yet another "u360s are awesome" thread

[severdhed]

i know it has been said too many times to count..but "i love my u360s"

i have had them for about 2 months now and i am just constantly impressed with them.  i expected them to work good in 8way mode, but what really surprised me was how well they work in 4way mode. 

i just recently got into playing Donkey Kong again...i suck at donkey kong.  i had the high score on my cabinet, as well as the cabinet at my friend Dave's house.  both of which were around 16000.  the other day, dave, and another of his friends were playing Donkey Kong, trying to take the high score...after a while, Dave took 1st place with 19000.  i had to go defend myself at this point.  i picked up and had one really good game and managed to get a little over 32000, which is still the high score.    his cabinet is a 4 player unit, with an ultimarc Jstick ball top in 4 way mode as a dedicated 4way stick.  it is a great 4 way stick.  i was a little worried that my u360s could not perform as well...so this afternoon, i was playing on my cabinet by myself, just trying to see how good i could do...i had a few games that were in the 16000 range..and then i had a really good one and made it to 34,900. 

now i know that isn't reallly a great donkey kong score..but i normally cannot get anywhere near that...this just proves though, that the u360 works just as well in 4 way mode as a dedicated 4 way stick.

so if there is anyone out there holding off on purchasing them because they are afraid they wont work good in 4way mode....don't hesitate...they are awesome.

[Hoagie_one]

how does the stick know to change from one mode to the next?  Do you have to setup INI's for every game?

[Ginsu Victim]

Nope. Either let MAME automatically map it for you, or you have basic sets, like 4-way, 8-way, 2-way, 49-way, analog, mouse, lightgun, etc that you have it load from your FE upon launching a game.

[1UP]

I have both, and I love the capabilities of the U360 as an analog stick, but I still think the J-stick has a slight edge over the U360 as a dedicated 4-way, simply for the fact that it has the 4-way restrictor built in.  With the restrictor on, you know you're headed straight in the direction you intended, and it's a quick snap from Up to Right for a perfect 90 degree turn.

On higher levels of games like Ms. Pac-Man with the speed hack where things get really REALLY fast, that becomes very important.  Even with mapping, it's just too easy with an unrestricted stick to get nervous and let yourself get into the 45^o zone and turn a corner when you didn't mean to, just because of the rounder action.  I have gotten up over 380,000 in this game using a restricted J-stick!  I could probably get close with the U360, but not having distinct corners just makes me feel like I don't quite have control.

I've thought about getting a restrictor kit for the U360, but I'd rather not reach under the panel to switch back and forth when the J-stick is already such a perfect 4-way.  I'll probably end up getting another U360 and put the boards on my dual tron sticks instead. 

[severdhed]

i have to agree...the Jstick makes an absolutely awesome 4way stick, and if you have room for a dedicated 4way, then by all means, do it.   but if you are looking for simplicity, the u360s are amazing...they work very well as 4ways.  my Donkey Kong score is up to 100200 on my friends cabinet with a Jstick, and on my cabinet is at 97,600 with the u360s.. so far i dont feel like the u360 is holding me back at all...yeah, my score is a little lower, but as you all know, scoring over 100,000 in DK is not an easy task.  i still can't get through the elevator stage in level 4...

as for how the switching works, it is all painless.  i am using MALA as my front end, and there is a u360 plugin for it that will switch to the proper map automatically for you.  all i had to do was tweak the maps a little, and now everythign works great.  (i had to change the 2 way map to match the 8way map, otherwise i couldn't navigate through the mame "Tab" config menu, because the joystick only moves left and right"

[Hoagie_one]

I thought there was a Mala mode for that plugin or something so that wasn't an issue?

[mayhem]

I love the j-stick for 4 way only and the u360's for others just cannot beat them. How ever i cannot say that the u360 is good for 4 ways games as my score rockets on the j-stick on pacman lol ... But Shooting games and other and esp fighting games the u360 is just pure mental esp with auto up load set on game ex.

