In search of the world's best joystick

[Harlbro]

I've been playing games on the Amiga for many years. Like many of you I've seen literally dozens of joysticks meet their death through nothing but overuse (the utterly useless Quickshots immediately spring to mind). The only tried and true joysticks I've come across is the old Australian-made Star Cursor. Only thing is they haven't manufactured these since the early 90s. The ones that pop up on Ebay have been thrashed - see example:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5189118182&rd=1
(you can tell it has had heavy use as there is a broken off part at the base of the stick itself, yet this broken one will still go for A$30+).

The trouble with the Star Cursors is there are many moving parts. A fully working Star Cursor is a joy to behold however their weakness is their many moving parts and the cord attchment to the joystick (you end up having to wriggle the cord before it works properly).

I recently bought some brand new UK-made Competition Pro 5000 Series Mini joysticks thinking they would be suitable replacements. Sadly, the sensitivity is severly lacking. No micro-switches? What the??? To make the buttons work, you really need to REALLY HAMMER them. That makes playing ANY shootem up a real chore. Any suggestions??? What do you think THE über joystick is??

[coldfish]

Heh, yeah, Ive had a few (5 or so) of those Star-cursors!

Ive actually found at least two of them in Op-Shops for around $5 each, one was in immaculate condition with the protective film still on!  I got given two by a friend who was throwing out old stuff and I found one hiding in my own junk.

I used two on my home-made MAME box, I just cut down the housing and fitted it to a piece of aluminium sheet, (I would've used stock arcade joysticks, but they lack the stick button).  I may still have a complete one here somewhere?  

One thing Ive noticed about these, is the little lever inside used for the stick button, can missalign with vigourous use (ie Speedball2) so you have to improve the contact surface of the see-saw a little, (I use plastic top-caps from furniture screws).

The best stick I ever had was a stock stick and buttons fitted into a zippy box, its really easy to diy, even if your soldering skills arent the best.  

A genuine, stock arcade stick will set you back AU$18 new & they last forever!

http://www.arcadegames.net/parts_video.htm

As far as joypads go, I quite like old Segs MS pads which, I think enable the second fire button if I remember right?

[Acill]

I agree get the real thing. I built a 6 button with real arcade parts for less then $40 and its lasted me years. I even made a few converters to use it on ps2 xbox nintendo ect. Its simple to make.

Here is one way. Take an old game pad from say a nintendo and add some wires to the button pads and joystick pads. Then wire up a standard 9 pin atari/amiga joy port to those wires and fit it into the case of the old game pad. On your self made joystick you just wire the buttons and joysticks into the proper connector to plug into your new plug you made on the joy pad. Now you can use it on any system by just adding another connector to any old game pad the same way. The pad doesnt even need to work, just as long as the connections the original buttons made are good.

[SHADES]

MAME arcade buttonbank and Joystick all the way baby.
God I love MAME.

Nicola somora woops, can't spell his last name, but he also made power packer for AMIGA. also some of the first MAMEs were on AMIGA

[Noster]

Hi,

I have some good old  CompetitionPro joysticks and they work really good. The advantage of the CompetitionPro is, that it uses standard industrial microswitches, so it is always repairable. And the old ones have a very good response.

My second favorite is the Speedking from Konix. This joystick from the late 80th is ergonomical formed, so it is only usable for righthanded people, but it responds very good and lies perfect in the hand, so you can play anywhere and don't need a table. This joystick has been produced in two variants, one with a single fire-button and another one with two firebuttons and autofire. Unfortually I haven't seen the second version anywhere to be purchased, even in the late 80th I have only seen the first version. A friend of mine has had the second version, so it has been produced... :-)
Oh, and this joystick was also available as digital joystick for the PC (with the wide PC-joystick/midi plug).

Noster

[Harlbro]

Thanks guys, I forgot about the Sega joypads working on the Amigas. I do now recall once borrowing a friend's Megadrive (Genesis) joypad. I'm sure there'll be a few of those floating around on ebay. Perhaps, I may still try to get my hands on an earlier model Competition Pro? I new they were popular in Europe (just not the Mini version cause they're junk).

A DIY arcade joystick sounds tempting but my DIY projects never get finished - know what I'm saying?!?  :inquisitive:

[ajlwalker]

Noster wrote:

...My second favorite is the Speedking from Konix. This joystick from the late 80th is ergonomical formed, so it is only usable for righthanded people...

Noster

It might be my memory playing up but I seem to recall Konix producing a left-handed version also.

Back on topic, IMO the best joysticks were the Competition Pros.  I have one which is still going strong after 15 years!  :-o

[Darklight]

Well, I've still got the original Wico Command Control joystick I got with my A500, about 15 years ago now, and it's still as good as it was the day I got it  :-) Unbelievable that its survived all the abuse its suffered because I've just made a mistake on the last level of The New Zealand Story :lol:  
Amazing that all these joysticks have lasted this long, when you think about it.  My friend had a PC and bought a Wingman joystick for it........it lasted about a month before someone broke it  :lol:  

[Ferry]

I would say that the best joystick I know is the one I have, he,he... The question is that I bought it back in 1989 and it's still working!!



The body is made of thick wood, the metallic center of the joystick is steel and its centered by a big magnet, it has microswitches for directions and buttons. An arcade joystick taken out of one of those old arcade machines. Nearly indestructible...

Saluditos,

Ferrán.