DIY Controller recommendations

[go2ldook]

Planning a PC based MAME arcade cabinet. I have an Xarcade 2 player tankstick with the trackball, and generally have no problems with it, but keep reading the advantages of making your own in terms of higher quality parts. I certainly have the DIY skills to do this.

If cost is not a consideration (within reason), what would be the best as far as joystick, buttons, trackball, spinner and USB interface? Thinking Happ style like the tankstick I think, as I read the Sanwa are looser, but I could be convinced otherwise.

I am considering adding a spinner to my Xarcade. Even if I DIY my controller, I will likely keep the Xarcade, maybe for a smaller tabletop setup for my vacation home. They sell spinner kits. If anyone has experience with them vs adding a non-Xarcade spinner, please chime in on quality.

[severdhed]

i started  my arcade journey with an X-arcade (pre-tanksick, no trackball). it was a great controller and without it, i probably wouldn't have built my own.  I've tried a bunch of different components over the years, here are my thoughts:

Joysticks:  Sanwa JLW TM 8 is by far my favorite stick. it has a rotating restrictor plate that works very well in both 4 way and 8 way modes. (by default you have to loosen 4 screws to change it, but it can easily be modifed with some washers so that you can just rotate it whenever you want.  I have also tried the x-arcade sticks, happ super sticks, IL euro sticks, wico leaf switch sticks and Sanwa JLF.   the JLW is the best.

buttons. I prefer happ buttons. They are what i grew up with. I made a few sticks with Sanwa buttons and i hate them. they are way too soft and easy to press. if you breathe on them too hard they will register a button press.

Trackball:  I have tried a few. I had a wico trackball that was heavily used that came in a cabinet i bought. i think if it wasn't worn out, it would have been fine. I tried the Ultimarc U-Trak, it is nice, but isn't as smooth as some others. My current cabinet has a Electric Ice-T from Groovygamegear, it is AWESOME. we have a happ trackball in the cabinet at work, it is also awesome.  i would go with one of those

As for control interfaces, it depends on what software you want to use.  I have an Ipac4 in my cabinet a work, as well as my pedestal cabinet. I have a keywiz in my 2 player cabinet and it is aweseome as well.   you can't go wrong with either of those intefaces.  they both show up as a keyboard, however, they can lead to issues if using software other than mame.  I had steam running on my cabinet for the mortal kombat games, but they only allow one player to use the keyboard. in order to get two players i had to run an xbox controller emulator software to map keystrokes to a virtual gamepad to get two player games working..  If you go with separate gamepad type interfaces for each user, you can avoid this, but sometimes windows will change the order of them, which can mess up your controller mappings as well. 

SPinner:  I've only used two. one that i made myself using parts from an old hard drive and a ball mouse, and the turbo twist 2 from groovygamegear.  the turbotwist is awesome,  you can't go wrong with that one.


I did just order a 2.25" trackball/spinner combo from amazon today for my wall mount cabinet i'm currently getting ready to build, but i can't comment on that yet since it won't be here for a few weeks.