Just a fun little project for the Weekend.
Having got a Neo Geo CD the beginning of the year and finding out how hard to get and fragile the pads are for them I decided to get some fight sticks for it.
Having found the cost of AES sticks wayyy to much I decided I would build my own, Not just for the CD but also for the CMVS I have en route to me and potentially for a supergun in the future.
With that in mind I wanted to keep it fairly versatile.
So originally I was going to build some cases out of wood but then I found some 6 button fight stick cases from china for £10, For the price and the fact they will be less weight and work than the wood ones I decided to take a punt on them for the money. They came pretty promptly and they are reasonable quality.
My next thought was how I was going to connect it to the Neos, I had read that they have a deeper than normal DB15 connection and I have seen people who modified regular DB15 females to fit but that looked tacking IMO so I decided I would use a for purpose Neo Geo extension lead.
Now as the extensions are not that cheap for what they are and keeping in mind my versatility objective I decided to use a plug and play system where I could plug the extension lead into the fightstick but I did not want to have the plug on the back as there is no screw terminals to hold it in then it would probably unplug to easily during play.
So I decided I would mount a DB15 breakout board inside the stick case so I could easily unplug it in the future but not be pulled out by accident.
It also means I can easily change and add buttons etc in the future.
Next was components.
I went with the Sanwa JLF's with Octogate as I prefer these as a "all around" stick and due to the restricted depth of the stick case I went with Gold leaf buttons. I decided on the gold leafs as they are concave and shallow. I originally thought about using the Sanwa snap ins but the top plexi is to thick and of course they dont do concave which I really wanted on these sticks.
The start and select buttons are Sanwa though.
Next thing making up wires....
You all know how that goes...
Mounting and wiring phase - Yes the wires were tidied up afterwards
And completion!
Rinsed and repeated for the 2nd one.
I decided against any decals or anything to keep it neutral so they will be just staying black for now but they work great and I am happy enough with the quality of everything.
Wish there was a little more wrist space on the front but the edges are smooth so dont dig in your wrist.
The only thing I need to do now is find something to stop them sliding around on my lap (Anyone used anything with good results?)
But for now job done