What did Midway games use as far as joystick?

[blueoakleyz]

Like Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam etc.... as far as I can tell, they were Happs Ultimate joysticks.

As far as Ultimates go, are they good? I own them and I think they're fine and traditional..

[paigeoliver]

It actually varied a lot, although Ultimates did seem to be the most common ones on dedicated units. Conversion ones could have anything.

[Puds]

I went with competition just because I originally thought xarcade joysticks could cut it but they stick in one direction and are Horrible for anything but 4 player beatumups.  With the square actuator anyone who has never played a fighting game can learn moves and combos almost immediately.  Never tried ultimates or supers but Im convinced I would be happy with anything that Happ provides.

[Tiger-Heli]

Like Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam etc.... as far as I can tell, they were Happs Ultimate joysticks.

As far as Ultimates go, are they good? I own them and I think they're fine and traditional..

Modified Competitions, AFAIK according to OSCAR:

From my notes from an old BYOAC post (prices might be out of date):

OSCAR - "An old time tech that I know told me that the Comp

[blueoakleyz]

Ok I e-mailed Midway as well as went to my school's arcade today and compared my ultimate joystick shaft with the shafts in other arcade games with similar looking joysticks (obvious difference between these and supers) even where one machine look like a converted Midway/MK machine and they all had a thicker shaft and lighter color blue which I remember being like my competition so I'm led to believe these WERE the more common joystick, can anyone else back this up?

Given that, which basically means the Ultimate joystick wasn't really common in arcades and given the poor reviews people have given it (I find it to be great but I guess that only means the others are better?), should I use a competition or ultimate joystick in my PS2-Arcade machine (modeled after an MK cabinet, but meant to play a wide array of games from Tekken to MK to street fighter to Pac-Man to Galaga etc)?

Does the Ultimate have any all-around advantages over competition? Or is competition just as good or better for all-around play?

[Tiger-Heli]

Does the Ultimate have any all-around advantages over competition? Or is competition just as good or better for all-around play?

I assume you've read :  http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview1.shtml

[blueoakleyz]

well I did but there were just some answers that I couldn't find,
like how did the competition perform in 4-way games? is there any one area where ultimate is better than competition? or is competition basically allaround better

[paigeoliver]

No 8-way stick performs AT ALL in 4-way games.  

4 way games are made for 4-way joysticks. The software in the original rom does not know what to do when sent more than one direction at a time.

Anyone who thinks any 8-way stick is adequate for 4-way games only thinks that because they don't have access to a 4-way stick.

If you don't believe me, go play Super Zola Pac-Gal with an 8way, I dare you!  

[blueoakleyz]

nah I'm not gonna deny it but hey what can I do about it right now.. I am thinking about getting a Ms. Pacman joystick (I'm in love with it lol) and making a seperate control panel until I can actually build a new cabinet for her/Galaga.
But I can still play the games with an 8 way at least

[Tiger-Heli]

nah I'm not gonna deny it but hey what can I do about it right now.. I am thinking about getting a Ms. Pacman joystick (I'm in love with it lol) and making a seperate control panel until I can actually build a new cabinet for her/Galaga.
But I can still play the games with an 8 way at least

You might prefer using the keyboard arrow keys to using an 8-way, though.  It IS that bad.

Didn't connect that you were in the CP design thread.

You have four options -

T-Stick Plus or Omni-Stik Prodigy

Dedicated 4-way wired in parallel with P1 8-Way.

Dedicated 4-way on separate panel.

OSCAR used to sell restrictors that limited Comps to 4-way motion, but I dunno if he still has them.

[Stingray]

Omni-Stik Prodigy

I have a prodigy on one of my CPs and highly recomend it if you're thinking of picking up a switchable 4/8 way.

-S

[RayB]

Geez, you guys have me rethinking my panel again! I have only room for one controller in the middle of my panel. I was gonna make it a spinner, but all this talk of how important 4-ways are..... Makes me think I should have a 4-way in the middle now!

[blueoakleyz]

Ya I was thinking that if I ever convert my PS2 cabinet (what I"m building right now) into a really nice Mame system, it'd have a similar control setup but there'd be a red-Ms. Pac-Man controller in the middle.

[blueoakleyz]

I just got a reply from Happs (excellent customer service)

"Hi, Dennis!!

I have some answers for you!
Mortal Kombat 3 Joystick is the following p/n: 50-6071-10, Competition
J/S
8W Gold MS, Heavy Spring, Red.  The Price on this is $18.05/each.

As for the NBA Jam, as well as other Midway games, they use the
Competition
J/S.  Some will use the gold microswitches, but are not required.  It
is
just a better quality microswitch than the silver."

So a heavy spring and gold microswitches, were the gold for just better contacts? Are they needed?
And the heavy spring helps the 0/90/180/270 positions?

[SOAPboy]

No 8-way stick performs AT ALL in 4-way games.  

4 way games are made for 4-way joysticks. The software in the original rom does not know what to do when sent more than one direction at a time.

Anyone who thinks any 8-way stick is adequate for 4-way games only thinks that because they don't have access to a 4-way stick.

If you don't believe me, go play Super Zola Pac-Gal with an 8way, I dare you!  

pacman was 4 wayt right? and kangaroo? they play fine to me on a 8 way.. my only "problem" with the 8 way is once in a blue mood i hit a diag..

[daywane]

pacman was 4 wayt right? and kangaroo? they play fine to me on a 8 way.. my only "problem" with the 8 way is once in a blue mood i hit a diag..

if you had a 4 way you would never even touch the 8 way for 4 way games again.
my wife would not even play Mspac untill I put in a 4 way
8 way just pissed her off and plain refused to play it after the first try.

[Tiger-Heli]

So a heavy spring and gold microswitches, were the gold for just better contacts? Are they needed?
And the heavy spring helps the 0/90/180/270 positions?

Cool, Happ said the same thing I told you about 5 replies above  

Now go read my reply again.

The heavy spring helps the return to center.  The microswitches activate sooner and help the 0/90/180/270 positions.

[blueoakleyz]

ya i know

happs said they only have them in in red and black currently so unless they get some with blue in I'm going to order regular competitions and get the heavier spring (cheap), but the microswitches are like 3.50 each, how big a difference would having the D41s really make? noticeable?

[paigeoliver]

No 8-way stick performs AT ALL in 4-way games.  

4 way games are made for 4-way joysticks. The software in the original rom does not know what to do when sent more than one direction at a time.

Anyone who thinks any 8-way stick is adequate for 4-way games only thinks that because they don't have access to a 4-way stick.

If you don't believe me, go play Super Zola Pac-Gal with an 8way, I dare you!  

pacman was 4 wayt right? and kangaroo? they play fine to me on a 8 way.. my only "problem" with the 8 way is once in a blue mood i hit a diag..

Pac-Man is 4-way.
Kangaroo is 8-way.

You can't play any serious pac-man 8-way because when using an 8-way on Pac-Man you have to concentrate on not hitting the diagonals. Sorry, when I play Pac-Man I go to the 20th key or so and you can't do that with an 8-way.

[Bomber]

And Donkey Kong is even worse. Nothing beats getting stuck on a ladder becuase you hit a friggin' diagonal.

I've only recently built my first cab and it only has 8-ways because thats all I had. If you're going to play a lot of 4-way games, it will be well worth the money to get a dedicated 4-way (or at least a good switchable stick).