8Ways?

[ProCon]

Alright,
I am now addicted.  I have finished building my full sized arcade months ago and now I want to build a bartop.  I am doing this on a lower budget that I would like so, i wanted to pinch some money on the joysticks.  In my full size I have 2 U360s (which are amazing).  So the question is, if I go with 2 8ways what am I going to lose in compairson to the U360's?  To be realistic the bartop is going to have a p4 3.0ghz with 1gb of ram.  So, I know alot of the newer arcade games are not going to be able to be played which is fine. I am mostly looking to play the older games along with NES, Sega, and SNES.

Another question I have is if I buy these 8ways do they also play 2 and 4 way games w/o having to switch anything in the joystick itself?

Then the final question, which 8ways should I buy and who is a good vendor to get them from?

Thanks a million. 

[Ginsu Victim]

Since you have a full sized cabinet with U360s already, focus on one thing with the bartop. If you're going to put 8-ways in it, don't play 4-way games. Is your full sized cab using a vertical or horizontal monitor? Do the opposite with the bartop's monitor.

As for 8-ways, you can't go wrong with the Happ Competition (order from GroovyGameGear for the best results) or the Sanwa JLW or JLF.

[ProCon]

So I can't play 4 or 2 way games with an 8 way joystick?  If thats the case is there a joystick thats not as pricey as the u360 I could use that will play 8,4, and 2 way games w/o using restictor plates or whatnot.

See the reason I am doing this bartop is for my nephew.  Its going to be his xmas gift

[Ginsu Victim]

I didn't say you can't play 2-way games, but 4-way games are usually a pain in the ass on an 8-way.

The U360 is the only choice for one stick that does it all without restrictors.

However, since you're doing this for your nephew, that's a whole different story. Throw a Happ Competition in there and be done with it.