Seimitsu, Sanwa, Il Eurostick, U360 or Magstick Plus for X-Arcade

[mrchrister]

Hey guys,

I'm using a x-arcade controller where I built a cab around it for almost 2 years now. Recently I played some fighting games and I think it's about time to upgrade the Happ knock offs that are installed in the X-Arcade.

I hope someone can help me out on this. I surfed around on the forum quite a bit and came up with the following joysticks for replacement:

1. Ultrastick U360 - many people love it and it seems to be a good all-rounder
2. Magstick Plus - different opinions, though the only solution to switch between 4way/8way
3. IL Eurostick - Seems to be a good allrounder as well and fits right into the x-arcade
4. Seimitsu LS33 - Lighter Springs and japanese style, good for some players..
5. Sanwa - Very light spring, good for fighting games, but esp. American Arcade gamers find it too light

So far I settled on the Seimitsu LS33. I like the way the balltop joystick looks and since I'm not the biggest gamer I think I could get used to these sticks...

I'm still not too sure if the IL Eurostick would be such a big upgrade to the standard x-arcade sticks. it seems like only professionals would really feel the upgrade...
I'm also not sure if I should really get a japanese stick. Unfortunately there are no Arcades in Berlin so i can't really try out japanese/american Sticks to get a feel for what I want!
When we play fighting games its kind of fun to ram the stick into the corner... I wonder if this would change with having a japanese joystick...

I'm a big fan of Donkey Kong and I often have problems with the 8Way X-Arcade sticks. I can't get jumpman to go worward because I accidently hit the diagonal position! I once changed it to become a 4 Way Stick but then I had issues with lots of other games who need 8 Way input. So I thought a lot about getting the Magstick... It seems like the ultimate solution to have the best of both worlds.. Although I read somewhere that the stick doesn't work well for Fighting games...

I would like to get some opinions on this and I hope someone over here has modded the x-arcade with one of these solutions to give me feedback on this! thanks so much!

[Jack Burton]

Trust me, you'll feel the difference between a Eurostick and an x-arcade.  Compared to the X-arcade the operation of the Euro is smooth and effortless. 

If you going to play fighting games get the Sanwa stick.  You may have read on this board that people find it too light, but the people saying that are probably bigger fans of the 80s games which need a heavier feel.  Fighting gamers in the US have almost completely embraced the Sanwa JLF joystick. 

[Martijn]

how does the happ perfect 360 fit in here?

i am still deciding for a stick myself, so thanks for this topic

[amendonz]

How about the sanwa jlw? Great all rounder

[mrchrister]

After reading a bit more about this I have the feeling the U360 with hard springs and round restrictor will perfectly fit my needs... I didn't hear much about the Happ one yet

There are still a lot of thinks I have to figure out about this joystick but I think I settled on this one! Even though it means it will be more expanisve than I thought...

[Martijn]

i had the u360 in my first cab, with hard spring and octagional restrictor. i had round and square as well, and longer shaft.

the stick is great and feels great. but it had this magnet at the bottom of the shaft, if you twist the shaft with your fingersm you see the magnet rotate and not in a smooth movement, it wobles, you can correct this with you fingers trying to make it perfect, but every once in a while after people slammed your stick around, it goes back wobly.

this said, when you turn on your pc, and the magnet is not perfect horizontal, it celebrates the magnet and sensor, making it not perfect.

i get bad gaming results with this.

great idea the u360 but never again for me.. ( i owned 4 sticks)

i hate the clicking sound of regular sticks, thats why i wonder about the p360, how they are.

[mrchrister]

nooo, you are not supposed to confuse me again martijn, i was so set on this  
well, let's see if someone has experience with the happs... maybe I will go with the happs one as well in this case!

