Perfect 360

[snekse]

For someone who loves both fighting games and NFL Blitz, which is a better stick?  Are there any benefits to the Perfect 360

[hooded_paladin]

a perfect 360 is an 8-way digital joystick.  It has 1 degree of movement in each of the 4 directions.

A 49-way is a somewhat primitive analog joystick.  It has 3 degrees of movement in each of the 4 directions (when you combine the two axes, you get 7 x 7 = 49, hence the name)

You can't compare them.  Perfect 360s are good for normal arcade games.  49-ways are used for only a few games, namely sinistar.  They are also hard to interface to a computer, so you are better off getting a normal analog joystick if an analog stick is really what you want.

[TalkingOctopus]

The name perfect 360

[EggZilla]

I'm certain someone here can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm 99% sure that it's also true that nobody's incorporated support for a 49-way joystick into a keyboard encoder like an Ipac or KeyWiz.

On the other hand, I can personally attest that the Perfect 360's work perfectly with at least an Ipac.

[OSCAR]

I believe the 360 refers to the actuation of the joystick directionals.  The placement of the optics and the size of the 8-way actuator gives the stick equal actuation in all directions.

In other words, the UP direction is just as sensitive as UP-LEFT or DOWN-RIGHT, as compared to something like the Super where the diagonals make up ~ 70% of the joystick movement.  If that makes any sense....

Anyway, the 360's are very nice sticks for MAME cabs, although a bit pricey.  For my MAME cab, I prefer the 360's over others.  The Wico leafs get my vote for dedicated classic games, but you would probably be disappointed using them with fighters like SF or MvsC.  As mentioned, this is not really a fair comparison since there really isn't a good way to interface the 49-ways to a PC.

[hooded_paladin]

I'm certain someone here can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm 99% sure that it's also true that nobody's incorporated support for a 49-way joystick into a keyboard encoder like an Ipac or KeyWiz.

On the other hand, I can personally attest that the Perfect 360's work perfectly with at least an Ipac.

there IS a circuit to hook up a 49-way joystick to the gameport to act as an imprecise analog joystick.  I don't know where it is or of anyone who has done this.

[TalkingOctopus]

I own 2 P360's myself and am pleased with them... I only really have super's to compare them too though.

[snekse]

This is all very helpful.  Thanks!

Looks like I'll be playing Blitz with 360's.  I guess my orginal question was more of how the 49's registered corners (did you have to be right on?) but the interface issues and the fact that the 360's are just nifty 8 ways clarifies matters.

Thanks again everyone.

[hooded_paladin]

This is all very helpful.  Thanks!

Looks like I'll be playing Blitz with 360's.  I guess my orginal question was more of how the 49's registered corners (did you have to be right on?) but the interface issues and the fact that the 360's are just nifty 8 ways clarifies matters.

Thanks again everyone.

ANALOG joystick ... as in sure there are corners but that's not the point of using an analog joystick.  Analog joysticks have more than one speed/magnitude/tilt and more than 8 directions possible but won't work right for normal arcade games.

If you don't get the concept, just get an 8-way, it's the first control needed on a cabinet anyway.

[snekse]

 

Dude.  I understand what the hell an analog joystick is.  What I DON'T know, is how a game that is expecting a 4 way will respond to the data the analog stick is feeding it.  

So if I push left, but I go up slightly on my movement, is it going to register left, or is it going to think that since I accidently went up by 2 degrees first on my way over that it thinks I mean up?  Since it's analog and there are varying degrees of each direction, how much travel room do I have before it registers?

Basically I'm assuming the 49's work much like the "analog" controls on a PS2 controller.  If I'm wrong, fine.  Either way I'm not considering them at this point.

NOTE: I'm assuming at this point that for the 360's you have to move the stick a certain amount before it will register.  Like it's not going to register any movement until it's traveled at least 10 mm in any direction.  Again, if I am wrong, please let me know.  Then I'll just switch to a basic stick.

[hooded_paladin]

Dude.  I understand what the hell an analog joystick is.  What I DON'T know, is how a game that is expecting a 4 way will respond to the data the analog stick is feeding it.

Oh, okay (eh, there ARE some real newbies on this board)
that has to do with MAME's handling of analog joysticks.  It sets a deadzone, so that once you go past a certain distance on one axis it registers that direction as a digital joystick direction.
But you definitely want a digital joystick as your main one.  Otherwise we'd all still be playing pac-man on our flight sticks.

And it's not like perfect 360's have a big difference in travel from the standard microswitch ones.  They just are sensitive and quiet.