AAAHH! What 4-way Joystick to buy??!!

[hedge]

I've just spent the last hour scanning old messages trying to decide which joysticks to buy.  Sounds like the Supers or the Competitions will work well for my 2 standard diagonal sticks.  But I also want to mount a dedicated 4-way for PacMan/Donkey Kong/Etc.

Which one should I buy?  I wasn't able to find any answers.  Help !!!

[creatine28]

I went with an old Pacman (leaf) stick and I love it!  It was a little bit of a pain to mount, but well worth it.  You might want to try one of the newer versions of this stick, I've heard good thing about them.  If I didn't get my stick going, I would have gotten one of the newer ones.

Check out these links!


Here's a picture of the stick!
http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/redball.html

Here's the link to buy it!  I've bought a few things from him, and was very happy!

http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/parts.html

Hope that helps!

[shmokes]

I really wanted a ball-top joystick like the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-man games, but decided finally on an E-stick from www.ultimarc.com .   Authentic Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-man 4-way sticks can be had from Happ Controls and Ultimarc also has the J-stick which is pretty much the same thing, but the E-stick is the only one that can be rotated 45 degrees so it remains a 4-way stick but hits only the diagonals for games like Q-bert and Congo Bongo.  If you don't care too much about diagonal-only games I'd go with a 4-way only stick like the Pac-man sticks from Happ.  

You also have the option of Oscar restrictor plates that will turn an 8-way stick into a 4-way, but if you've got the space on your panel for a 4-way I'd just get a true 4-way.  E-stick gets my vote for the diagonal option, but it's not nearly as cool-looking as a true Pac-man stick with the ball on the top instead of the long tear-drop shape handle.

[Magnet_Eye]

One concern is what type of control panel you have, or intend to have. 3/4" wood, or metal? The pac-man/galaga sticks are made for mounting in a metal CP.

The stick from ultimarc has the balltop and will mount in a wood CP. though it is an 8-way that uses a plate to make it 4-way. Also, the stick is just $15, but shipping is $12!

I too haven't decided what 4-way stick to use.  

[BASSOFeeSH]

J-stick from ultimarc

I have one of these as my dedicated 4-way.  My two(minor) complaints are that the throw is a bit longer than the originals, & if I don't really tighten the ball-top, it comes loose during play.  

I'd still recommend it though, especially if you're already going to order an IPac.

[hedge]

What sucks is that I just received my IPAC this week!!

I'd hate to dish out another $12 for shipping when I could have ordered them both together...

I plan on going to my local arcade supplier tomorrow - hopefully they have something similar in stock.  Unfortunately most of what I've seen seems to be suited only for metal control panels, while mine is 5/8 MDF.

[shmokes]

That's no problem.  Just head over to a welding shop with the stick and tell them you need a metal plate that you can screw the joystick to and can be installed in your wood panel.  They'll whip something up in fifteen minutes and charge you $15.

[jdjuggler]

I think I'm going with the E-Stick.  I like the fact that you can change it from 90 to 45 degrees for Qbert and Congo Bongo.  And, I believe that the 4-way restrictor plate makes it feel like "real" 4-way stick...  Anyone know for sure?
JD

[Lilwolf]

Also consider going with the ristrictor plates (Oscar) this way you only need space for one joystick to get both... And you can get the qbert plates and the defender 2way ones.

I went with 2 wico leaf switch 4 ways and am happy with them.  I heard their microswitch versions kinda suck thought