Which Arcade Stick?

[blade002]

Hello boy and girls, i need your expert opinions on a subject i am sure many of you are familiar with as children of the 70's,80's & 90's and that is "Arcade Joysticks"!!

Now we have all used them, we all know the feel and the responsiveness an Arcade stick can bring and that is something i would like to get back

Now, i don't plan to go buy and an arcade cabinet and make a big MAME style machine, but ever since we adopted the SNES, Megadrive & MAME as part of our EAB gaming compo's as the gaming platforms of choice, i have found myself resigned to using a Joypad which i despise using because i am just hopeless with it! I am not against others using Joypads but i find that i suck with them, so.............................

What is a GREAT USB Arcade stick i can use on the PC that will sit on my desk and give me back my control and Arcade feel !?!? ... What do you guys recommend!?

[s2325]

Maybe remember that for someone (me) stick on the left side can be really uncomfortable. I have http://www.ciao.co.uk/Logic_3_Arcade...e_pad__6513976

[Coagulus]

I picked up a Dreamcast one which I use on my DC and PC (using a Trio Linker II+). That generates the right feel for me!

[Cammy]

This stick is closer to the real thing than anything else you'll find, and it's Australian made - http://www.ozstick.com.au/prod_desktop.html

Or if you'd rather something a little cheaper, this guy is selling one of those unbranded Hori Real Arcade sticks in Australia, which are usually quite hard to find unless you get them from China, which costs more when you include postage - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Arcade-Joysti...3A1%7C294%3A50

The good thing about this one is it also works on any Playstation, or an Amiga via a Playstation-CD32 adapter. Of course they'll both work on an Amiga with USB too.

[pmc]

Got an X-Arcade myself. Never had a problem with it, solid as a rock.

http://www.xgaming.com/

[Cammy]

I just found someone selling those Hori style sticks at a lower price - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mayflash-PS3-...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Cammy]

I find even more interesting joysticks! First is the classic TANK stick, which is still available from The Gamesmen as it was years ago when it had an Amiga plug on it. These days it connects to a 360, but they probably have other models too - http://www.gamesmen.com.au/catalog/p...ducts_id=23233

And them there's the Self Arcade stick, which is the one I use on my Playstation 2, this guy is selling one but it looks like one of the analogue ball things is broken. They ALWAYS break on these Self sticks, so there's not much point trying to use them. The rest of the Self arcade stick is great though, really solid! - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SELF-2-in-1-A...3A1%7C294%3A50

Also, I've now found out that those first joysticks I posted about aren't Hori knockoffs, but a new similar looking stick made by Mayflash/Elecom. Here's what they say about them:

"PC owners wanting arcade controls no longer have to pick between cheap rubbish, cabinet-sized monsters or spending $100 on the smaller X-Arcade. Elecom’s JC-AS01BK controller finally fills a niche that, in all seriousness, should never have needed to be filled."

That seems very true, I've been looking for good arcade joysticks for ages and they're either really cheap crappy ones or super expensive ones. This one is priced nicely!

[Photon]

Buy a cheap 6€ USB gamepad (non-analog, or use hat switches), solder on an Atari 9-pin joy connector.

Then get a wooden or metal board, about 120x400mm, and drill holes for buttons and joystick (I prefer those battops) you can get cheap here: http://www.arcadegames.se/shop (click a flag that suits you )

Attach joy and buttons to female 9-pin Atari plug, put board across lap and enjoy

Dirt cheap, adapted to you, perfect components, and a tiny amount of effort. The only recommendation I will ever make in these vital matters

[Cammy]

I think cutting off the USB plug and soldering on an Atari plug would make it a lot harder for someone to plug into their PC, and even if it was wired right to fit an Amiga, the best you'd get out of it is the use of 2 buttons without a PIC chip converting the signals to CD32-compatible ones. But then you'd need to learn the exact workings of that partiular pad and its button layout to do that, which is why no one has made any USB-CD32/Amiga adapters yet. If you were wanting to use a new controller on an Amiga there's no better option than getting or making a PS2-CD32 adapter and buying a PS2-compatible controller, which are just as easy to find, if not easier, than USB ones, and they all stick to the same standard format/button layout unlike USB so they should all work without drivers or manual configuration.

If it's for the PC, then Photon's method should work well and save you a few bob, but don't cut off the USB plug if you're going to be using it in a PC, or if you want to retain the use of more than 2 buttons. There are a few local Australian places selling wholesale arcade machine parts, so you may actually have a choie between all three different stick types: Japanese Ball-top, American Bat/club-top or Australian-style plastic ballstick.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Photon

Solder on an Atari 9-pin joy connector

That is, keep the joypad as is, cable with 9-pin connector coming out of the joypad. Inside the joypad it's connected to the button/joy contacts, joypad and its USB cable still intact. Much easier than some kind of "interface" and you can still use the joypad.

[Titler]

If you want to go for a really cheap but pretty decent stick, I picked up this one a few months back and have been perfectly happy with it;

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Logic_3_Arcade...e_pad__6513976

The drivers are on a floppy, but I emailed Logic and they sent me them in zip format instead. It seems pretty solidly built (even when being given a huge tugging in Choplifter under MAME) and it's even got a very small rumble feature

[s2325]

I think this stick required too much power, I was tired after playing Final Fight. I don't remember if it was the same with real arcade sticks.

[jabsy]

I've got a 2-player x-arcade, me and the kids use it on xbox, psx and PC. Just need a dreamcast adapter for it now, and mebbe a couple of playstation to amiga adapters... It's a great stick.

[DamienD]

An old thread for you to read through blade: These Arcade Joysticks?

[Harrison]

As others have recommended I also recommend the X-Arcade dual stick controller. It is a great arcade quality and feel controller with enough buttons for any real arcade game being played via MAME, and WinUAE also has direct support built in for the X-Arcade which is a great bonus.

The X-Arcade sticks are a bit more expensive than your average home controller, but you know it was worth the price as soon as you use one. Solid, heavy, nice joystick feel and good soild click of each button. It also has the side buttons for pinball games, and also 3 built in programmable configuration settings.

You can also get PS/2 or USB connectors for them so they should work with all PCs. Plus you can get adaptors to use the X-Arcade with many consoles including PS2, Xbox and Dreamcast.

Or if you wanted to splash out some serious money take a look at the Slik-Stik Classic. I've got one as part of my MAME cabinet and it is brilliant.