Arcade stick/controls

Star Lord

I've been thinking, as it's likely to be a couple of years before I can get myself an arcade cab, I might just make do for now with an arcade stick/buttons/CP setup for the PC instead.

Would I be best to buy some reasonably priced pre-built arcade stick, or get the bits and pieces to try to make my own?

Any recommendations for what to buy either way?

Dr Bob

If you can get an Ipac (or if you plan ahead a Jpac)cheap then making your own control panel isnt too hard expensive.
hardest part is probably making the box part , after that you're just drilling out holes for your buttons/stick with a holesaw.4 screws holds the stick, the buttons screw in really easily (and usually have a lip that helps cover up any mistakes with the drilling).great thing is if you do get a cab, you can dissasemble the controller and use some/all the parts as the control panel.
The other guys can probably point you to the best place to get cheap/good sticks and buttons..

I have a box part I made and am no longer going to use?
sure I'll chuck you a CP for it and maybe some buttons.
I'd say you could scab some sticks here..........

interested?

Star Lord

I'll drop you a pm, don't want to be doing deals on stuff in the main forum!!!

*glances nervously at Ciderman*

It has a bottom too.
I was going to make a ps2 fight stick but realistically I'm never going to get to it..
The blast city panel is in poor condition and im never going to use it so its yours on the house.you'll need to bolt the panel to the box to but thats no biggy.
I had a coffee table as a stand in mind when I was making

Doctor DooM

Pretty much the standard premade sticks are the Madcatz Tournament edition or the Qanba QRAF (I consider this the best, comes with Sanwa parts, easily moddable, and works with pc, ps3, and 360).

A Qanba will roughly set you back about 150 but is a beautiful stick. I've had 4 or 5 sticks and it's my favourite easily available one (I prefer the sega vshg but you'll pay for that).

Star Lord

Looks good, thank you!

Kinda the best of both worlds from my view point...
The opportunity to do at least part of the work, without having to reinvent the wheel!

Doctor DooM

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Looks good, thank you!

Kinda the best of both worlds from my view point...
The opportunity to do at least part of the work, without having to reinvent the wheel!

Exactly!

It's made for us FG people so it's delibrately tough, versatile, but easily fixable in case a spring goes in the middle of a tournament

Star Lord

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Exactly!

It's made for us FG people so it's delibrately tough, versatile, but easily fixable in case a spring goes in the middle of a tournament

Oops, sorry DooMy, I'd meant that as a reply to UrbanLedge!

CiDeRmAn

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Exactly!

It's made for us FG people so it's delibrately tough, versatile, but easily fixable in case a spring goes in the middle of a tournament

So,
Not one of these then?

Andrew76

@Ciderman: Blast from the past there! I remember using those Quickshots back in the C64 days. The non-microswitch versions felt like you were using something made out of wood. Took an awful battering with games like Track & Field and Combat School. Although once we got hold of the amazing ZipSticks then the Quickshots were chucked aside.

CiDeRmAn

They coexisted with the Competition Pro but "da Kidz" bought the Quickshot 2 in their droves despite the fact they were terrible.
I used to fix them for fellow school kids, with the little leaf switches not lasting any length and the whole thing built of weak plastic and a lousy spring in the shaft.
Daley Thompsons Decathlon used to kill lots of them, beyond repair.
Meanwhile my Competition Pro and Kempston interface lasted the lifetime of the Spectrum, about 4 years in my case.

o1s1n

You've reminded me of the most uncomfortable joystick known to man. I can remember playing Batman on the speccy with this thing. Novelty wore off pretty quickly!

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

You've reminded me of the most uncomfortable joystick known to man. I can remember playing Batman on the speccy with this thing. Novelty wore off pretty quickly!

Here's another, utter un-ergonomic madness!

Star Lord

I kinda love both of those...

Well, the idea of them!

