Rotating joystick for Qbert project

Main > Project Announcements

<< < (4/4)

Xiaou2:

--- Quote --- i had a wico stick once that came in a DK cabinet, i hated it. it was so stiff and hard to move, i want to play games, not get a forearm workout.
--- End quote ---

I used to have the same Opinion as you... and so when I became a Manager at an Arcade (in the 90s), I sadly started replacing
all leaf controls with Microswitches. I got complaints immediately... even by one of my Staff, whom refused to play Galaga
anymore... because of it (it was one of his favorite games, that he played daily).

I was shocked at first... as I couldnt understand why he would be so against the Microswitches. Especially because the leafs
often had to be cleaned.. and even sometimes adjusted.

He revealed that it was much more Fatiguing to keep firing a microswitch button, compared to a leafswitch button. I didnt really
understand how that could be... until some time, much later... And this description below, reveals why:

The thing about Leaf controls... is that you dont have to move them to the full travel length, to get them to Activate

With a Pinball style leaf button... you can fire like 3 times faster... and can maintain maximum fire rate.. for over an hour
without ANY fatigue. You cant do that with a Microswitch button. With a microswitch, you will be fatigued in about 3 minutes tops...
and you wont be able to maintain maximum speed.

But here is the problem... Most people are ignorant about how far you have to press a Leaf Button. They press it until it bottomed out,
which is like 40% too far. The two leafs touch, at about half the travel of the button. Once you get them to touch... all you have to do
is lightly Vibrate your finger, to get the leafs to toggle on/off (within the distance of like a single thickness of paper). It takes no effort
at all.

Leaf Sticks are a similar. The rubber resistance gets strong near the very end of the travel of the stick. If you choose to use heavy
power / force.. you can keep the stick at the very edges... but you dont really need to press that far to move your character / change
directions.

Then why would they have that additional travel? That is to prevent Damage to the stick.. and to reduce Impact Vibrations,
into your hand. If you suddenly jolted the stick to its maximum extremes.. out of fear of being hit... the rubber Vastly
reduces the impact of the stick to the restrictive side-walls.

For a game like Robotron... these sticks are a Necessity, because in that game, you are escaping death by a mere pixel or two.. every
two to three seconds. You need the smallest amount of activation distances... so that you can be able to reverse directions
faster (to juke / avoid running into a projectile)

A Happs super Stick, doesnt even compare. The super has a much longer travel before the microswitches activate. That results
in a longer time delay... and often leads to you getting Hit... instead of avoiding the projectile.

So... this is a common issue, with people (like my former self), that were simply not using Leaf Controls, as they were Intended
to be used. And once I learned how to operate them properly... my performance and comfort levels.. FAR exceeded what I could
do with modern Microswitch based controls.

Btw - Have you tried the game Mad Planets ? If there was ever a case for having a top mounted fire button.. so be able to be
used with a spinner... I think that game would be the deciding point.

Tron and Mad Planets are Both Vertical games. Maybe you are thinking about "Discs of Tron" which is Horizontal.

Tron is a little Frustrating, because the lightcycle stage can be brutally unfair... unless you memorize certain patterns.
Its still a very fun game... despite this. But something like Mad Planets, does not suffer from that unfair balance issue.

There might be a few others, where a top button would help... but I cant recall at this time.

Anyway, its your cab... so do as you please. But I would highly advise learning how to "Feather" a leaf button... and to
learn the true Joys and benefits of leaf controls. As Once you figure them out... you wont want to go back to using
microswitches on classic games. Only exception, are Fighting Games, with require Microswitches.

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version