Product inquiry: 4 way + rotational

[Generic Eric]

So I finally popped open my Ms Pac Man plug & play.  It has an interesting 4 way with spring restricter that looks to restrict a potentiometer.

Anyway, has anyone attempted such at thing?

[jaharr01]

can you take a picture of the guts?

[Generic Eric]

can you take a picture of the guts?

Sure would like a 3d printer at this point.  It looks like a cradle is just holding the a potentiometer inside a base snug against a joystick shaft, so that it can hold the pot in place while the user rotates the stick.

[Xiaou2]

Most center sprung pot based games are geared, for higher resolution... and reduced travel.

 Being that your wrist has very limited wrist travel....gearing would definitely be needed.

 However, why not just use an optical rotary stick instead?  (Even then, a geared mod would be better for many games.

 The spring motion might also cause playabily Issues in non-rotational games... ie:   if you accidentally wind it up... and it lets loose in a way that loses you a life. (In game.  :p  )

[BadMouth]

Is that for the steering when playing pole position?

It would be a neat concept for a MAME cab.

[Generic Eric]

Is that for the steering when playing pole position?

It would be a neat concept for a MAME cab.

It is.  This should be thing.  I'm going to pull it apart eventually.  For now, I'm having too much fun playing.  I might need to get another   I wish I would have got a cart full of these back in the day.

[JimmyU]

Is that for the steering when playing pole position?

It would be a neat concept for a MAME cab.

It is.  This should be thing.  I'm going to pull it apart eventually.  For now, I'm having too much fun playing.  I might need to get another   I wish I would have got a cart full of these back in the day.

Those plug and play games were super popular for 1-2 years and then they just vanished. I think I have an old Golden Tee one floating around.

[yotsuya]

Is that for the steering when playing pole position?

It would be a neat concept for a MAME cab.

It is.  This should be thing.  I'm going to pull it apart eventually.  For now, I'm having too much fun playing.  I might need to get another   I wish I would have got a cart full of these back in the day.

Yeah, that Ms. Pac-Man one is very well done. I wish the Atari one had a similar level of emulation.

[BadMouth]

I wish the Atari one had a similar level of emulation.

I have the Atari one.  I've played maybe 4 minutes total on it.
It goes from "this will be fun" to
"this is not fun.  I thought this would be fun."

[Slippyblade]

Thread.... Rise from your grave!

I just picked up one of these from Goodwill for $4.  Works great.  Was there any luck anywhere about hacking up the rotary interface to work on a cab though?

[BadMouth]

Thread.... Rise from your grave!

I just picked up one of these from Goodwill for $4.  Works great.  Was there any luck anywhere about hacking up the rotary interface to work on a cab though?

You'd just wire the potentiometer to a U-HID, A-Pac, or if it's a 10k pot that shows 5k when centered, you could hack it to a generic gamepad.  With any of those options it will show up as an analog joystick axis.

You wouldn't get the true rotary action on games like ikari warriors.  Basically you'd have to map it so moving the joystick in a direction is the same as holding down the button to move in that direction.
It's not really a rotary interface.  It's a limited rotation dial.
The original rotary sticks were either a 12 way switch or optical encoder that spun all the way around.
You can get away with using an optical encoder for everything in MAME by adjusting the sensitivity setting under analog controls.

[Slippyblade]

While I appreciate the feedback, I think you interpreted my question backwards.  I was meaning hacking the brains of this to real controls since the stick and buttons on these things kind of suck.

[Xiaou2]

I picked one of these up used dirt cheap.. but like mentioned... there are issues with enjoying it.

 1)   Microswitches.   The thing is SUPER Loud, stiff and harsh Feeling.  Not smooth, quiet, and buttery... like the real leafswitch + rubber grommet controllers.

This basically killed my enjoyment within a few moments of testing it out.

 2)  Twist steer.   While a nice concept idea... Pole Position was a 360 degree optical wheel,  using gearing for high resolution.   While the analog twist does work.. its stiff spring, and limited twist travel...  it makes it hard to get any joy out of the game.

 Furthermore, greater skill challenge of the 360 degree wheel, with its greater control, and smoother/cooler feel  ...  is what you really are craving when you want to play pole position.

 Add to this a lack of an analog pedal...and it reduces things further.   Although, the digital pedal is far less a problem, than the wheel... and micros.

 3)  While my collection has some good games,  its got almost every pacman game except Ms Pacman.  //(-_-)\\   Professor Pacman?   Forget that.   I want Ms Pacman... with Speedup hack options on all of them.

 Hacking these things with leafs, would help greatly.
If theres a way to get an optical spinner to  work... then you would really start to have something interesting.
And ugg.. if only these things had a mini hdmi, component, svid, and or rgb pinout,  Composite is butchery.

----- Thread Topic  ------

 Making an  "optical"  rotary hack to almost any existing stick, shouldnt be that difficult.
Its basically a shaft coupler,  and an extended guide arm.

 A mechanical rotary, can be a a bit more advanced / difficult... due to finding the correct switch, with proper tension, and possible orientation alignment issues.   A hex shaped handle is also advised.. for good turning leverage.