Joysticks101

[scuzzie]

I'm building my first MAME Cab and I'm trying to decide whether to have one 8way joystick per player or one 8way and one 4way per player.  My rationale is that I can use an 8 way for games with 8way and 4 way for games that used a 4way . . pretty obvious I guess.  Can this be done by wiring both the 8 and the 4 way to the same points on the keyboard encoder and just using one or the other or am I over simplifying....can it be done or am I better off with just an 8way?

any help would be appreciated

Scuzzie

[Chris]

I have a separate 4-way on my panel and I almost never use it.  I'm probably going to rebuild my panel using either T-Stick Plus's or Prodigy's that switch from 8-way to 4-way.  If either one had a balltop with a topfire or a trigger (like a Tron cocktail stick) I'd be so there already...

[Chris]

Oh, and I don't think a Player 2 4-way would get much use... the number of games that use two 4-ways has to be pretty close to zero...

[SteveJ34]

I built a two player controller with 8-ways for each player and then a single 4-way joy for games like Pac/Ms Pac etc.

I have not experienced a problem with game play in terms of a dual 4-way game where players are both using the 8 ways but I am most interested in classics so there may be circumstances in which dual sticks per player would be warranted.

Yes, there is no problem with wiring the switches to the same spots on the encoder.....thats what I did.

[romperwomb]

I was considering doing two 8 way and a dedicated 4 way, but decided to go with the T-Stick Plus.

http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html

I received my joys the other day, and the quality and feel of the sticks are superb!

[Chris]

I was considering doing two 8 way and a dedicated 4 way, but decided to go with the T-Stick Plus.

http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html

I received my joys the other day, and the quality and feel of the sticks are superb!

That's good to hear.  I've heard so many people complaining about the stiffness and short throw.  Are you using the stock microswitches?  How does it feel in something that needs a smooth stick like, say, Gyruss or Robotron?

Thanks!

--Chris

[romperwomb]

That's good to hear.  I've heard so many people complaining about the stiffness and short throw.  Are you using the stock microswitches?  How does it feel in something that needs a smooth stick like, say, Gyruss or Robotron?

They are a short throw and very clicky.  I imagine for someone used to standard Happs sticks it could be troublesome...  For me, it's been so long since I've played most of these games on real arcade controlls I don't notice.  These were the right solution for the limited space of my CP.  I'd recomend if you have the space go with the 8 way + dedicated 4 way solution.

RetroBlast! has some great joystick reviews.