Not a fan of Sanwa joysticks....but...

[Gatsu]

I'm not a big fan of the japanese style joysticks. I grew up on Happ style stuff. Its what was on every Street Fighter and MK machine I ever played. Very smooth, I can rotate the stick without hitting any sort of resistance.

But everyone that builds custom sticks for competitions and whatnot seem to be using Sanwa parts. I never liked the "grooved" feel the joystick has when I move around on the Sanwa stuff.

Is there a way to make the joystick feel more smooth flowing like the Happ stuff?

Is it just an adjustment? Or an add-on/replacement piece I can get?

I ask because I've heard that the Sanwa stuff is more responsive...and a little tighter than Happ stuff. That may not make much difference to the casual crowd. But I'm a HUGE fighter enthusiast. And any way to help improve my game is something I try to do.

thanky.

[Bleagh]

The JLF sticks come with a square restrictor that makes finding diagonals easy, but on 360s you can get stuck in the corners.  They make an octagonal restrictor that makes 360s much smoother and you get notches in all eight directions.   I use these on my naomi uni cab and love them.

http://www.lizardlickamusements.com/images/for_sale/joysticks/sanwa_gty.jpg

You can get them here towards the bottom of the page.

http://www.lizardlickamusements.com/pages/joysticks.shtml

They have bat top handles too.

The JLW sticks have circular restrictors with no notches.


Bottom line,  it all comes down to personal preference, there are plenty of tournament players that use happ stuff. 

[Gatsu]

Then poo on using Sanwa joysticks for me then! lol. I'll stick with happ for myself. 

But I'll use Sanwa buttons to save room in the cases.

Is there a Happ joystick attachment or full joystick that will allow me to use a balltop style instead of the teardrop? Just curious. All the Happ 8-way stuff I've seen has been teardrop.

[Bleagh]

There are all types of balltop joysticks out there.  I don't have any experience with any besides sanwas, seimetsus, or galaga/pacman sticks though.

[Grasshopper]

Is there a Happ joystick attachment or full joystick that will allow me to use a balltop style instead of the teardrop? Just curious. All the Happ 8-way stuff I've seen has been teardrop.

http://www.tornadoterrys.com/surplus.htm

[Gatsu]

Is there a Happ joystick attachment or full joystick that will allow me to use a balltop style instead of the teardrop? Just curious. All the Happ 8-way stuff I've seen has been teardrop.

http://www.tornadoterrys.com/surplus.htm

Thank you!     

[MonMotha]

I believe the seimitsu sticks can be run without a restrictor or with a circle restrictor (or square, or diamond for 4 way or slot for 2 way) if you desire.  Unfortunately, these sticks are a bit hard to find in the USA.  The sanwa sticks are easier to find, but have to be run with some kind of restrictor.  Octagonal and square are available for the JLF series (I do prefer the octagonal), but if you were really motivated, there's no reason you couldn't fabricate or modify an existing one to be a circle, which would give you a similar feeling to a Happ stick, but with less throw and clicky microswitches.  I've not had any experience with the JLW series.

If you like the feel of the Happ sticks, use them.  Personally, I hate them - they have way too much throw, and they freaking bounce when you let go of them, momentarily hitting the opposite direction.  Really sucks for fast, tiny movements in puzzle games like puzzle bobble or magical drop.

[DarkBubble]

I believe the seimitsu sticks can be run without a restrictor or with a circle restrictor (or square, or diamond for 4 way or slot for 2 way) if you desire.  Unfortunately, these sticks are a bit hard to find in the USA.

Some of the people who sell on the various forums keep both Sanwa and Seimitsu, so it's not really difficult.  Ponyboy carries the Sanwa stuff, but his own Rollie Electronics Joystick appears to be a Seimitsu clone.  It's certainly got the same 3-in-1 restrictor.  Judging from the reviews and the price, it seems to be worth a shot.  I should have one coming my way soon to judge by.

I didn't get to touch a Sanwa until a trip to Indonesia last year.  Seems every cab had blue Sanwa balltops and buttons.  Of course, they weren't exactly keeping up with maintaining them, but I did land on a King of Fighters (maybe '01 or '02) that had a good stick on it.  I would have thought that SNK's fighters would have been more of a nightmare with a stick that had more defined corners, but I had no trouble jumping right in and wailing.

I'm sure that I'll slap together a full Happ stick myself with a Competition stick and the old concave buttons so I can have the feel I was used to back in the original SF2 days.