Which 8 way leaf joysticks to use for mame? Robotron? Berz..

Matt,

Here's my question. Right now I'm using joysticks from ultimarc. I like
them a lot for 4 way game play but the 8 way is way too tight. I like
the idea that they are tight for the 4 way game play. There is no
clicky sound to them either. Are the Happ Supers very loose and clicky?
Do you think food fight will play really well with these joysticks?
John

The Supers in my cab dont seem to be very stiff and if by "clicky" you mean
that you can feel the indents then no, they are not clicky. But they are
clicky if you listen to them because they are microswitch joysticks. Food
Fights an odd one because of the analog stick that was on the game. No 8 way
stick is going to emulate that just right but I think the Supers would be a
good place to start. Plus they are $7.00 each until the 15th so your not
going to get soaked but purchasing them.

Matt

"Baraka" <grus_jc.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1139400969.667948.254520@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Matt,
>
> Here's my question. Right now I'm using joysticks from ultimarc. I like
> them a lot for 4 way game play but the 8 way is way too tight. I like
> the idea that they are tight for the 4 way game play. There is no
> clicky sound to them either. Are the Happ Supers very loose and clicky?
> Do you think food fight will play really well with these joysticks?
> John
>

Happ Supers are my favorite microswitch 8 way. The Ultimates are
Ultimate Junk. The Competitions are not much better but the Supers feel
really good and have a nice round restrictor for 8 way games. Very good
feel. Clicky from the microswitches but not as bad as the other two.
Happ Perfect 360's are great too and no clicking as they are optical.
SlikStik sells them with replacement sticks so you can have aluminum,
stainless or led lit ball tops on them but be prepared to pay big for
those. Also great for 8 way. A set of new 360's usually runs around
$35-40 each. The Supers and 360's are just ok for 4 way due to the
round restrictors. No corners make it more difficult for 4 way. That's
why the Ultimarc sticks are good for 4 way, they have a square
restrictor that rotates to give you the corners you can slide down.

The best sticks for emulation IMHO are the Midway or Williams 49 way
sticks with a groovygamegear GPWiz-49. The Midway sticks feel very much
like Wico 8 way sticks as they use a grommet like the wico's and the
GPWiz-49 has an electronic "restrictor" that switches the stick into
4/8/16 & 49 way modes. While you don't get the physical restriction of
a diagonal restrictor, the electronic modes are a lot better than using
a straight 8 way stick. DK & Pac are very playable with them plus for
games like FoodFight, you can use 49 way mode to better approximate an
analog stick than an 8 way stick does. You can even use williams 49 way
sticks with it if you like those better. All of this has a price
though. You need 1 GPWiz-49 for each stick. You also need the Midway or
Williams stick. GGG also sells balltops that fit the Happ Midway
replacement stick. The original Midway versions have a slightly smaller
diameter stick than the happ replacement so the replacement balltops
won't fit through the grommet without a little boring out. GGG sells
the Happ 49 way stick for $33 each and the GP-Wiz is anywhere from
$20-35 each depending on whether you get the solder or no-solder or max
versions. Another plus is that a few front ends have support for
automatically switching the joystick mode based on the game you select.
I know GameEx and Mamewah both have support for switching modes.

If you like the bat style handle and don't plan on replacing the stick
with a balltop, you can usually find a set of used original Midway
sticks on eBay for around $20 or so for a pair.

There's my .25

Erik

Baraka wrote:
> Need an honest opinion. I have 8 way cherry switch joysticks installed
> right now in my mame machine and they work great for 4 way games, but
> when it comes to robotron, berzerk and all games where you have to fire
> diagonally, it doesn't register as well. What joysticks would you
> recommend for these games? Robotron style? Berzerk? Does anyone have a
> set of these for sale?
>
> John