[Martijn]

maybe i got a defective model also player 2 had less problem

[syph007]

I would only use Ultrastick U360, I love them and cant imagine having anything else.  The auto mapping config eliminates the need for dedicated 4ways.  In my opinion the only reason to NOT use U360's (with hard spring added mind you) is if price is an option.  Once you add the restrictor which is needed, and add the stiff spring which is needed, they are expensive.  But having it magically switch from 4way-8way-analog etc automatically is worth its weight in gold to me.

[ptinolv]

The ultrastik is very good because it is analog and can be switch to 4ways. But if all you need is an 8-way, i will go with a sanwa or semitsu. First because it is a lot cheaper, and the build quality is better (I dismantle both a sanwa JLW and a U360 , and the sanwa is clearly superior). The JLW can be switched to 4ways but since it is manually from the bottom i never did it. Also, I don't know much about the "american" sticks.

I now use my U360 for fighting games too. For fighting games it is a different feeling but i got used to it now. The thing with the u360 is that it does everything, but you have to choose a spring (i consider light better for analog , but strong better for fighting, etc.) and a restrictor (round better for analog and rectangular better for fighting).

[ark_ader]

I have no problems with the stock X arcade joysticks.  Why try to fix something that is not broke?

[Donkbaca]

I like the x-arcade sticks - hate their buttons.  I think they are good for fighters because they have huge corners in them, which is also what makes them kind of bad for 4 ways.

If you primarily play fighters, I would just stay pat, to be honest.   The japanese sticks won't mount right in the x-arcade CP without some sort of mod.  I would keep the sticks, get Sanwa buttons.  If you really want new sticks, get the Seimitsu ones.

[Jack Burton]

I would never use a U360 for fighting games.

Happ Perfect 360s are good, but I've read the build quality on them is not always the best. 

If you can find a Wico P360 then those are excellent and used to be the premium joystick before the Japanese sticks took over.  Some players claim that the corners are difficult to find in them when playing charge characters in fighting games. 

Sanwa JLW is a reliable, old fashioned stick.  It takes  the same mounting holes as the X-arcade, but it needs to be mounted in a 1/4" thick or thinner panel.  It's also very easy to change to 4-way operation. 

The X-arcade is a decent clone of the old Super joysticks, but is outclassed in every aspect by the IL Eurostick in my opinion. 

[mrchrister]

Don't get me wrong! I've had the X-Arcade for two years now and as a general Beginner's CP they work really well.
I must say I like the sticks less than the buttons though. I never had any issues with the buttons...

There are two things that could be better though:
1. When I configure an emulator and write something in an xml it often happens that the keyboard interpreter mixes in some random letters or numbers (like num4bers for exampler) It's pretty weird behaviour and I'm at a point where I think about doing something about that!
2. I really like Donkey Kong a lot. It often happens that I can't get up the ladder because I accidentally push diagonal. I set the X-Arcade to 4Way before but quickly realized I also need 8Way! SO I switched it back..
My cab is too narrow to add dedicated 4way sticks. So I'm looking for the best of both worlds... The U360 and Magstick seem to be the solution! I also considered a Seimitsu LS56 with octo restrictor!

The downside of the u360 is, as already mentioned the prize! It would cost me 200 $ but I think I will invest this soon!

So my plan is to assemble my own CP with 2 u360's (and I hope mine will work better than martijn's) and get Sanwa OBSF 30 buttons (7 button layout + start button to connect to u360)
I also want to place a trackball in the middle! I hope this fits into the narrow space I have to deal with...

 Do you guys know a CP drilling layout with trackball for the size of an X-Arcade?

[Donkbaca]

If you are building a new CP i would go to slagcoin.com and look at their layouts and find one that I liked the best.

Are you trying to cram a trackball into a dual stick?  Or are you adding a trackball to scratch built CP?  If its the former, you aren't going to have room.

The x-arcade gets a lot of grief, but the one thing they sell that most people would agree on is the trackball.  Its USB and pretty quality.

