SANWA and Wico joysticks?

[jcroach]

I'm not famler with the SANWA company.

[Kremmit]

I don't know jack about Sanwa sticks.

As for the Wico, yes, you want the originals.  That auction is for the newer, chinese knock-offs.  They stink.  You can spot them a few different ways.  The knock-offs have the leaf-switches screwed on to those metal angle brackets, while the real ones snap in to plastic holders.  The knock-offs have that circular base, while the real ones are kind of octagon shaped.  The knock-offs have a much smaller ball than the real ones.  And the Knock-offs are usually sold as "Wico-Style".

There are reports of real Wicos with round bases, and screw-on leafs, but generally speaking, if you see those, run.

[Goz]

Sanwa sticks are greay for fighters and shooters. They are what comes in most of the Japanese cabs. Two examples of Sanwa sticks are T-sticks and J-sticks. The sticks are the ones you play on with Marvel vs Capcom 2 and pretty much all other NAOMI games. They are high quality sticks. Typical sanwas have a throw similar to Happ Supers but have a different feel and they are not typically as tight as the tstick variety of Sanwas.

My two favorite sticks are Wico leafs and Sanwas.

Hope it helps

-Goz

[spiffyshoes]

Ohh Sanwas are my favorite joysticks.

[Dave_K.]

As for the Wico, yes, you want the originals.  That auction is for the newer, chinese knock-offs.  They stink.  You can spot them a few different ways.  The knock-offs have the leaf-switches screwed on to those metal angle brackets, while the real ones snap in to plastic holders.  The knock-offs have that circular base, while the real ones are kind of octagon shaped.  The knock-offs have a much smaller ball than the real ones.  And the Knock-offs are usually sold as "Wico-Style"., if you see those, run.

So what exactly makes these knock offs so bad!?  Have you actually tried them?  A leaf-switch is a leaf-switch, they all feel the same.  I've owned an original robotron for almost 8 years now, and when the wico's went, I replaced them with a similar looking one as linked to above, and they feel EXACTLY THE SAME.  I still have the original wico's and could probably transplant the leaf switches, but thats what broke and decided I'd just replace the entire stick.  I did keep the original handels installed as they are slightly taller than the chinese knockoffs.
 

[quarterback]

So what exactly makes these knock offs so bad!?

[Kremmit]

So what exactly makes these knock offs so bad!?  Have you actually tried them?  A leaf-switch is a leaf-switch, they all feel the same.  I've owned an original robotron for almost 8 years now, and when the wico's went, I replaced them with a similar looking one as linked to above, and they feel EXACTLY THE SAME.  I still have the original wico's and could probably transplant the leaf switches, but thats what broke and decided I'd just replace the entire stick.  I did keep the original handels installed as they are slightly taller than the chinese knockoffs.
 

A leaf switch is more or less a leaf switch, true.  As long as it makes contact, it's doing it's job, unless you've got a stick that uses the switches for resistance, like an original Galaga stick.  The difference isn't in the switches, but the construction of the rest of the joystick.

There's more than one knock-off variety floating around out there.  The only one of those knock-off sticks I've got has a different diameter shaft than the original Wico sticks, so the handles could not be transplanted from one to the other; therefore you must have a different stick from me.  After some research, I believe the one sold by Centsible amusements is probably the same as yours, not mine, as other users have reported being able to swap shafts between true Wicos and the Centsible stick.

Both knock-off versions I have seen do have a grommet in them, but it's not the SAME grommet.  On mine, the knock-off grommet's hole is not perfectly fit to the handle, which lets the handle slop around some before you actually start to flex the grommet.  Other users have reported the same trouble when doing a handle swap with the other version.

Aside from the different grommet, if you have a look at the restrictors on the top and bottom of the joystick base assembly, you'll see that the knock-off makers somehow managed to use 4-way diamond shaped restrictors, and then equipped the stick with an actuator that still hits the diagonals.  This means that you've got an 8-way stick without the smooth, round action you'd get from a real Wico 8-way.  At the same time, you've got the FEEL of a properly restricted 4-way, but can still hit the diagonals, so the stick will still suffer from the typical using-an-8-way-in-a-4-way-game problems.

Do a search for "Wico Knock Off"; you'll see lots of other talk about these issues.

[Dave_K.]

Ah ok, so there are two known version of the knock-offs.  I guess I was lucky and got the good one.  I bought these from Bob Roberts a few years ago. 

[paigeoliver]

The only REAL round base Wico's I have seen have been the ones that use springs rather than the grommet. They suck unless you swap the spring for one of the "Happ heavy springs" that Bob Roberts sells.

[spiffyshoes]

What? Where did that come from Paige?

[Kremmit]

The only REAL round base Wico's I have seen have been the ones that use springs rather than the grommet. They suck unless you swap the spring for one of the "Happ heavy springs" that Bob Roberts sells.

Also the sticks Wico made as replacements for the flaky optical stick from Berzerk had the round bases.

[Kremmit]

What? Where did that come from Paige?  I could of sworn I've seen you talk about the round 8-way gromit based wico's a bunch.  They do exist and aren't really that hard to find.  They supposedly were used in Simpson's, Robotron, Smash TV and probably many other cabs.  The spring based ones didn't come allong untill later.  I wish I had one of the spring based leaf-switch ones cause everytime I play on my gromit based wico's they feel too stiff to me for anything except the 3 games mentioned above.  I had been wondering what had been up because everytime I went to the arcade the wico's I found in them felt so much better to me but I think the ones I've seen in the arcade must have been spring based ones because now that I've gone back and taken a closer look at them I can here microswitches clicking on them.

Every Simpson's, Robotron, & Smash TV panel I've ever seen the underside of had regular shaped bases.  I have only seen real round base Wicos one or two times, ever. 

When you say your grommet Wicos are too stiff, do you mean real grommet Wicos, or your knock-off ones?

[spiffyshoes]

Oh woops I mis-understood what he meant by round base.

[spidermonkey]

Spiffyshoes, I'm looking for a pair of either Seimitsu or Sanwa balltop joysticks in either pink or green. Preferably with the adjustable restrictor plates. If you want a custom pair of Wico balltops I'll do an even trade.

[spiffyshoes]

What do you mean by "custom" pair of wico joysticks?  In what way are they custom?

[quarterback]

What do you mean by "custom" pair of wico joysticks?

[spidermonkey]

Somehow that post got entered before I finished it I actually thought I lost that post the other day but I see now that somehow it got entered...Very weird.