Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: railz on July 24, 2003, 11:50:34 am
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So this morning I spent a while surfing Happ's site (and was appauled at the prices of some things. $400 for a mini joystick?) and I'm starting to think what I need.
I noticed that they have different styles of joysticks. What do people reccomend (they all are more or less the same price, except for that mini one)?
So far I have a partial parts list:
4 Player Buttons (1,2,3,4)
Two "main" joysticks (unsure of the type yet)
center trackball
center Joystick
Seven buttons per player (arranged in a curve to feel like Neo Geo and classic SF layouts)
I'm still at odds if I want a modular system for the control panel. I probably should since it would make the entire thing easier to move and add panels for other games.
Any thoughts?
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Are you planning to use it also for Playstation, SNES etc? Cos you don't really need 6/7 buttons for every player. I would say fine for player one and 2, but p3 and p4 would be okay with 4 buttons (hardly any 4 player games use more than 4).
But if you are emulating other consoles, fair enough..
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Why do you need 4 player buttons if you only have 2 "main" joysticks? Is this going to be a 4 player CP or a 2 player?
I'm also in the same spot wondering which joystick most people prefer, so here's to hoping you get some good answers :)
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I like to play a lot of fighting games (mainly SSF2 and such), so I want the six buttons per player for that, plus an extra one at an angle for Neo Geo stuff.
As for the joysticks, I guess I should have two 8-ways as the normal joysticks plus a 4-way for things like Pac-Man, Defender and such?
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Dont forget to plan on a spinner. i have to say i probably play spinner games twice as often as trackball games. You might want to check they sticks that andy has at ultimarc. They are truley switchable between 4-way and 8way and I've heard they have a nice feel. Personally I have the happs supers and use oscar restictors for my 4-way games. If you play a lot of fighting games you don't want the supers. I think it's the competitions you'll want the ones with the square acuator on the bottoms. They work better for hitting clean corners to execute moves.
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"4 Player Buttons" - are you talking about the white start buttons with the little men on them? Don't forget about having credit buttons (I personally like having seperate start and credit buttons).
I also went for the 7 button layout but only for players 1 and 2, only had 6 for 3 and 4 despite what people have said. Standard mame only has 4 inputs for 3 and 4 at the moment so that's something to think about if your only going to use mame.
Make sure your centre joystick isn't in the way of the trackball. In a fair few games you need a clear area around so you don't bash your hand.
Check out Bob Roberts (http://www.therealbobroberts.com) for cheaper Happs products. Also check out Oscar's 1st Review (http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview1.shtml) and his 2nd Review (http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview2.shtml) of various joysticks. And while your there you should also have a good look at his fantastic spinners.
I went for Happs Optical Rotarys for players 1 and 2, and Happs Supers for 3 and 4. The rotary's are based on the supers so there's no real difference except perhaps a little extra weight on the bottom of the shaft. I went for Supers as they seem to be a very good all round 8-way stick. They are good enough for someone like me (a hack) that plays all different types of games.'
I also got some t-sticks from Andy which will go on another control panel check them out (http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html). Also check out the Ipac's and Optipacs for the interface.
Good luck.
-cdbrown
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You might also want to have a couple extra buttons on the side to use for pinball buttons......and dont forget to have some other buttons for ESC, PAUSE, TAB, ENTER commands.....
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What do people reccomend
Buying from Happ as last resort.
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There are some good joystick reviews / comparisons at oscarcontrols.com's site:
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview1.shtml
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview2.shtml
The theme I keep hearing over-and-over is the the Happ Super is probably the best "overall" (or "do it all") joystick. The Perfect360 is "better" (subjectively) than the happ, but requires a bit more work.
Although, you said that you do a lot of fighting games, and the Happ Competition seems to be better suited for fighters. See what Kelsey had to say here (http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview1_4.htm).
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maybe i missed something but wy do u need 1-4 player buttons on a 3 joystick cp?
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DOH!
Well, the original idea was for a 4-player control setup, but now I've decided to go modular.
In fact, since I cannot find a MAME-able cabinet anywhere near me, I have to build from scratch so the who thing is going to be modular.
The plan is to create the cab in two halves and use a side-panel (sort of angular - I don't have a scanner or I'd scan my sketches) that contains the side art to hold them together with pass-through bolts. The CP will be reomvable too.
The whole idea is so that I don't end up with a cab that I cannot move and packs away easily when I come to move (which will be after Xmas sometime).