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Best options for Pac-Man type joystick for PC?
TurboC--:
I had restored and converted an authentic Pac Man cabinet in 2005. Back then I was lucky to get donated a real Pac-Man joystick for which I refurbished the stem of the stick. I used an i-Pac at that time. It was easy to wire in the joystick and buttons. But it's over 16 years later. Didn't know what people used for the interface now.
Honestly, I'm quite dismayed that I can't simply go onto Amazon and buy a really good Pac-man arcade stick for a reasonable price, to just plug into my PC, instead of going through another "project." I guess the market for true Pac-man control isn't enough for them to mass produce anything good.
Are there any kits that would simply work with the Tornado Terry stick, mounting it easily, without me having to be some kind of craftsman / woodsmith? Also does the Tornado Terry have good reliability, and how much total cost am I looking at? TBH being 16 years older now, I'm really just over putting in a ton of effort for this. Especially since I worked for 3 months restoring the old cabinet. I just wanted to play a little Pac-man.
Phreakwars:
Personally I liked the old Silk sticks and tank sticks they used to sell. Used to have one, it was purple, can't remember the name. Bad ass but 8 way. Yeah, you pretty much need to just build your own control panel if you want it done right. Some use those cheap encoders I prefer the iPac since the iPac was something I used over 20 years ago. I was one of the first to get one. You see alot of commercialized arcade sticks now, but yeah, have yet to see one that compares to a home built one in terms of functionality and game play, but they look cool... I guess
bobbyb13:
It's a 40 year old game which uses tech the world has largely walked away from.
You are going to have to engineer, fabricate, or at least assemble something.
It's fun.
Stop resisting.
Buy an I-pac and that stick and make yourself a control panel.
If you restored a cabinet then this is easy stuff.
Grasshopper:
--- Quote from: TurboC-- on January 24, 2022, 05:58:02 am ---Are there any kits that would simply work with the Tornado Terry stick, mounting it easily, without me having to be some kind of craftsman / woodsmith? Also does the Tornado Terry have good reliability, and how much total cost am I looking at? TBH being 16 years older now, I'm really just over putting in a ton of effort for this. Especially since I worked for 3 months restoring the old cabinet. I just wanted to play a little Pac-man.
--- End quote ---
Unfortunately, most pre-built control panels these days come fitted with Japanese style joysticks (i.e. Sanwa, Seimitsu, or Chinese clones). There's nothing wrong with Japanese sticks, actually they're rather nice. But they generally feel very different to the types of joystick that were fitted to Pacman arcade cabinets, even when they're used with a diamond shaped restrictor.
Most of the Pacman style joysticks still made today are based around the Happ/IL standard which requires more space under the control panel.
If you don't want to build your own panel, then I'd be inclined to consider buying an Atari Arcade Fightstick.
https://www.amazon.com/Fightstick-Joystick-Controller-Raspberry-Trackball/dp/B089B6N6NB?th=1
They come fitted with clones of the Happ Super joysticks. So it's highly likely that you'll be able to swap one of the joysticks out for a Happ Reunion stick, or a Tornado Terry stick.
An X-Arcade panel might be another option. But personally, I think the Atari Arcade Fightstick looks nicer.
TurboC--:
$142 for that panel plus $30 for each tornado terry stick, plus having to modify it? :dizzy:
Nahhhh.
I saw that someone built an entire portable arcade with raspberry pi, case, display and controls for like $250.
Reallllly just wanted a decent little pac-man stick for my PC. I should just give up and plug in my old Wico leaf-switch stick through an atari 2600 adapter.
I had actually built an adapter for A2600 -> PC joystick port, maybe 20 years ago. But modern PCs don't have joyports, and I don't know if I trust my circuitry, heh.