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Choosing the right joystick...So many options

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Dekieon:

I am trying to find the right joysticks to purchase and feel like i am drowning in choices. I know what I want, but can't find what I want.

First off, what are the better sticks available for my mame machine? Quality, feel, etc.

What I was looking at was Happ Ultimate, was gonna buy 3 (two 8 way, and one 4way), however the blue seems to be darker then the T-molding I want to get which is 3/4" Light Blue T-Molding.

Are these joysticks any good? can I replace the tops with a ball that will match my t-molding?

Are there better joysticks then the ones I was looking at?

I would like good sticks, that all look the same, and  can match my t-molding. Additionally I would like the wire connectors to be like those the Ultimate has, not the kind with the 5 pins all together like this.

I was also looking at Nui IL/Happ RGB Shaft Kit to put into the joysticks and make it light a light blue if i can't find the proper colour solid ball top.

Also I would like to know more about mounting plates. Do I need one? I am going to be making my control panel form 3/4" plywood.

Any help would be appreciated on this.



Dekieon:

sorry..I double posted

PL1:

Just so you know, Happ "Ultimate" is just a name, not a qualitative descriptor.   :lol

The big question is what types of games do you prefer?

Fighters, SHMUPS, old-school classics, etc. all play different with different sticks.


Scott

Gatt:

Happ Ultimates and Happ Competitions are regarded as generally good all around joysticks.  I believe you can replace the bat-top and shafts to your liking,  but it's going to be difficult to color match your joysticks to your T-molding,  if anything you really should be doing it the other way around.  Joysticks come in a very finite selection of colors,  and you're going to be hard pressed to find a different shade of blue.

What most sites offer is the same thing you're looking at there.

Better is a pretty subjective term,  and it depends heavily on what you want to do.  Most people would tell you to get one of the Ms.Pac Man reunion 4-ways or some other dedicated 4-way,  as the Happ Ultimate really wasn't designed as a 4-way stick in comparison.  You may also want to look into the Ultimarc Servo-stick,  it could save you the cost of a joystick,  and the GroovyGameGear.com 4-ways are also pretty well respected.

For dedicated fighters,  many people seem to swear by the Sanwa's.  For gameplay invovling the old analogue and 49-way games,  the Ultrastick 360 is probably the best bet.  Then there's flightsticks,  which is a completely different matter.

Mounting them is up to you,  you can do it from the top using carriage bolts that will show,  or from underneath using a mounting kit offered by many vendors. 

May I ask why you've chosen 3/4" plywood?  Finding a straight piece may not be easy,  and painting it or applying graphics will require a large amount of sanding to prepare it.  Many control panels are made of particle board, MDO, or MDF at this point,  as both of those are significantly easier to work with and are rarely warped.  I honestly wouldn't touch plywood for a control panel myself,  I'd personally use MDO or MDF.

Dekieon:

Well as far as the games I will be playing...it will be everything from Asteroids to Zaxxon, I have created a list of about 50 games I plan at having in the cab. Some examples are street fighter 2, gauntlet, pac man, bagman, frogger, excite bike, karate champ, double dragon, buster bros, etc. Quite a wide variety.

The reason I was gonna use 3/4" plywood, was because it is very strong, and much lighter then MDF. I thought about  particle board, but figured routering the grove for the T-Molding would be a problem.

I would also like to add that I would like to be able to remove the microswitches at some point to replace with leaf switchs


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