Which buttons and joysticks?

[FhM]

I have the bulk of my cabinet built so I am now looking to ordering the buttons and joysticks.

For Buttons I am looking at
Happ competition
Happ standard
Happ ultimate

or an offering from sanwa.

For joysticks I am unsure. I really like the ball top joysticks but think the bat top ones will be better for the fighting games I enjoy.
I am looking at:
Sanwa Ball Top Joystick JLF-TP-8YT
Sanwa Bat Top Joysticks JLW-UM-8
Sanwa Ball Top Joystick JLW-TM-8 (adjustable 4/8 way)

How important is an adjustable 4/8 way?

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

[Turnarcades]

Great parts all round, but one major point:

How important adjustable 4/8 way is YOUR call. If you play lots of older games that used 4-ways (Pac-man etc.), you may become annoyed at how an 8-way feels as you sometimes get a diagonal input whilst playing quick, making you turn corners unexpectedly. If you play mostly later games, 8-way is usually the norm anyway. Switxhable 4/8-ways are really for purists.

[Kajoq]

If you're a fighter player, I highly highly recommend going the Sanwa route.

I've got JLFs on my Super Turbo cabinet and wouldn't go with anything else.  OSBN snap ins for the buttons (if you think screw in would be easier, get those, its really which you think is easier to build).

I got my parts from Lizardlick, everything comes super fast from them

[MonMotha]

All the fighter players I know (who mostly play SF 3rd Strike) love the Sanwa JLF with the octagonal restrictor (and hate it with the default square one) and find the Seimitsu LS-32 a fair stick too.  They all seem to hate pretty much every American stick, and I have yet to find an American stick that's good for the fast-paced puzzle games I adore (they all seem to bounce).  My main CP has Sanwa JLFs with the octagonal restrictor, and my alternate CP has LS-32s.  Most players around here don't care about the top, and preference (if any) seems split between the bat and ball styles.  Fortunately, you can get both for Japanese sticks.

For buttons, the standard Happ concave horizontal buttons seem to work best.  Some fighter players prefer the convex "competition" style.  The feeling around here is a resounding no for the vertical style pushbuttons, though they are fine for casual play.

Personally, I'm not a fighter fan, but I do like my sanwa JLFs in terms of movement.  I like the feel of the LS-32 a little more (mmm...levered microswitches), but it's not enough to get me to abandon the perfect octogon of the JLF.  As for buttons, I'll pretty much take anything other than the Japanese ones put out by Sanwa and Seimitsu.  They feel too mushy.  I like a good click feeling, or at least some serious travel with a hard stop.  The horizontal pushbuttons from Happ seem to do best for this.

Pick what you like, of course.

[DeLuSioNal29]

As far as the pushbuttons go:

You probably want to go with the classic style of buttons, which are concave (appear to have a small indentation in them).  To see how they look, check out this website (they are on the banner logo on top)
www.groovygamegear.com  They go for about $1.35 each including the "cherry" brand microswitch.

The competition style buttons are convex (they appear rounded on top outward). Not a fan favorite.  Most arcades had the ones pictured above.

Good Luck!

~ DeLuSioNaL