Dr Bob

I had the terminator one of them! Reminds me a mate of mine picked up a boxed sealed quickshot pro at the weekend at a car boot...git!:)

chopperbyrne

I had the non Golden version of the Gamesmaster Golden Joystick, the Quickjoy Jet Fighter SV-126

Star Lord

Break out the gold spray paint!

CiDeRmAn

They really do suck, particularly in retrospect.
Imagine we played everything from fighting games to shmups, from RPGs to racing games on sticks like that, from platformers to sports games all on one of those.
Goes to show, really, what a revelation the Nintendo D-pad was, consigning the joystick back to its arcade and flight sim origins.

Blast city panel now gone to Damo!
best of luck with it!

Andrew76

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

They really do suck, particularly in retrospect.
Imagine we played everything from fighting games to shmups, from RPGs to racing games on sticks like that, from platformers to sports games all on one of those.
Goes to show, really, what a revelation the Nintendo D-pad was, consigning the joystick back to its arcade and flight sim origins.

Goes to show how skilled we were back then. Back when you presssed up on the joystick to jump rather than using a button. :cool:

o1s1n

A mate of mine dropped up a little while back with his C64 and we played through a load of tapes. He was showing me his super 1337 c64 shmup skills - but was using a stick like that. Was pretty impressive, I must say!

Star Lord

Ok, thinking of getting a set of sticks/buttons/ipac for the CP, just so I've everything I need there to work from in one go, as I know I'd probably screw it up and forget vital elements or get the wrong connectors if I was to get them all separately! (Speaking from experience on that one!!!)

http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Arcade-Joysticks-Buttons-And-Wiring-Kit-No-9.html

Any thoughts?

I saw there was another bundle that had the MinI-Pac instead, but from what I've been reading, they can be a bit trickier to wire.

safetyboy

Go for Sanwa or Seimitsu buttons, those arcade buttons are loud and big. You will just end up changing them in the long run.

Yep what he said,
Keep clear of the kits.
Also, those sticks wont fit the panel with out moding something!
Deffo get the pre crimped cables tho but make sure you get the right size crimps!
on some sticks you hook up straight to the micro switchs, some have 4 cables and a comon coming out of them.the latter will probably work out better for you .
You need a stick like this one for that panel.no mounting plate.http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Sanwa-JLF-TP-8Y-SK-Ball-Top-Joystick.html

None of that scamitsu crap either

Star Lord

Thanks guys!
Tricky trying to figure out what connects where, and what way! For one of those Sanwa sticks, would I need the block connector, or can it also just be hooked up via the pre-crimped spade connectors?

Then to hook this up to an I-Pac...

I confuse myself sometimes!

Andrew76

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Thanks guys!
Tricky trying to figure out what connects where, and what way! For one of those Sanwa sticks, would I need the block connector, or can it also just be hooked up via the pre-crimped spade connectors?

Then to hook this up to an I-Pac...

I confuse myself sometimes!

I won't get into the debate of Sanwa Vs Seimitsu other than to say urbanledge is wrong :P, but yes, you will need that 5pin cable you have linked if you go for the Sanwa urban mentions. If you hover over the Sanwa pic you can see the white 5pin connection bottom left.

/Edit: How come those Sanwa's don't have a metal mounting plate? Don't recall seeing them naked like that before, unless that plastic top part is the mounting plate.

Star Lord

Andrew76 wrote: »

How come those Sanwa's don't have a metal mounting plate? Don't recall seeing them naked like that before, unless that plastic top part is the mounting plate.

Those specific ones don't have a mounting plate, so I guess are designed to be attached directly to the CP.

Andrew76

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Those specific ones don't have a mounting plate, so I guess are designed to be attached directly to the CP.

All good so. I don't have experience with wooden CP's only those found on candy cabs.

o1s1n

Pretty sure wood cabs have mounting plates? I remember my Leisure 2000 one did anyway. The cab was wood but the CP was steel.

Bc panels have built in mounting plates!