that moment-of-inertia is also what eventually ended up destroying the gearing. Changing directions after moving it quickly put big stresses on those tiny gear teeth
But that is Not why they failed. Ive owned a few destroyed Arkanoid spinners, that were part of a parts-lot sale.
It was easy to see, that the small shafts had "Play", due to the bearings or "Holes" that the shafts were mounted
into... were bored out of spec.
Since the smallest shaft deflection angles, caused such small gear teeth to be so far off from each other... the gears
quickly shredded themselves, and locked up completely.
If you forced the thing back and forth, sometimes you could keep it from seizing up for part of its rotation.
But it was very clear that there was no way to repair / restore these things.
Its not that different than the Classic Two-Way "Denfender" mini-sticks. Once the bearings started to wear,
the stick developed too much "Play". The parts were too loose, and would go at off-angles.. and create even
worse wear. Eventually, you had a control that was virtually (or completely) unusable.
The first things to wear were typically the bearings... but eventually, the shafts themselves, ended up
wearing to the point of no possible repair. You would simply have to replace everything.
Anything with small gears, needs the utmost precision with alignment. As said, larger toothed gears
have the ability to deal with some deflection issues, without too much issue, if at all.
Breakout used a potentiometer-based control, which by its nature, has a very small amount of resistance but is extremely smooth. Unfortunately, they suffer from mechanical wear, which leads to inaccuracy over time.
Pots are Analog, and by their very nature, have virtually Infinite values between their two ends.
And since there is no gear backlashing (gear slop / play), you are always getting a direct One-To-One, control input.
Where as Optical, is Digital.. and its resolution, is based on taking "samples per time unit". The higher the sample rate,
the higher the Resolution. Digital will always be inferior to the original analog values. But at a certain level, you are
taking so many samples per time unit... that the human senses, might never be able to tell the difference.
(Though... Id argue, that your subconscious mind, might be able to pick up the differences in Audio from a non-compressed Record,
vs a high resolution digital recording)
Pots are not merely used for certain games like Pong... but were far more often used in Arcade driving games,
with Gas, and Brake, pedals... as well as Analog Joysticks. They tend to last a good 5 to 9 yrs of Daily Arcade
abuses... before they eventually fail. And being that Arcades were opened 7 days a week, 15 hrs a day... thats
more than enough use to justify their wear issues.
That said... a game like Pong, where you are constantly moving the Pot in most of its travel, at aggressive speeds,
all day long... is very different from a gas pedal, where you often leave it fully depressed. Even when used for
steering wheels... you tend to move left to right... far less frantically, than what would occur in a game of Pong.
Hence, the combination of lower quality Pots that may have been used for Pong... combined with much
greater use per game, and more use of the Pots full length of travel... and you got much faster wear issues.
Very rarely do you ever see someone tossing out their Flight stick, due to a bad pot. Even mini-pots in
Thumb-Stick gamepads, rarely go bad, to the typical household gamer.
As a former manager at an Arcade, I have replaced bad pots in these machines. But many of these machines
were between 10 to 20 yrs old... and once you replaced one, you didnt have to worry about doing that again,
for another decade or so (unless you got a defective pot).
As a Note, I will add... that a lot of the pot based controllers, used Gearing with these pots. They were rarely
direct-drive... such was likely was the case, with the Pot for Pong. The gearing allowed more of the Pots
values to be utilized, thus, upping the resolution/values possible.
Therefore, the ideal control for a game in that genre is one which comes close to the feel of a quality potentiometer, without the negative aspects of that device.
This is sort of a dishonest take. You see... any "Resistance" that you add to an Optical spinner... is still going to
wear down. And in fact, depending on what you use for the resistance friction (and how much friction that you choose to apply)...
it might wear down far faster than any Pot ever would.
Furthermore, both the Pot and the Optical spinners... would likely have far less resistance than a Geared spinner.
But all of that is besides the point... Because the only Breakout games that use Pots, are mostly the older
1970s or earlier... black and white, arcade games.
One of the main reasons for not using Pots on games like Arkanoid, was due to the fact that the player might
over-crank the POT, and damage it. Sure, it might take a dude with insane grip to do this... or, some idiot
that used a pair of Pliers / adjustable wrench... but it probably happened to Arcade owners games... far more
times than people realize.
Also.. if anyone wants to make an actual Paddle controller for certain games that actually used one...
its simple as Pie. Just hack a standard PC joystick... and use a $10 pot, and place a knob on top.
Personally, I was always awful at Arkanoid... and I have not felt a PRIME working example, since I was
a little kid... to know the comparison in feel, and precision control.
I do know how geared 360 degree steering wheels feel and control, such as Sega's Turbo...
which worked smooth as butter... and were very high in control resolution. But these are a bit different,
in that you have much larger gearing, and much greater leverage forces, via the large wheel.
But IMO... sometimes its not merely about what works Universally "acceptable". Its about what matches
the original experience. If you can, for example... replicate the exact Resolution... so that the game
controls and plays 100% the same as the Original Arcade machine.
(or as close as possible, with potential improvements to certain failure points... such as upgraded materials
that do not wear as easily, superior rigid housing that doesnt flex / distort, any possible, in this case,
use of larger gears altogether)
There are in fact certain controllers that... while you can replace with generic controllers... will NEVER
come close to the feel and control of the real deal.
One of these is the sit down version of Race Drivin. That powerful FFB Dryer motor that is directly
attached to a large steering wheel with a full 3.5 rotations. That brake which used a Strain-Gauge
for precision FAR beyond a POT. That dual-pot based 6-Gear shifter, with perfect snap locking...
all create an experience that your generic PC wheel equipment, cant replicate.
Even Spy Hunter's wheel... is designed for you to Bump the baddies with Full human Strength force..
which would quickly destroy a modern plastic gaming wheel. At very least, it wont feel good doing it,
as you hear the thing creak and flex under those stresses.
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