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Rotary controller
Elevator-Action:
I'm pretty new to MAME and have two mayflash f300 elite sticks, but I want to play games like "Front Line", "Wild West", and of course "Ikari Warriors". What do you recommend for a controller?
PL1:
--- Quote from: Elevator-Action on July 23, 2020, 10:39:42 pm ---I want to play games like "Front Line", "Wild West", and of course "Ikari Warriors". What do you recommend for a controller?
--- End quote ---
You're talking about two very different controllers for those games.
The wiki's Joystick Database has pictures of the Taito Aim-n-Fire and a similar controller used on some Nintendo games.
Taito:
Nintendo (?):
There are six games that used this type of controller:
- Front Line
- The Tin Star
- Wild Western
- Sheriff (Nintendo)
- Bandido (Exidy -- licensed re-release of Sheriff)
- Western Gun Part II (Taito -- licensed re-release of Sheriff)
The controller acts like a joystick that is always pressed in the direction that the knob points.
- Twist to aim.
- Press to fire.
The originals are very expensive, but there's a guy selling several repro versions of this control on e-bay.
- Some are not original size and they're not cheap, but they might be an option.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-LINE-ARCADE-ROTARY-SWITCH-IN-MINIATURE/164148979716
Another option is to play these games on a Robotron-style dual-stick setup.
- Left stick for movement.
- Right stick for aim and map all four directions to fire in MAME.
Any keyboard or gamepad encoder will work for this setup.
List of dual-stick games: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Games_with_Dual_Joysticks
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Ikari Warriors uses a mechanical rotary joystick -- an 8-way stick with a 12-position rotary switch on the bottom.
LS-30:
Happ mechanical rotary stick: (Part # 50-5618-00)
There are about two dozen games that use this type of controller.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29
*** Scroll down on that page for important MAME settings for these games. ***
For this type of stick, you'll need either a rotary encoder or Ultimarc has a diagram showing how to use diodes to convert the rotary switch connections into a quadrature waveform readable by an optical (mouse) encoder.
Scott
BadMouth:
I prefer to map Axis Dec (turn left) to a button I hit with my thumb and Axis Inc (turn right) to a button I hit with my ring finger. Index finger is fire and middle finger is grenade.
You must set the analog options correctly for button presses to result in the character turning one notch per press.
Those setting are in the wiki or at the bottom of the first post here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=149734.msg1563378.msg#1563378
Howard_Casto:
This is my catch phrase these days, but I'm working on it guys... I just can't do anything until I have the house in order and I'm mostly moved in. PL1 has done some excellent 3d models of both the snk and dataeast rotary stick tops and there are also printable kits to convert standard joysticks to rotary sticks.... the rotary switch/rotary encoder and the software are the key components for making a repeatable kit and I want to tackle that part... making a system of hardware/software that can be bought inexpensively and built easily. Anyway it's on the list... hopefully I get to it before I die. :cheers:
Ginsonic:
Just in case, if you own a 3D printer and you did not see this ;)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,153219.0.html