Main > Main Forum
4 way joystick a necessity?
<< < (5/7) > >>
Kaytrim:

--- Quote from: lettuce on April 20, 2007, 02:13:13 pm ---So there's no software prog that disable's the diagonal on 8-way stick so it acts as a 4-way for 4-way games??

--- End quote ---

That would be close to impossible.  This is because of the fact the diagonals are combinations of the cardinals.  To move up and to the right both the up and right microswitches are pressed.  A true 4-way joystick uses some kind of mechanical restrictor to prevent the stick from pressing both switches at the same time.  The problem with the clasic games like pac-man and DK if two directional inputs active at the same time the program gets confused and the player character will freeze.
leapinlew:

--- Quote from: MaximRecoil on April 20, 2007, 01:47:01 pm --- And Ms. Pac-Man is no where near "impossible" with an 8-way input.
--- End quote ---

It's near impossible for me... I roll the joystick and thats when the ol'gal acts up.
Crowquill:
It acts the exact same on just about every console.  When you go diagonal, Pac goes wonky.  Some console versions are better than others about it but I've played them all and found none that really do it the way we'd want.  I remember the Genesis version of Ms Pac Man being pretty bad about it, and if you play it on a Genesis 3 (the Gen 3 has bugs in the firmware translating controller actions) Ms Pac Man is just about unplayable.
[/quote]

The Genesis version IS a port. I don't remember having any problems with diagonals and I played that game a LOT even when it was new (1994 or so). One thing most people don't know about genesis: the 6-button pads aren't compatible with Ms Pac (and a few other games) unless you hold the MODE button down when powering on the system. It is unplayable if you don't. That might be your problem with the Genesis 3 since it came with 6-button pads.

My MAME cab has 8-way wico leaf sticks and I would say that both DK and the Pacs are playable, but a 4-way would definitely be preferable. The biggest problems I have are Mario locking up on ladders (usually as a barrel is coming). I've kind of trained myself to not push the diagonals when playing classic games, but for some reason I sometimes roll the stick when coming off ladders.
MaximRecoil:
I don't know what the character freezing thing everyone is talking about, is all about. You must have to activate the two switches for diagnol at exactly the same moment. I can't get the Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man sprite to freeze or do anything else "wonky" in MAME by intentionally hitting diagnols on my 8-way gamepad as it is cruising along -- I just tried.
juggle50:
I think I've heard Mario freezes on the ladder. 
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version