Best 4/8 way joystick for Pacman - Currently using Sanwa JLW but having issues

[ReaperZ]

Hey everyone,

My arcade joysticks have become a bit glitchy so im thinking of either replacing them, or swapping out all of the microswitches.  I generally play 4 way games like pacman / tetris, however I do sometimes play 8 way.

This is in a custom Arcade cabinet I've built, running a Pi 3b+, and Zero Delay encoders.

What I've got at the moment are Sanwa JLW with the square/diamond restrictor plate, and Servostiks to control switching from 4 way to 8 way
https://www.ultimarc.com/servostik.html

Would it be best to hunt out some genuine Sanwa microswitches with the Levers? Or is there a possible joystick upgrade I could consider?

Thanks all! 

[ReaperZ]

After more research, I'm going to stick with the JLW, as its often regarded the best 4 way with the rhombus restrictor plate is better than JLF.

Since theres no Sanwa lever microswitches available in NZ, and to buy the microswitches are $3 USD each, buying 8 to have a full set would be $24USD
Link : https://www.focusattack.com/sanwa-ms-o-2-187-fastener-micro-switch/

Then as postage is another $24USD, that's $48USD .

As I can locally source 2 brand new JLW joysticks in NZ for $51USD, I'm just going to replace the joysticks, meaning I'll have some spare parts too :-)

Hopefully this info is helpful to someone, somehow.

[TheNightfly]

Other than the glitchiness, how is the feel for Pacman?

[ReaperZ]

Other than the glitchiness, how is the feel for Pacman?

When in 4 way mode, when the JLW is working in a normal mode. its EXCELLENT. Score over 80-100k frequently , I'm fairly noob though.
Same with Tetris, its the best 4 way stick (when gated 4 way with the diamond) i've found

I've been using JLW for many years now