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joysticks for Battlezone
ChadTower:
The issue with Battlezone in particular is that while you can map 1P stick to left tread and 2P stick to right tread you can't come up with a third hand for a fire button that isn't on one of the sticks.
drventure:
--- Quote from: ChadTower on June 11, 2012, 10:10:46 am ---The issue with Battlezone in particular is that while you can map 1P stick to left tread and 2P stick to right tread you can't come up with a third hand for a fire button that isn't on one of the sticks.
--- End quote ---
Right, did I forget to mention that? :-[
Guys here +have+ modded sticks to place a button (or LEDs) on top, but it doesn't look like a simple mod.
ChadTower:
If Battlezone is specifically important to you I would say just make one of the sticks a topfire stick. You can wire the topfire button in parallel with any of the regular fire buttons.
tony.silveira:
mmmmm magnetic trigger stick hack mmmmmmm
Cynicaster:
I’ve got a 2-player panel with run-of-the-mill Happ Competition sticks and 6 buttons per player (2 rows of 3). To play Battlezone, I map the two sticks in the obvious way, and map the fire button to the left-most button in the second row on the P1 side. I find I’m able to play just fine by gripping the joysticks overhead (i.e. like a gear shifter in a car), and using my thumb to hit the fire button. Since in Battlezone you don’t mash the fire button like you would in, say, a standard vertical shooter, this control scheme works much better than it probably sounds like it would.
I find the game quite playable this way, but it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve never played a real Battlezone. I’d have to imagine that anybody building a generic upright MAME cabinet to pursue Battlezone nostalgia is going to be sorely disappointed. Between the simulation of vector graphics, lack of the immersive scope view, and the ersatz control scheme provided by a general purpose control panel, you have too many things conspiring against you. Obviously it’s your choice what you do, but I’d question the wisdom of doing something specific (like a top fire joystick) just to play Battlezone, when the end result will still be so half-assed.
Another thing to think about is, if you put a top fire joystick on one side, you’ll probably want to do it on both sides. Maybe I’m wrong but I think twin stick games like Robotron and Smash TV would feel awful weird if you were using two different types of joystick.