Best Joystick recommendation please!

[Jm1010]

Guys I'm building my first 4 player mame cabinet and I'm not sure which 4 Joysticks to Pick. My Boss (wife) wants 4 different colors but I am confused about the pros and cons of each joystick available out there. They don't need to be the same ie 2 could be Ultramarc 4/8 ways switchable from the top and the two others could be something else, whatever you think is best and why you think it's best for Mame would be greatly appreciated!

[destructor]

For sure one stick must be without switches. Go for UltraStik 360 (or Perfect 360 if you have time for modify this joystick). You can go for two U360's. One with restrictor plate, second without restrictor plate for analog games. You can buy balltops with different colors for this stick (japanes Sanwa or Seimitsu balls) or battops. Next two, if you want switchable from top and very short throw go for Mag-Stiks.

[Jm1010]

Thanks a lot for the great help!!

I think it would be great to have a "trade off" assessment of all the joystick choices we have when we build a mame. Maybe there's  already such a guide out there?

Soem of the questions I have .... is the 360 the best all around choice? Are we better with 2 dedicated 8 ways and at least one 4 way? Should we try to add an airplane type joystick over and above  the 4 basic ones?....what about analog? does it matter if we assign them to 1 and 2 vs 3 and 4 or can we reasssign on the fly?

It's really hard to figure that stuff

Is there a way to use the spinner for both a driving wheel and a spinner?

Thanks again!!

[BobA]

Is there a way to use the spinner for both a driving wheel and a spinner?

The spinner from GGG has steering wheels that can be attached to if for driving games.

Link

[syph007]

Go for UltraStik 360 (or Perfect 360 if you have time for modify this joystick).

Hi, I am also torn between the P360 and U360.  I don't need the analog or other modes of the U360, I just want a really good non-clicky 8way.  I was leaning towards the p360 because of the cost and my needs.. but I've heard now more than one person say they need to be modified to be good.  Can you please help me out with the modifications you mean, or point me to a thread. 

Thanks in advance.. its overwhelming sometimes when you read all this information and try to make the best chioices.

[krutknut]

I suppose you could rip the steering wheel from any old toy with a suitable wheel, and attach it to your spinner. Or maybe your car is quite old and no longer needs a wheel...

[metahacker]

for a 4 player cab, it's nice to have Project 64 with some N64 games like Mario Kart... in addition to the standard MAME fare.  there are lots of fun 4 player games via Chankast/Project64.

for this kind of stuff, it works best with an analog game pad based input device (ie U360 or GPWiz49)