Games worth having an analog joystick for?

[BadMouth]

Not talking about a flight stick.  I have one of those and discovered that I don't like ANY of the jet flying games.

Are there any arcade games worth adding an analog joystick for? (plain old battop or similar)

I'm getting in the tinkering mood again.  I bought an analog stick out of a baseball game to mess around with.
It has a D shaped restrictor and is spring loaded in one direction, but it could be modified for full motion.
Not sure if any of the games it was used in are emulated. 
The real reason I bought it was to get the part numbers off the pots and see if I could make a DIY version incorporating Sanwa JLF or similar parts.

Was also eying N64 replacement joysticks: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANGDCDS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=37OS8ZOB96163&coliid=I83A4W4MXVE2U
Cheap and small enough to be unobtrusive on a CP.
The satisfaction of tinkering with it is probably worth $10 to me.

[Malenko]

if you had 2 you could play games like virtual on.  You say Analog, I think console games not arcade games.  Like geometry wars

[geeteoh]

Star Wars is top on my list. There is s more complete list here in our wiki on joysticks.

http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks

[BadMouth]

I have a panel with 2 trigger sticks.  Haven't really used it much, but the controls in Virtual On were screwed up in model 2 emulator.  IIRC, Howard's Troubleshooter 2 program addressed it, but I haven't gone back to give it a try.


There only seems to be a few regular joystick games in the wiki list.

The 49-way games look more interesting.
I'll have to bring them up in MAME and see if the controls are set up in such a way that they'd benefit from analog sticks.

[Minwah]

Not talking about a flight stick.  I have one of those and discovered that I don't like ANY of the jet flying games.

What about Space Harrier?

Flight sticks are a good alternative to yoke too...eg Star Wars as geeteoh mentioned. Thunder Ceptor is pretty good. Plus things like Paperboy...

I like Tunnel Hunt, although the calibration seems to be off.

Road Runner is worth a go - that's just a balltop type.

49-way games play well with an analog stick. If you like those, it's worth having an analog stick IMO.

[Jimbo]

I find playing starwars and space harrier with a trackball works pretty good!

[adder]

sega's hang-on
i find it's too hard/annoying playing with digital for that game

[PL1]

Thunder Ceptor
. . .
Tunnel Hunt

sega's hang-on

Added to wiki analog game list along with Super Hang-On.   


Scott

[PL1]

Added many positional gun games to the list as well.


Scott
EDIT: Enduro Racer, too.  Thanks, Adder.   

[adder]

oh and almost forgot
Sega's Enduro Racer
good game that, good fun          analog handlebars, but plays ok with digital controls also (unlike hang-on)

[DarthMarino]

The 49-way games as you mentioned such as Blitz and Gauntlet Legends/Dark Legacy.  There's the hall-effect games including Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters and I, Robot. Turret Tower is pretty fun.

[PL1]

Turret Tower is pretty fun.

Added.  You have the gift of understatement, DM. 


Scott

[DarthMarino]

More for the list:

Prop Cycle
Air Combat
Air Combat 22
Pool Shark
Warp Speed (prototype)
G-LOC Air Battle
Night Striker
Sky Raider
Metal Hawk
Shrike Avenger
Space Encounters
Tomcat
Strike Fighter

[PL1]

Added.  Quite the mixed bag with some real gems and a couple of "What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?" titles. 


Scott

[matsadona]

Well, there are Star wars games and there are Star wars games 

Star Wars - Atari 1983 : Analog yoke
Star Wars arcade - SEGA 1993 : Analog joystick (*2) and a throttle
Star Wars trilogy - SEGA 1998 : Analog joystick


Yes, there is also some pod racer game, but that doesn't count since it might get you thinking of Jar Jar Binks by accident   

[gildahl]

A key favorite for me is Tail Gunner.  Another is Sinistar (49-way)

Yeah, and I also wish they would fix the js calibration on Tunnel Hunt.

[DarthMarino]

Not sure what these qualify as but they work well with an Analog Stick:

Alpine Racer
Alpine Racer 2
Aqua Jet

[PL1]

Not sure what these qualify as but they work well with an Analog Stick:

Alpine Racer
Alpine Racer 2
Aqua Jet

The test I've been using for whether they belong on this wiki list is simple but requires a bit of research.

Does the game use either:
  1. Potentiometers or
  2. Hall-Effect joysticks

Operation Wolf uses an optical sensor (see upper right of pg 13 of the Operating Manual here) to determine whether the gun can "see" a target when the trigger is pulled -- it is operating as a lightgun so it doesn't make this list.

Operation Wolf 3 uses two potentiometers per gun (see pg 18, item 17 or pg 25, lower left of the manual here) to determine the X/Y coordinates that the gun is aimed at -- it is operating as a positional gun so it does make this list.

There is some more info about light guns and comparing them to positional guns here if anyone wants to learn a bit more about the subject.

Because of MAME's flexibility in handling inputs, a lightgun game like Operation Wolf will run pretty much the same as a positional gun game like Operation Wolf 3 using an analog joystick or trackball.

I might add a lightgun game list to the wiki as well, probably on this page, and cross-link it with the other game lists.

I probably should have started doing that yesterday.      

As to your question about Alpine Racer, pages 49 and 50 of the manual here show two potentiometers.

X-axis measures the flat horizontal pivot of the "ski" platform seen near the beginning of this video.

Y-axis measures the edge tilt as seen in the lower right attract mode video when it mentions that the steps are locked, but will be unlocked during gameplay.



Aqua Jet also qualifies because it has potentiometers on pgs 43 (pitch pot), 44 (accelerator pot), and 52 (yaw pot) of the manual here, plus the schematics on pgs 54 and 55.

You can see the player lift the control arm assembly and tilt the base like a giant joystick in this video.




Scott

[PL1]

I might add a lightgun game list to the wiki as well, probably on this page, and cross-link it with the other game lists.

17 games on the new list and cross-linked the new list to the other game lists inthe wiki.

http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Light_Guns#Lightgun_Games_List

Hat tip to BadMouth -- his list of mounted gun games posted here was a great help.   


Scott

[haynor666]

Topic a bit old but worth to refresh.


I have analog flight joystick and it works well for flight games like After Burner, Air Rescue. It does not work well however for Food Fight, Sinistar, Escape from the Planet of Robot Monsters or I, Robot. I was wondering what games uses actuall analog joystick but visually looks and plays as regular 8/4 way joystick? Sinistar and Food Fight actually has such one.

[RandyT]

Topic a bit old but worth to refresh.


I have analog flight joystick and it works well for flight games like After Burner, Air Rescue. It does not work well however for Food Fight, Sinistar, Escape from the Planet of Robot Monsters or I, Robot. I was wondering what games uses actuall analog joystick but visually looks and plays as regular 8/4 way joystick? Sinistar and Food Fight actually has such one.

Food Fight was analog, but Sinistar used the Williams version of a 49-way joystick.  While full analog sticks can be mapped to provide the same positional granularity as a 49-way stick, the 49-ways had their own unique feel in operation, due to the way they were built and some titles relied on this to an appreciable extent.  This cannot be replicated through software.

That said, any 49-way title can be played with analog, as well as those which used other types of analog controls, such as StarWars and similar.  But one analog-controlled game I used to play in my early youth was Tail Gunner.  It just used the stick for the aiming cursor, but it's more authentic with a stick than with a trackball.

[haynor666]

Interesting. I MAME stick is listed as analog. I knew about such joystick as 49 way but didn't know Sinistar uses such. Anyway since it's not possible to replicate this in MAME U360 wil have to suffice.