Need advice on modding an off-the-shelf arcade stick

[Timstuff]

Okay, here's the deal... This fall, I'm transferring to a new school, and I'm going to be staying in a dorm so obviously hauling my arcade machine down there is out of the question. So I figured it'd be a great idea to get my hands on an arcade stick that I can take with me, and use with my laptop and PS3. The thing is, most of the good ones use convex buttons and ball top joysticks, and being a hardcore yank I prefer the feel of a Happ competition and concave buttons. I was almost ready to buy a Mayflash joystick, since it supports PS2, PS3, and PC, and I'd read it's easy to mod. However, I just stumbled onto this disheartening image of the stick's innards...



The friggin' thing doesn't even use the standard four-corner mounting footprint for it's joystick. Instead, it has what looks like some kind of proprietary mess, which requires additional modding and some unsightly carraige bolts or screws on top in order to use a different stick.





What initially attracted me to the Mayflash (aside from the low price and multi-platform support) was that it sounded like a good candidate for some easy drop-in modding. However, with a mounting footprint so different from the Happ Competition, I can only imagine two ways of mounting the one without "uglifying it" in the process-- A) use MDF like the above guy did, but counter sink machine posts into the MDF and then try and hold the MDF in place using the existing screw holes, or B) drill holes into the Happ Competition itself to make room for the existing screw hole posts. I don't really like either of those solutions, because option A sounds like it wouldn't be sturdy enough, and option B sounds like there's too much risk of damaging the joystick.

I'm not sure what route to go with this "mini project" now. Should I try to figure out how I can mount a standard Happ joystick to a "diagonal" mounting footprint? Or should I look for a different joystick as a base altogether? If I end up going with another, more expensive joystick and replacing all the buttons to where I like it, does the project loose its economic viability? And for that matter, what other joysticks are there that would meet my needs? I was unimpressed with what I read for the Hori Fighting Stick 3. I read that it cannot be used for the PC, and ontop of that it won't even work with PS2 games being played on a PS3. What I really need is a stick that will be easy to swap parts with, and won't break the bank (and being able to toss a new CPO on it from Mamemarquees would be nice too). If the Mayflash is really not the right stick for the job, then so be it.

[Timstuff]

After sleeping on it, drilling holes into the Competition stick's mounting plate doesn't seem as bad as it did last night. The plate on the competition sticks out enough that it shouldn't bee too hard to drill holes in it, and if I make a mistake-- it's only $10, and not like I ruined a Perfect 360 or a classic Wico. And it's certainly better than hacking up the control box itself, which with shipping is gonna be about $60.



I guess one of the best options would be to fabrcate the controller's casing completely from scratch and hack a gamepad, but sadly I don't think I'll have the time, money, or patience do get one done by the end of the summer (or in time for Soul Calibur 4) after all that I've thrown into my upright cab.

[Timstuff]

UGH! Now I feel REALLY stupid. I just read that you CAN use a Hori stick with your PC and PS2 games (PC needs a special driver). Not only that, but it's actually cheaper to buy a Hori stick from a US reseller like Amazon than it is to have a Mayflash stick shipped from overseas. Also, I found out that if I want to use a bat top joystick, all I need is a bat top and adapter for Sanwa stick and an 8-way sanwa restrictor plate, and it'll work fine. I found this tutorial extremely handy.

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149488&referrerid=13029

The buttons may prove a little tricky, however, since Hori's joysticks seem to mount the buttons directly to the PCB, Correcting this will require some additional small-scale soldering that may prove tricky, but at least now I have a better grasp of what my options are.