All-around rotary solution?

[placroix74]

Hello,

I've built myself a cabinet with joysticks only, but am now looking into ways of enabling driving/paddle games and those with a rotary joystick for aiming as well, on a small-sized control board.

My holy grail would be a single upgrade for all of them. I had originally spotted this : https://www.ultimarc.com/arcade-controls/joystick-accessories/ikari-12-way-rotary-upgrade-for-servostik-j-stik/, but (correct me if I'm wrong) this rotary upgrade is :

• Not continuous ("Rotary movement issues a keystroke or gamepad button press for each of 12 clicks")
• Has only 12 signals per revolution, which is way lower than most numbers found here : https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Spinner_Turn_Count
  

... making it useless for anything other than aiming.

I expect that :

• a separate spinner could be OK for driving/paddle, but clunky for aiming;
• aiming can be replicated with buttons.

Is there a way to do this without a dedicated spinner? Am I hunting for a unicorn?

Thank you

[PL1]

I've built myself a cabinet with joysticks only, but am now looking into ways of enabling driving/paddle games and those with a rotary joystick for aiming as well, on a small-sized control board.

My holy grail would be a single upgrade for all of them.

Is there a way to do this without a dedicated spinner? Am I hunting for a unicorn?

If you're trying to cover all of the games in those categories, you are indeed hunting for a unicorn.

You can find some control combinations that will work well enough for some of the games, but there will be compromises and some games like Arkanoid will never play well without a dedicated high resolution spinner.  What games are on your "can't live without it" list?
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#What_type_of_build_meets_my_needs.3F

You may want to look into this GRS rotary joystick.
- It has switchable modes/handles for the "clicky" games like Ikari Warriors (mechanical rotary games) or "non-clicky" games like Caliber .50.
- It also has push/pull switches for games like Discs of Tron and Forgotten Worlds.



You will need to configure your settings in MAME, especially for the mechanical rotary joystick games.   
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#MAME_Settings_for_Mechanical_Rotary_Joysticks


Scott