Need some recommendations from all you arcade PROS out there

[BNUTS]

Ok well im looking for good recommendations for my control pad joysticks and push buttons... Its a 4 player panel and I wanted to know what are the best 8 way joysticks to use for them and which are the best pushbuttons......I was going to go with competition buttons and joysticks but then people are telling me different things so I wanted to come here and ask the best    .... Also what is the difference between CGA and VGA arcade monitors  .....Any information about any of this stuff will be greatly appreciated ....Thanks 

[RayB]

Cheffo.... ?

[CheffoJeffo]

Why is everybody always picking on me ?   

It's nice to see that the folks who always say "don't tell them to do a search or read the wiki -- let us answer those repetitive general questions" have done a bang-up job. 

There are nearly 600 responses from a search of this site with the topic of "Best Joystick". It is a topic that comes up every week or so.

It is almost entirely a matter of personal preference and depends heavily on the games that you want to play and how you want your machine to feel.

I like Wico leaf switch sticks best of all as a general purpose 8-way. I don't mind their microswitch sticks either as the feel is similar.

Others like Happ Supers. Others like Happ Competitions (or did before they switched manufacturers). Others like the Suzo inductive sticks. Others like Japanese fighter sticks. Others like the Ultrastik 360s. Nobody likes the cheap Chinese sticks with the soft green plastic restrictor plates (although I have a pair that I plan to eventually use in a mini cabinet someday).

You probably want to hear opinions from folks who are of a similar age (so experienced arcades the same way that you did) and play the same games (my Wicos are probably not good advice if your top 10 games all begin with "Street Fighter") that you do. So tell us more about you and what you want to play.

Joystick page in the wiki

I also prefer Wico leaf switch buttons. Others don't. They're wrong.

Pushbutton page in the wiki

As for monitors, check the Monitors and Video page in the wiki and the Monitor FAQ.

A MAME monitor FAQ is a great idea. I hope to write some more tonight.

What is the resolution of my monitor?
Monitors are classified by their horizontal bandwidth and number of visible lines. This effectively describes their resolution. You can roughly estimate their vertical refresh rate (frames per second) by dividing the horizontal bandwidth by the number of visible lines. For a standard resolution monitor this would be 15750 / 240 =~ 65 Hz.

resolution	horizontal bandwidth	# lines	# colors	comparable
standard	15.75 kHz	240	unlimited	CGA or NTSC TV
extended	16.5 kHz	288	unlimited	CGA or PAL TV
medium	25 kHz	380	unlimited	EGA
high	31.5 kHz	450	unlimited	VGA

Note that we are talking about CRT monitors only. If your monitor is advertised as LCD, TFT, plasma or projection it cannot be classified using the table above.

[orion]

"I also prefer Wico leaf switch buttons. Others don't. They're wrong."


 

[RayB]

Cheffo, I was hoping you'd just post that nifty "WIKI" ascii art of yours (or is that another member?) 

[Ummon]

As for monitors, check the Monitors and Video page in the wiki and the Monitor FAQ.

A MAME monitor FAQ is a great idea. I hope to write some more tonight.

What is the resolution of my monitor?
Monitors are classified by their horizontal bandwidth and number of visible lines. This effectively describes their resolution. You can roughly estimate their vertical refresh rate (frames per second) by dividing the horizontal bandwidth by the number of visible lines. For a standard resolution monitor this would be 15750 / 240 =~ 65 Hz.

resolution	horizontal bandwidth	# lines	# colors	comparable
standard	15.75 kHz	240	unlimited	CGA or NTSC TV
extended	16.5 kHz	288	unlimited	CGA or PAL TV
medium	25 kHz	380	unlimited	EGA
high	31.5 kHz	450	unlimited	VGA

Note that we are talking about CRT monitors only. If your monitor is advertised as LCD, TFT, plasma or projection it cannot be classified using the table above.

Or, you could've just said, look up any one of Ummon's posts, and then look down.