Which is the best stick for fighters

[jaydog]

Planning to build a Mame cab, mostly for SFA3 and Marvel vs Capcom, which joystick is best to use for these games ? Any help would be appreciated, thanx

[Lilwolf]

Read Oscars reviews to pick one.  Ultimates are ranked lowest... then supers... Then compititions was ranked the best.

The review itself goes into details and is very well done.  Searth the links (on left) for Oscars webpage (or below in messages of his).  Then its under other stuff or something on the page.

[jaydog]

I just recieved the competitiion joystick in the mail.  It seems ok but has a very distinct "clicking sound" when you move it.  It also seems a bit more stiff than those found in the arcades, are these things less noticeable when you mount it on a cab or is this just the way it is?

[aramis]

most fighting games use either the Competition Joystick or the Perfect 360 (optical) Joystick.

Please use the search function in this forum, as this question has been asked many, many times...

[toilet]

Most modern quality fighter cabs use the Perfect 360's.
http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/50608300.htm

They're optical so you don't have the 'clicking' sound you were refering to since it doesn't use microswitches. They also tend be a little looser. The only issue with them are you have to supply a 5V power supply to them.

As far as the traditional microswitch stick, I'm pretty sure it's the Ultimate.
http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/ultimate_joy.htm


I play fighters religously and that's the stick I have in my pair of existing MAS sticks http://www.massystems.com.

[Frobozz]

I got a question about the perfect 360's.

To hook them up, you'd hook them up like a standard joystick (4 control wires plus a common ground) plus a +5V and power ground for it ?  Thus, 7 wires total?

I'd assume the +5V from a computer's power supply would do the trick?  

[toilet]

Just 6: 4 controls, common ground, power (5V). I only know about powering them from consoles, there's a 5V signal coming in on one of the wires for DC and PS/2 controllers.

[JustMichael]

Once the microswitches are enclosed in a control panel and you have the arcade game making all that noise and music, the clicking magically disappears...  

[Frobozz]

Huh...  will the I-PAC's ground connection take a 5V hot?  Would I hook 5 wires to the I-PAC and the 6th to a 5V source?  I don't know how much power is flowing through those outputs.  Is it 5V?  

[aramis]

frobozz, the ipac inputs go "on" when they get referenced to ground. (usually through a N.O. contact on a microswitch). Basically, the switch just jumpers the ipac ground to the input. This is referred to as an NPN type input.

So, to use the perfect 360, the optical sensors would have to be of the "sinking" or NPN-type...that is, they "output" ground (instead of +5V)when triggered. I cannot verify that the perfect 360's are NPN since I don't have one...

As for the +5 and ground to the joystick, get it from your pc power supply. If you choose to use an external power supply, then make sure the grounds are referenced correctly.

[Frobozz]

I was thinking about picking up a pair of perfect 360's for my cab.  Just wondering the specifics of hooking them up.  Don't want to burn out my I-PAC.  Since the I-PAC draws power from the PC, then it would be on the same ground as the power supply, correct?  

I think I'm understanding this (god I hated circuits in school, guess that's why I'm a mechanical engineer)  

[zuggzugg]

Just 6: 4 controls, common ground, power (5V). I only know about powering them from consoles, there's a 5V signal coming in on one of the wires for DC and PS/2 controllers.

Can you please go into some detail for the psx AND dc versions? This is EXACTLY the question i was going to ask. Just got my perf 360's in today and I'm dying to hook them up.

I think I'm going to go w/ the psx pad and just use the dc/psx converter to play w/ it on my dc. However, i still want to know how to wire them for BOTH pads.

I'm using the Mad Catz Dreampad NOT the official DC pad.

please give as much detail about wiring them as you can.