics being very oldschool always made it a backburner thingie.

Well was looking about on Gamegavel and won a boxed Wico Command Controller for a solid price.

Got it in, hooked it up.  No luck.

However.. GORF starts with the Fire button and I was then able to play!

This lead me to do the usual controller cleanup.  Eraser, isopropyl alcohol.

One of my controllers was a REV 9 with the gold contact S/P/R buttons.  No workie.

I have a trackball.  Made sure it was all clean and even put the SPR in it.  Still, no workie.  (But can sort of play GORF with it.)

Could something in the 4 port A5200's first port be broken so it doesn't read any of the buttons but still recognizes analog stick and fire button inputs?

If so is there a fix I can do instead of buying another 4 port machine?

I need to make use of my Wico stick that looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a 50 Shades of Grey chapter.

And all these games I have owned since the early 00s when X Entertainment had an article on Gremlins:

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Think of my games Atari Age!  Help me play legit Berzerk and Gremlins!