Best joystick for Tron

[falkensmaze]

Hello im thinking bout building a mame sys and was wanting to base it around a tron theme, barring the real deal what is the best joystick to play tron with and does it need to be 4 way?   http://

[monkeybomb]

Best stick for playing in my opinion is probably the firetop prodigy.  You can use the 4 way mode for the cycle game and the 8 way for the others.  the top fire is needed for almost everything.  The original was slightly restricted 8-way, as I have read here in the past.

An original might be worth while though if you want a real tron theme.  Nothing like that blue light.

[whynotpizza]

If you are playing the non-DOT part of Tron, then maybe you could get away with something else like a single-button top-fire stick.

But for Tron (DOT) ... my personal preference is the Heavy Duty 8-Way
Trigger Joystick. Bar none, the closest to the real-deal, and that is what you really care about especially when playing Discs of Tron.

Oh yea, and the spinner (of course) a Blackhawk Push/Pull from Apache Controls is a must.

Here are some links...
  http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/50997000.htm
  http://www.apachecontrols.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1


   David

[falkensmaze]

How does the Heavy Duty 8-Way Trigger Joystick hook up to the PC happ just says "easy to instal"??

[whynotpizza]

To hookup the HAPP heavy duty flight stick, all you need to do is do a cutout in the wood so the thing can poke through from the top of the control panel. I then took 4 carriage bolts (thru top bracket down thru the mount and underneath the control panel surface use hex nuts to secure to the wood. Since this is a non-analog stick, it has 4 Microswitches and is easily hooked to your PC via iPac or some variant of a KB controller. Also has 2 top buttons and a fire button, all hook via same KB controller.

  David

[NoOne=NBA=]

You do NOT want to try playing Tron with the Happ Heavy-Duty.
It is an 8-way only, and will suck at the lightcycle stage.

[whynotpizza]

Light cycles - agreed. 4way is your animal of choice for that game.

My control panel (under construction for final form) has the following sticks ... 4-way sticks (qty 2) and 8-way sticks (qty 2) and 1 HAPP flight stick 8-way, so I have choices depending on what I want to play, I use the appropriate control.

  David

[Matth9]

I've been thinking about this a lot too, as I plan on having a dedicated CP just for Tron and Discs of Tron.  For the spinner, I've got the Apache Controls Blackhawk.  For the joystick, I've been considering modding an OMNI-Stik Prodigy, but after this recent post, I'm thinking the Prodigy Retro Edition might be perfect - since it's got a hollow shaft, and looks like it'd be relatively easy to mod something up on that stainless shaft to accept a Tron handle (i'm assuming it's threaded at the top for the ball tops).  Also, the stainless shaft would be stronger than plastic, which would be good since the taller Tron handle will give more leverage against the shaft.  The above CP switching mechanism for 4-way/8-way is what first made me look at it...I don't know how the movement of the Prodigy compares to the original Tron stick.

Here's the BYOAC Wiki about it:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/TRON_joystick

[ahofle]

The best joystick would be either ultimarc's new analog 360 stick or a 49-way and GGG's 49-way interface using a Tron 'mapping' so that the stick would perform exactly like the original (mostly 4 way but slightly 8 way), with the addition of a non-existent hollow shaft and tank or flight stick style handle with trigger/thumb buttons.  At least that's what I've been dreaming of.   

[Kremmit]

I don't know how the movement of the Prodigy compares to the original Tron stick.

I only have a Firetop Prodigy here, but I assume all the Prodigy sticks have similar movement.  The action is pretty stiff, with a definate click when you trip the switches, and the throw is quite short.  The original Tron sticks had a fairly loose, soft feel, with no switch noise, and a long-ish throw.

However, the Prodigy currently has a short handle, while the Tron stick had a much longer one.  If you were to graft a Tron-type handle onto a Prodigy, the extra height would increase the effective throw, and soften the resistance due to the greater leverage.  I believe I'd rather try to build a Tron stick from a Prodigy than from, say, a Super for just those reasons.  A Super is already long-throw soft-resistance; add the extra height of a Tron handle, and it might be too much.

[NoOne=NBA=]

A Super is already long-throw soft-resistance; add the extra height of a Tron handle, and it might be too much.

I used a Super for my first attempt at a Tron stick, and can confirm that the throw on them becomes very long.
I doubt that anyone who has used a real Tron stick would be happy with the length of throw on them.