U360 vs. Arcade Original Sticks?

[honkey]

I realized that a topic I posted yesterday about restrictor plates was too vague. Looking at U360's on the Ultimarc website, they make it sound pretty much like the perfect all around stick. My one concern is: How does it feel when compared to sticks you would find in an arcade? If I want to play Pac-man, could I just put the four way restrictor on and it will feel pretty much like a Pac joystick? And then if I want to play Metal Slug, could I just change it to 8 way and it will feel like the original? There is some kind of mental block here telling me that if the joystick doesn't have switches, it won't feel correct. If I go with the 360's building my cab will be more expensive, but so much more versatile than what I had been originally planning. But I want it to feel while still accomplishing the "wow factor" when friends come to play.

[mgb]

From what I understand, the way they did have the restrictors, you couldn't just pop on a 4-way restrictor on the fly because the Sanwa style restrictor mounts under the circuit board. But I believ they have now come out with a top mount 4-way restrictor. I'm not sure if it can be taken on and off as needed though. I've thought about going this route but those restictor don't look like they'd work with a metal cp 

[Nephasth]

I've thought about going this route but those restictor don't look like they'd work with a metal cp 

They would, but you would need to add spacers between the CP and the joystick to get that 3/4" distance.

[mrclean]

I've had a variety of joysticks on my MAME set up including a variety of joysticks on my dedicated games. I had micro switch joysticks, wico joysticks, mag stick plus, u360's etc..

Personally I think for MAME u360's are the way to go. It all depends on the spring and plate you install. The digital mapping is pretty good. It depends how your mounting it and on what height your control panel will be personally I think mine sit too low, I know you can buy larger shafts to change the height / feel of the throw. The ball top on the u360 is nice, but smaller than a traditional Wico ball top leaf. Everything really boils down to personal preference. It's pretty impossible to have one joystick feel perfect for over 3,000+ games but I think the U360 does a pretty solid job.

I mean if you think about it MAME emulates the games and the U360 more or less tries to emulate the joysticks that those games used, it's pretty remarkable.  

Wico's use a rubber grommet, spring with leafs or micro switches. And the U360 a spring , magnet etc.. So do they feel the same? Relatively but Not really. Bottom line is I recommend the u360's for MAME. They have great versatility for MAME.