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Sinistar Joystick by Groovy Game Gear?

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Kaytrim:
Randy has been working on this off and on for a year or two.  When he feels it is ready he'll make an announcement.  I would also like to know how things are going though.

TTFN  :cheers:
Kaytrim

divemaster127:
I stock the 49 way happ sticks
dm

southpaw13:
I also remember getting Sinistar working with a spinner and it played pretty good.  Can anyone test it?  I am not setup right now.

Thanks....

Xiaou2:

 While someone might be able to hack  Sinistar to point to the proper direction
with a spinner... there would be no way to control the speeds accurately.

 Sinistar has an analog speed control... and its really needed.

 You must go extremely slow to pick up the crystals when they pop out of the
rocks.   Yet, you much also be ready to fly at high speed to get away from enemies
or to get to the next asteroid.


 Now, it might be interesting if you can use a gas pedal to control the speed
with the spinner to control the directions.

RandyT:

--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on June 30, 2008, 05:24:41 pm --- Sinistar used a special 49way - which is very different from the Happs version.

 The original used a special rubber 'x'  that keeps the thing centered.  Unlike springs,  the x shape changes the way the resistance forces work.

 The further you press away from the center... the more resistance you will get, as you are pulling 3 other legs of the spider.

 In a typical analog or 49 way stick... they have the greatest resistance in the center.  Once you move past the sticky center... it becomes very easy to move the stick.  Too easy - as you accidentally move from center to the
very edge of the stick.

--- End quote ---

There's some good and bad info mixed together here, unfortunately. 

The 49-way stick used in a Sinistar machine (Williams style) used a ball pivot and had the rubber spider to center.  While this does provide a different feel than the Midway variety (The one HAPP started manufacturing), the Midway / HAPP 49 stick is much, much closer to this feel than any spring centered stick can deliver.  It should also be noted that the differing mechanical design of the two have as much to do with the different feel as the centering mechanisms do, but that's another discussion.

Both the Midway and the new HAPP manufactured varieties use rubber grommets.  With a rubber grommet, just as with a rubber spider, the further one pushes in a given direction, the more resistance one will encounter.  Whomever re-designed the HAPP variety made a very poor choice, IMHO,  when selecting the grommet to use, so they should be replaced if you purchase a new HAPP version.

The fact that the HAPP / Midway 49's use a rubber grommet for centering (as the classic games all did originally) instead of a spring is why I personally won't use any other stick.  The feel is just much better for the games I like to play.  They are very different from spring centered sticks and shouldn't be lumped together with them in the context of this discussion.

RandyT

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