Should I remove the 4-way from my frankenpanel?

[Donger]

Hello-

Due to time/monetary/budget contstraints, I've decided that it isn't feasible for me to create the desired swappable control panels.  Thus I'm faced with decisions on what controls to include in my 4 player Frankenpanel.

One major decision I'm faced with is whether I should eliminate the 4 way joystick from my plans.  CP real estate is obviously at a premium, so I need some opinions on this subject.  How well do the normal Happ Competition or Perfect 360 joysticks work with the old classic games?  Notably, pacman, galaga, etc...Is there a huge difference?

For those of you with a Frankenpanel, do the joysticks in the front interfere with your 'inner' set of controls and your gameplay?

Thanks in advance!

Donger

[SpamMe]

I had the same problem and decided the T-Stiks (switch to change from 4way to 8way) were a good compromise between control panel real-estate, and wanting absolutely every control ever made on my panel. It seemed like a small decision at the time, but I really am glad I didn't add a lot of controls to the panel so that I could play 1 or 2 more games (that i probably don't like anyway, frankly). I love having a little extra space, and not bonking into controls

Trackball and missing button have since been installed, btw, and I do plan on adding a spinner some time.

[TalkingOctopus]

I have 2 Happ P360's and a trackball on my panel.  While the P360's play the classics ok, they take some getting used to.  I really miss the 4  way joystick and would recommend that you find a spot for it.

[hooded_paladin]

why not use joystick restrictors from OSCAR to make your 8-ways into 4-ways when you need it?

[Hammerbot]

Unless you are really constrained on space, work the 4-way in.

Nothing pisses me off more than getting to the top of the screen in Donkey Kong on the mud pie level and getting whacked by a fire ball because I was playing an 8 way joystick that caused me to get stuck on a ladder.

They were meant to be played with a 4-way.

I wouldn't want to deal with rotating the plate on the back of my joysticks everytime I wanted to switch between games.  Takes the flow away from the "Hey, lets play Frogger right after this X-men game" idea.

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Actually I was thinking of swapping out one of my joysticks in my X-arcade for a Ultimarc T-stick...as I understand it you can just reach under the control panel and flick a button to change from 8-way to 4-way.  Since I have a slideout keyboard drawer under my controller it should be easy to reach under to switch it over

[Spaced Invader]

You might look at RandyT's new sticks...

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=13486