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I think I hate leaf switch sticks.....
Gray_Area:
--- Quote from: 1500points on May 01, 2012, 10:15:51 pm ---local413 on klov seems to be wico central. i've not purchased from him before but he seems legit.
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=233822
regarding the leaf flutter. that's just a matter of finetuning the adjustment like you would on a pinball machine flipper assembly.
regarding 360s. i have them right here on my laptop mame setup. they are smooth but for long games the spring tension bugs me. wish it could be loosened up a bit.
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Yeah, that can be an issue. Still, I don't as often loose my sense of directionality within the range of motion of the stick as I do with leafs. So, it's official: I played that Robotron again the other night, and while I liked the lightness of the stick, the directions were increasingly hard to find, partly because of the 'fluffiness' of the mechanics. I like more forceful restriction. PLUS, I was holding the tops by two fingers and thumb, with my other fingers held away, because I was leary of getting my pinky jammed between the shaft and the ---goshdarn--- hole (because of the under-mounted dust washer). LAME.
1500points:
Last fall I was at an arcade party and Todd Rodgers was there too (he's one of the old school legends from Florida who is outstanding at Robotron).
He had a really unusual technique with the sticks. He held his hands palm up then pulled the knob this way or that with his fingers.
oddest dang thing to watch, but he smoked everyone at robotron on the 19-1 board which is blazing fast.
Xiaou2:
I always assumed that anyone who played Robotron, grabbed the sticks from the top, wrapping the fingers around the balltops.
Thats probably the most effective position... as it gives you direct linkage and superior leverage, equally, in any direction.
As for getting Lost with leafs.. the might apply to badly adjusted leafs, the chinese knock-off repros, metal fatigue (see last paragraph), or finally... the kind of game that doesnt use leafs.
Robotron does not really require exacting movements. Generally, you are always rolling the stick along the outside edges, (walking/firing) in a very continuous motion.
Its not like a fighting game... where you need to quickly tap back and forwards several times a second, and one tiny slip up in a direction, causes a move to fail. Robotron does however had a need for a much faster reactionary time, on a regular basis. Theres no blocking. It requires split second reaction times, at all times. Leafs give that advantage, especially when properly adjusted.
Theres less mechanical loss, and the round restriction keeps the movement smooth and fast. The rubber grommet keeps the stick light and easy to move, without the fatiguing resistance of a typical spring stick.
Finally, these leafs are getting older. Metal springs do fatigue... and lose a lot of their springy qualities. Its quite possible that the reason some Leafs get out of whack more often than they should... or that you are having a very hard time with the controls... is due to this aged metal fatigue.
Sadly, nothing lasts forever. Not even Micros.
boardjunkie:
The only reason the taller sticks were used in Robotron was the way they were mounted under the wooden control panel. The standard Wicos would work just the same, but the ball top would have been too close to the panel leaving little room for yer fingers. Had the panel been made of metal, the std ones would yield the same result. Thats all there is too it.
Wood:
http://www.coinop.org/Image.aspx?g=bda7bcc6-c822-45f3-8ff0-17ab02edbabd
Metal:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3546725491_54bb003008.jpg
Xiaou2 makes valid points on how games were developed in the "old days". Games were very limited hardware wise (also price point came into play...high performance cost more money) so gameplay *had* to be solid or else players wouldn't bother with it. Back in the early 80s, video games were *everywhere*. If you didn't like the ones in front of you, chances are you just walked over to the next building to see what was there.
If a game sucked, nobody played it. Then it was quickly replaced with something else. The big hits were big hits for a reason. Now with MAME we can go back in time and witness all the turds that came and went without making a dent in the market. And there's a *ton* of them....
Does anyone here have an amusements supply catalog from say 82 or 83? That would be a good reference as far as what was industry standard back then. And there wasn't much....Wico leaf sticks were king and remained so into the late 80s.
CheffoJeffo:
--- Quote from: boardjunkie on May 09, 2012, 11:16:46 am ---The only reason the taller sticks were used in Robotron was the way they were mounted under the wooden control panel. The standard Wicos would work just the same, but the ball top would have been too close to the panel leaving little room for yer fingers. Had the panel been made of metal, the std ones would yield the same result. Thats all there is too it.
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I tend to disagree, even though your explanation would appear to make sense, since Wicos were regularly mounted in wood panels with 3.5" shafts.