Ultrastik 360 mod: Octagon restrictor plates

[Aurich]

I'm cross posting this from my project announcement because I'm sure there are plenty of Ultrastik owners who don't read that forum or couldn't care less about the rest of my cabinet. 

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I wanted to get into a mod I did for it that might interest other folks. The sticks on the cab are Ultrastik 360's, which if you weren't aware are basically Andy modifying Sanwa JLWs. So the optional restrictor plates (gates) you can order from him are just the round and square Sanwa JLWs gates. Sanwa also makes another stick, the JLF, which uses a different gate system. One option for the JLF is an octagon gate, which offers a notch for all 8 directions and a nice tight, short throw. If you think about the versatile uses for the Ultrastiks an octagon gate makes a lot of sense. You can feel the cardinals when playing Pac-Man without getting an overly notchy feel that can mess up a shmup or a fighter. You can feel the diagonals for Q*Bert, etc etc. I love it in Robotron personally (ya, it's a vertical cab, we'll get into the handful of horizontal games I had to have still later).

Unfortunately the JLF gates don't fit the the JLW. Nothing a little work with some clippers and a drill can't solve. 

Here's the two gate styles side by side. You can see the holes I drilled and where I had to hack off some plastic tabs to make it fit:



You just need to do some eyeballing and lining up and make marks with a marker to get the holes right. It takes a little tweaking and fiddling, but it's not that hard. The new gate is a little thicker, but Andy says it shouldn't matter.

After modding it mounts on the PCB.:



Now this is going to screw up all your maps, you're going to need some much tighter grids until this is officially supported, the size is off. Andy has ordered his own gates after I sent him the info and is looking into what it would take to make an official solution. No saying it will happen of course. If you need help with maps PM me or we can discuss it here in this thread.

I'm currently evaluating the stock loose springs vs the new medium springs with these gates. Haven't decided which I like yet.

Edit: Typo in title 

[patrickl]

Do you really need something like this with the U360? Wouldn't the round restrictor and a proper map do this already?

[squirrellydw]

I think he is doing this for 'feel"

[Aurich]

Do you really need something like this with the U360? Wouldn't the round restrictor and a proper map do this already?

"Need"? Of course not. Does it (IMHO) vastly improve playability across a broad spectrum of games? Definitely.

With the round restrictor you can't feel any directions. It you're playing strictly 8-way games that's usually not that much of an issue (though like I said I find it much improved Robotron) but if you're just playing 8-ways why waste the money on an Ultrastik? I used the round restrictor first, and found it seriously irritating for 4-way games. The square gate was better, but in 4-way diamond mode it was wrecking 8-way games, and in square mode it wasn't providing enough positive 4-way feedback.

Ultimately it's a personal preference of course, even with the JLF stick this is native to people have strong opinions on it, but those tend to be discussions amongst fighter fans.

[shorthair]

The sticks on the cab are Ultrastik 360's, which if you weren't aware are basically Andy modifying Sanwa JLWs.

In discovering Sanwas, I noticed this, too. I also noticed the octo-strictor. It looks the same size as the square....but I can see the utility in it. Not tight enough, though.

[Aurich]

Not tight enough, though.

Not sure what you mean, are you referring to the throw? It's pretty similar to the circle restrictor. Remember it's where the diameter of the shaft is stopped that determines the end of travel, the stick doesn't fit all the way into the peak of each octagon "corner". Throw doesn't mean as much with Ultrastiks though once you get reasonably tight, as it has nothing to do with sensitivity since there is no physical switch to hit. I use a tight map with a modified grid that gives me nearly instant response with an almost non-existant dead zone, I can play any manic bullet hell shmup with ease with my setup.

[shorthair]

I meant the throw.  I'm in the middle of modifying my P360s in this vein, but if it works it'll still be only better than it was.  It won't be optimal.  There isn't anything on the market that does what I want, but am not going to get crazy over it.  I'm more interested in playing games.