2 x IKARI Joysticks

[rchadd]

Just seen this ad on ebay and thought it might be of interest to somebody...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=3289671346&rd=1

[glitch77]

What brand are those? Not SNK.

[spidermonkey]

Those are the Data East rotary joysticks which were made by Wico. They usually have a capital "DE' (Data East) embossed on the top of the knob. They're basically regular Wico leaf switch joysticks with a rotary attatchment on the bottom and a yellow LS-30 look alike knob. Occasionally they came with green knobs as well.  Personally, I like the SNK LS-30 sticks better. The real LS-30's have a nicer more distinct click feeling when rotating them. The Wico/Data East sticks have a slightly spongy click to them. I also like the hex shaped knobs on the ls-30s better then the smooth round knobs found on the Wicos. Wico also made yellow balltop rotarys to which were even harder to grip onto if your hands were the slightest bit sweaty. The SNK LS-30S are microswitch joysticks while the Wicos are leafswitch. I'm not bad mouthing leafswitches. I actually prefer leafswitch joysticks over microswitch sticks any day of the week but for rotary sticks I personally think the SNK LS-30 microswitch sticks are superior in almost every way to the Wico/Data East counterparts. I have LS-30s on my second cab and my cousin just made a desktop controller using the Wico/Data East sticks (exact same type that are pictured in the auction)  He get em on Ebay too. He saw the yellow cylindrical knobs and automatically thought that they were SNK's like mine. Even after he received them he insisted that they were the same exact sticks as mine because the seller told him that SNK offered the sticks with both hex shaped AND smooth style knobs. I had to show him the underside of my control panel before he realized that his were Wicos. LS-30s bases look totally different then the Wico look alikes. He is also dissappointed with the way they feel compared to mine too and its not because his are used and mine are new either because the sticks he got were NOS in the box but they just don't feel quite as good as the real deal SNK sticks. Okay.. probably more info then you really need but I'm just trying to give people a heads up comparison between the too. If you've never played on a game with SNK sticks then you'll probably be happy with the Wicos since you have nothing to compare them to but if you grew up on the Ikari Warriors trilogy games (all three games used LS-30s) then you may be slightly let down with the performance if the Wico look alikes.