[mrchrister]

I will build the CP from scratch and hope I can make enough room! Thanks for pointing out X-gamings trackball! I think I will go with this one!

[mrchrister]

I just ordered two U360's from Ultimarc, together with Restrictor Plate, long shaft and harness!

I think I will still wait with constructing a new CP since I don't have the time for that atm.... Does anyone know if I can fit the Ultrastik into a X-Arcade? I searched on Google for hours but only found different mods... no U360 mods!

[Martijn]

ill try the jfl 

[Jack Burton]

Good deal.  The JLF is a great stick, although it does make the clicking noise. 

One last stick worth mentioning is the Sanwa FLASH series. 

These behave mostly like the JLF, but they use optical sensors to detect their directions instead of microswitches.  The result is a silent, effortless stick. 



Good luck finding one!  I think the last one I saw went for about $150

[emphatic]

Good deal.  The JLF is a great stick, although it does make the clicking noise. 

One last stick worth mentioning is the Sanwa FLASH series.

Reproduction PCB is under construction by Toodles right now. Just get a JLF and change PCB and you have a Flash equivalent. Stick wears out = get a new JLF/spring (no moving parts/switches= win).

[Martijn]

Any info i can read about Toodles ?

[emphatic]

Toodles is a guy over at the Shuryuken forum who builds and sells arcade stick PCBs mostly. If you Google "Toodles flash replacement" you will find the latest about this project.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I'd just like to add that Seimitsu LS-32-01 (apart from being an excellent stick, if you like shoot em ups I can't recommend them enough, they're incredibly precise, yet not as light as Sanwa sticks which is great for small twitchy moves) comes with a gate that you can set to eight way, four way and two way. Haven't actually tried it myself yet, but from what I've heard it works great. (Got one for my mini Donkey Kong bartop as well, so I'm confident it works well).

[mrchrister]

I'm still undecided between a LS-32 and a Sanwa JLW for a dedicated Donkey Kong Cab that I plan as a side project... I also thought about getting the original stick from Mike's Arcade but people say it actually doesn't work that well... I heard the Sanwa feels more like the original DK stick because of the lighter throw! The LS-32 seems to be more direct...What do you guys think?

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I'm still undecided between a LS-32 and a Sanwa JLW for a dedicated Donkey Kong Cab that I plan as a side project...

Then, there's also this:

http://www.arcadeshop.de/Joysticks-JLW-UM-8-Sanwa_847.html

It comes with a 8way/4way gate. I have no idea how it plays, though...

[emphatic]

I've read that the JLW is awesome for retro gaming. I love the LS-32 for shmups, but they kinda suck for old school games as they're way too sensitive.

[thebyter]

Forgive the noob-age; I'm in the middle of making this decision now.  I had more or less settled on a JLW (for primarily retro AND shumps, but also a good all-rounder), but have read so much good stuff about Seimitsu I definitely doubted myself.  I'm soaking up the opinions here like a sponge -- keep them coming, please!

Is there video, or pictures, of switching the Sanwa's and the Seimitsu's from 4- to 8- way?  It looks like the Sanwa's just rotate the restrictor a quarter turn?  Sounds nice; how complicated are the Seimitsu's?

Thanks!

[emphatic]

To change from 8- to 4- or 2-way on the LS-32 you must remove a couple of screws, reseat the restrictor and put the screws back.

[thebyter]

Cool, thanks for the reply!  That's pretty much what I was smelling.  I'm planning a 2-player cab, and rather than adding a dedicated 4-way stick I was just going to have player 1 be 8-way and player 2 normally be 4-way, but easily switchable to 8-way when needed (and then set MAME up to use the P2 controls for 4-way games).

Since I can see myself needing to switch between 4- and 8- way fairly often, I still think the JLW is probably the better choice, even with the lighter, fighter-focussed spring.  I don't think hiding a screwdriver inside the control panel box and futzing with it each time I need to switch will be a very good experience.

Thanks again!