joystick opinions

[tony.silveira]

hey guys,

i just finished my magnet hack of a trigger stick for my new "zippy" sticks from GGG and it works great.  unfortunately, i'm not super thrilled with these zippy's.  nothing wrong with them per se for the price, but i find the throw on the sticks to be a bit too loose for my tastes.  i put the ball tops on and tried a round of robotron.  hitting the diagonals was a bit tricky.

so now i'm on the market again for a couple of sticks.  here is what i have (or have tried):

player 1, stick 1:  mag stick plus - i've become used to the short throw.  that said, for my two center sticks, i would like a bit more movement

player 1, stick 2:  zippy - looking to replace

player 2, stick 1:  zippy - looking to replace

player 2, stick 2:  ez stick

i have also tried teh top fire from happ.

so the two zippys i would like to replace, i would like whatever stick i get to haver a removable ball so i can use my trigger stick hacks.  looking for a stick with some play, just not crazy ammounts of play like the zippy's.  also, not a stick as stiff as the mag stick plus i have.  would also like a stick that can be set 4/8 way from underneath, like the omin2 or mag stick (next up, i'm adding servos to my panel)

out of curiosity, what kind of sticks did robotron use?  my fave arcade game of all time and just loved those sticks.

any thoughts or suggestions?  anyone have a stcik lying around that they think i would like, i would gladly pay shipping to me and back to you so i could simply get a "feel" for it

many thanks

[mytymaus007]

WICO my friend with a 4 inch shaft! best sticks in the world basically for everything but you need it for ROBOTRON

[tony.silveira]

cool, thanks.

is there anything comparable on the market that has a restrictor plate and also has a removable ball?

thanks

[mytymaus007]

cool, thanks.

is there anything comparable on the market that has a restrictor plate and also has a removable ball?

thanks

nothing new if you want wico u need to ask here or look on ebay as for restrictor im assuming you want a 4 way stick! not sure whats the best 4/8 way but my guess if your serious about gaming youll need seperate sticks because there are so many different types of game play!!! Checkout these this guy is out of his mins $125    http://www.ebay.com/itm/WICO-8-WAY-NOS-LEAF-SWITCH-ARCADE-MACHINE-JOYSTICKS-WITH-RED-TOPS-PAIR-/140750712485?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c5656ea5

[Paul Olson]

WICO my friend with a 4 inch shaft! best sticks in the world basically for everything but you need it for ROBOTRON

You want the 8-way WICOs for Robotron. They have the black base. These with the grey base are 4-way.

[tony.silveira]

Did you make sure your restrictor plates were nice and tight?  I seriously went from 'hate' to 'hey, these are pretty good' after I tightened a few screws on my Zippyy.

If you want 4 way play on a Zippyy make sure you grind or melt the nubs off that plate, too.

i'll give this a try when i get home!

[CheffoJeffo]

WICO my friend with a 4 inch shaft! best sticks in the world basically for everything but you need it for ROBOTRON

You want the 8-way WICOs for Robotron. They have the black base. These with the grey base are 4-way.

Damn! Beat me to it.

[mavsprophecy]

How are the Zippyys now?

[lcmgadgets]

How does the u360 compare, when playing robotron?

[tony.silveira]

FYI, I removed the restricters completely and can once again go the distance in robotron!

the movement of the sticks is still a bit much for my tastes but they are definately more accurate now

[Mental]

cool, thanks.

is there anything comparable on the market that has a restrictor plate and also has a removable ball?

thanks

JLW?

[RandyT]

I just want to add something here about Zippyy's and throw.  We offer them in two varieties, long and short shaft.  Something to consider when deciding on which to select, is whether a tighter feeling, quicker reacting stick is desired, or one with a bit longer throw.  By default, longer shafts=longer throw, given the same switch and actuator setup.

The saving grace with the Zippyy, is the fact that they use a levered microswitch.  The action can be pre-loaded by holding the lever down, with your finger right over the little button on the switch, and bending the lever upward.  This will decrease the distance the lever must travel before the switch is actuated and give a more responsive feel to the stick.  One has to be careful doing this, however, as this may make playing 4-way games more difficult.  As a rule on an 8-way stick, the longer the distance before switch actuation, the less likely are unintended diagonals.  If using for 4-way and 8-way games, the key will be to balance the sensitivity between both.

RandyT

[RandyT]

Bending switch levers for optimum actuation.  Yeesh.

Remember when you could just walk up to an arcade game and you were happy that you had a quarter in your pocket?

Seems like a lot of you don't.

That's not an entirely fair statement.  All that was expected in those days was that the sticks worked well for that particular game, and the manufacturers (and good operators) saw to it that they did.  We need more from the hardware.

Besides, if those levers weren't meant to allow adjustment to the users needs, the stick design wouldn't incorporate them.  There are plenty of good sticks which don't use a levered microswitch.

[tony.silveira]

I just want to add something here about Zippyy's and throw.  We offer them in two varieties, long and short shaft.  Something to consider when deciding on which to select, is whether a tighter feeling, quicker reacting stick is desired, or one with a bit longer throw.  By default, longer shafts=longer throw, given the same switch and actuator setup.

The saving grace with the Zippyy, is the fact that they use a levered microswitch.  The action can be pre-loaded by holding the lever down, with your finger right over the little button on the switch, and bending the lever upward.  This will decrease the distance the lever must travel before the switch is actuated and give a more responsive feel to the stick.  One has to be careful doing this, however, as this may make playing 4-way games more difficult.  As a rule on an 8-way stick, the longer the distance before switch actuation, the less likely are unintended diagonals.  If using for 4-way and 8-way games, the key will be to balance the sensitivity between both.

RandyT

hey randy, i didn't mean anything disparaging about the sticks, they are actually growing on me a bit!  it was just a first thought on trying them for the first time.

i will try modding the switch a bit to see iuf i can get it right where i want it.

i did order the log shaft version as i am mounting under panel so i can't really complain

t

[RandyT]

hey randy, i didn't mean anything disparaging about the sticks, they are actually growing on me a bit!  it was just a first thought on trying them for the first time.

I didn't take it that way   Just wanted to offer some advice and insight on the inner workings.  Tweak the switches to suit what you are looking for and spend some time with them.  They are a popular stick and lots of folks really like them.  I get the feeling you'll end up in that camp shortly.