How to "accurately" reproduce Sinistar play on a Cab in MAME?

[nipsmg]

Hi everyone.  I've gotten to the point in my project where the cab is totally built, and I only need to build the control panel and put it on.  I'm thinking of making detachable panels.  One HUGE request from my cousin was that I build a panel that would allow him to play sinistar, more or less faithfully.. I know that sinistar used the 49 way joystick, and there aren't any (that I know of) interfaces for this.

Does anyone know of a way to pretty accurately reproduce sinistar's play?   Use an Analog joystick? Which one? How to interface? Etc... any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

--NipsMG

[rampy]

I believe xioau2 made an approximation of the sinistar stick... xiaou2's arcade site (you'll need to scroll down the pics to see what he did)

he used an analog stick and some bicycle inner tubes (no really) to create the increasing resistance "feel" of sinistar...

link coming shortly --->here's a thread

rampy

[steve_pss]

The 49 way optical used by Sinistar was used in a number of other games as well. I might try klov.com, ebay and google to track one down.

I think happscontrols.com also sells these but i can't vouch for feel. i think you'll need analog mame to support the stick but thats a question for someone else.

[SirPoonga]

There are two ways to do it.

1) Use an analog stick.

2) use analog mame and a 49way stick hookedup to a keyboard encoder.

[nipsmg]

I don't mind using an analog stick.  Does anyone have recommendations for one, and how to interface it?

Thanks!

[Lilwolf]

None of them out of the box will work well.

And sinister sticks currently don't work with analog+ (only the happs ones because of open/closed issues he says).

almost EVERY analog arcade stick is a flight stick... and they stink for sinister.  

Then  you are stuck with PC ones... and you need something like the spider.  remember... you actually had to press down hard to get it to move fast.  without that, you are going to be playing similar to a 8way (always running at full speed).

[Tailgunner]

Sounds like the old Thrustmaster Pro FCS would make a good analog stick for Sinistar. It's springs were much harder than what's normal for a PC joystick as it was designed to simulate a plane with hydraulic controls.

[paigeoliver]

Wait, I thought that Mame analog+ supported all 49-way sticks? I have a pair of Arch Rivals ones, and I talked quite a bit with the analog+ guy and he never mentioned that they wouldn't work.

The reason a flight stick would be sucky for Sinistar and other 49-way games is because on a 49-way joystick the pivot point is a couple inches down from the ball, in the middle of the shaft, while flight sticks pivot at the bottom of a much longer shaft. So basically you have to move them too far.

I wonder if some genius out there could rip up a cheapo analog PC stick and a Wico balltop and mate the two of them?

[Lilwolf]

This is just what I read... I haven't been able to test it yet.

There is a rumor that there is a sinister joystick on the way to Robin for testing.    But it seems like there is a no/nc issue on some of the sticks.

[SirPoonga]

Well, int he mame code the sinistar driver handles 49ways differently than the arch rivals driver.