Unfortunately, my 49-way joysticks are currently out of service. After more than a decade of informal polling of dozens of users of the sticks, along with your GP-49 encoders, the nearly unanimous verdict was that people preferred microswitch joysticks. The 49 ways just don't snap back to center fast enough for games like Frogger and the non-restricted long throw makes them difficult to play 4 way games like Ms. Pacman at a higher level. People who don't know arcade games at all would immediately notice that the sticks aren't ideal. Unfortunately, Sinistar isn't that big of a draw, just too repetitive and difficult.
So, yeah, I may reinstall them one day, especially considering that I have the rotary mods for Ikari Warriors, but I don't love the idea of rubber grommet centering for general arcade play. If those are springs on the A1Up sticks, then that seems potentially appealing.
49 Way sticks, were never designed for standard use sticks. They are basically an Analog stick, that uses digital means,
likely for better reliability... lowered costs... and sticks that could be made much smaller than typical analog sticks
of the Era.
I will say that most all of the classics 80s games, used Wico Leafswitch sticks, which used a rubber grommet.
They are mushy, and that is actually Good thing, on these older games.
When you slam a happs competition microswitch stick to the furthest edges.. you get a very hard Clashing Impact.
Not only does this make a lot of noise... but the constant Hard Impacts, eventually translates to much greater hand fatigue.
The Grommet, and Leaf-Spring switches, greatly reduce impact potentials, and greatly dampen the impact forces
through the stick, to your hands. This makes them nearly silent, and buttery soft / smooth. Easily able to play
for extended periods of time, with far less stress and strain.
All of that said... Grommet Leaf-Switch sticks, are not for every type of game. In a fighting game... where you need
extremely accurate movements to produce the Specials.. is not going to work well. As you might accidentally hit a
diagonal... and never really know it, because you dont "Feel" it. This is why sticks like the Comps, with their Squared
gate, and defining microswitch Clicks... and off-axis stick travel.. greatly aid the player in "Feel" and accurate control,
with these specific types of movements.
Leafs are best for games like Robotron... where the player is constantly moving the stick in a certain direction, rather
than doing something like "Back-Back-Forwards".
As Randy basically said.. Pacman, and Frogger, NEED a true restricted 4-way solution. The diamond shape literally
cuts the corners, making your movements much faster, smoother, and more accurate.
Imagine if you were playing baseball... but instead of running the diamond shape... they drew a square around the
field, and told you (and only you) ... that you had to run around the square, rather than the diamond. This would
greatly increase your time, in running to each base.
While you might do a semi decent job of keeping the stick moving in diagonals, rather than accidentally first rolling
into the corners... you will likely always end up being off, and messing up your timings... just enough that you will
end up missing the critically timed Turns that you needed to pull off, in order to survive.
As Randy also said, that Leafs activate well before full travel. This is less critical on the sticks.. but far more
critical on Leaf Buttons. This was actually a design feature.
With leaf buttons... they would not activate with a small amount of travel / pressure... to prevent accidental
button presses when simply resting your fingers on the buttons. Mid travel, the leafs would touch, causing
activation. After that point... the leafs would be increasing in additive resistance, helping to prevent you from
bottoming out your button press. Bottoming out, is again.. another instance where you would gain a lot of
energy and speed losses.. as well as much more noise and fatigue issues. You can bottom them out... but
the skilled players would find the buttons activation point.. and then very lightly bounce or Vibrate, to allow
the leafs to connect and disconnect. I call it "Feathering" the buttons.
If you feather, you can reach a much faster rate of fire.. and you will experience virtually no fatigue at all.
In comparison, try Galaga, or even better, Halley's Comet... and compare how much more effort it takes
to play them.. on standards Happs microswitches, compared to standard original Leafswitch buttons
(while using the feathering method... and not bottoming out).
If you do not care for Sinistar, then there is virtually no reason for anyone to have a dedicated 49way.
A mini-analog, would better suit many of the games that would require one.
But if you want to play Sinistar well at all... then there is no substitute for a
Rubber Grommet + Rubber Centering "Cross" . Standard metal springs, dont have enough additive resistance,
and so you will end up easily over-shooting your target.
In fact... in my home made analog based 49-way solution... I made mine with probably 5 times the rubber-X
resistance levels. This makes it extremely easy to stay within the center of the stick.. requiring nearly a
"Zero Dead-Zone" value. The stick stays perfectly centered, and you can make the most accurate and
articulate, graceful movements... to easily collect the crystals, without over-shooting them.
It takes a LOT more pressure to move the stick to 2nd gear level of speed... and even more, to hit full power.
But thats a GREAT thing in this game... because it prevents you from accidentally going warp speed. And
while its certainly more effort when going full tilt... you often are not going full tilt much in the game, and often,
only for a brief moment. That said... its not the difficult to hold the stick fully to the edge. You have plenty of
leverage to do so.
The way mine feels.. is somewhat similar to how Race Driving Strain Gauge works. With RD, one you press the brake
peddle to the floor... you reach a certain brake value. But if you press down really hard... despite being end
of travel... the metal of the pedal is strained, and the strain gauge picks up just how much pressure you are
putting down. The levels of its accuracy, go WAY beyond a typical Arcade POT based solution.
While my stick does in fact move quite a bit, its extremely rigid.. and yet, even the slightest of pressure, causes the values
to shift... which acts somewhat similar to how the Strain Gauge reacts.
This level of resistance might not work well for games that require constant full throttle... or game that requite "full"
quick left to right movements, often. But for Sinistar, my designs added resistance, actually is far Superior to the
original sticks user control level experience.
(Mine uses bike inner tubes, doubled up, for the rubber X "spring" )
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Topic: options for 49 way joysticks? (Read 4997 times)