[severdhed]

i'd never say that the u360 is better than a jstick for 4 way, but it is pretty good.  if you don't have the space for a 4way, or don't want the cluttered look of too many joysticks, the u360s are perfect.   qbert absolutely rocks with a u360, and DK and pacman are very good.  i am not particularly great at either of those, but i havent found that the u360 holds me back any compared to the jstik.

i just removed the long shafts and installed the standard shafts, (still with the medium springs) and i really like the feel of the u360s now. they are a little shorter than the x-arcade sticks this way, but the height feels pretty close the same as my friends jstik now.  the throw is not as long, which is good, and it doesnt feel mushy anymore. 

if you are considering a u360, definitely get the stiffer springs, the standard springs are too weak, even with the stock shaft.

[mayhem]

hmm will have to look into that as i find the springs a little soft. Ill wait till i build up a order though as post and packing is a killer on single items.

[Tykey]

so if there is anyone out there holding off on purchasing them because they are afraid they wont work good in 4way mode....don't hesitate...they are awesome.

I've been browsing these boards for months being totally undecisive about which sticks to go for...that may have swung it. 

[Ginsu Victim]

so if there is anyone out there holding off on purchasing them because they are afraid they wont work good in 4way mode....don't hesitate...they are awesome.

I've been browsing these boards for months being totally undecisive about which sticks to go for...that may have swung it. 

You will not be let down. The U360 does everything quite well, and the modifications available allow it to fit your gaming style even better. They are worth the extra scratch.

[severdhed]

i agree...i was using an xarcade that i transplanted into my own panel, along with a 4 way stick....i put off upgrading for a long time.  the problem i had was when other people came over to play, they didn't know what to do.  the panel was cluttered, they didnt understand what the 4 way stick was for.  Most people dont know which games used a 4 way stick and which used an 8 way...they just want to play. 

after convincing my wife that i needed to upgrade, i spend a couple hundred $ on controls and now i have an awesome control panel.  it is simple and easy for anyone to use.  there are only 2 joysticks on the panel, and a trackball.  there is no more confusion.  the maps get applied automatically to the stick when you launch a game and they all just work beautifully.    the other nice thing about the u360 is that you can connect up to 8 buttons per stick, so you may not need another encoder.

[1UP]

i agree...i was using an xarcade that i transplanted into my own panel, along with a 4 way stick....i put off upgrading for a long time.  the problem i had was when other people came over to play, they didn't know what to do.  the panel was cluttered, they didnt understand what the 4 way stick was for.  Most people dont know which games used a 4 way stick and which used an 8 way...they just want to play.

This would be a good use of Ledwiz/LedBlinky.  Take a couple of the unused LEDs and put them under your CP art next to the sticks, and they would light up for the sticks that get used. 

[Ginsu Victim]

This would be a good use of Ledwiz/LedBlinky.  Take a couple of the unused LEDs and put them under your CP art next to the sticks, and they would light up for the sticks that get used. 

I've actually been working on doing this for a while, I just haven't gone past the planning stage.

My idea was to have 8 arrows, 4 arrows, or 2 arrows light up depending on the controls.

[1UP]

This would be a good use of Ledwiz/LedBlinky.  Take a couple of the unused LEDs and put them under your CP art next to the sticks, and they would light up for the sticks that get used. 

I've actually been working on doing this for a while, I just haven't gone past the planning stage.

My idea was to have 8 arrows, 4 arrows, or 2 arrows light up depending on the controls.

That's a cool idea.  Might not really be necessary since you'll understand what directions you can move once you start playing, but would be a nice touch.  Might be that just attracting people to the right stick would be enough.  In that case you could have 2 U360s and one dedicated 4-way, signaling which one to use with the LEDs.

[Ginsu Victim]

It was more for the aesthetic of it than anything.

[genesim]

I actually like the T-Stick over the J Stick..but it is close.   The J stick was one of my favorites...but I like Qbert too and being able to switch is nice since IMHO Qbert doesn't need restriction...but yet needs to hop in the eight way.

Congo...never cared about it that much anyway.   But still quite playable..though I imagine it would be best restricted.

[genesim]

Oops, I meant Mag Stick Plus.   The throw is extremely short, but that is actually cool by me!  The ONLY downside for me is the switching mechanism is metal while the other part is plastic so if not bent correctly you get plastic shavings and it doesn't switch as well.   I may someday rig something to fix this.   Still switches fine though.