Favourite Joystick from good old days.

[Jope]

whabang wrote:
Blasphemy!!! :-o  :-o  :-o
Burn him! BURN HIM!!!! :-x  :-x  :-x

TAC-2: Pro/Con-list

+ robust (I have seen many where the contact ball has broken off after a decathlon session, however)
+ fits in your hand nicely

- firebuttons that either make contact or not. firebuttons must work EVERY TIME, not "if you press them right". This is also a problem with the ZipStick, you need to press at the very center of the button, else they jam before making contact.
- some versions go loose (I mean loose as in 0 resistance and no centering)
- flimsy rubber pads that disintegrate

Hmm what more, I think that about covers it.

I'll keep my Comp Pro, thanks. :-) I still don't understand what makes the TAC-2 excel above others.

[SKAN]

Powerplay black/multicolor Cruiser

[whabang]

Jope wrote:
TAC-2: Pro/Con-list

+ robust (I have seen many where the contact ball has broken off after a decathlon session, however)
+ fits in your hand nicely

- firebuttons that either make contact or not. firebuttons must work EVERY TIME, not "if you press them right". This is also a problem with the ZipStick, you need to press at the very center of the button, else they jam before making contact.
- some versions go loose (I mean loose as in 0 resistance and no centering)
- flimsy rubber pads that disintegrate

Hmm what more, I think that about covers it.

I'll keep my Comp Pro, thanks. :-) I still don't understand what makes the TAC-2 excel above others.

I've heard others complain about the fire button reliability of the TAC-2s, but my stick has allways worked fine. Agree about the rubber pads though...

[Im>bE]

My brother broke the shaft of the tac2.

but then he installed a screw in place of it,
and ITS 10 TIMES MORE COMFORTABLE!!

you can move with only 2 fingers with ease,
since the resistance is much weaker
without losing centering ability.

I was unaware that my brother had changed it
so I thought this was how they was originally,
thus I went on a search to get more tac2s,
but when I finally got one,
I realized it wasn't as mega comfortable as my brother's, but still ok ofcourse.

if you have an unused tac2, try to replace the shaft with a just right sized screw,
or something similar...
and it might become a wonderstick like this I am using.

[J]

You can't beat the goold old Zipstick for SWOS playing. It's not the same without it.

I used to love opening a new Zipstick :-) Sad but true  :-)

[Herewegoagain]

The best thing for home use by the makers of the ones in the Arcade machines, WICO!  Nothing else ever even came close.

[Minuous]

I'm wondering why there are no proper joysticks available for IBM-PC?

When I look in the shops all they have are these crap analogue sticks which just flop around, they have a ridiculous amount of "travel", they don't centre themselves when you let go of the stick, they don't have microswitches, you can hardly tell what direction it is in, they need calibration, etc. Such joysticks are completely useless, so I don't know why they bother to make them, or why anyone would buy one. They're as bad as a gamepad.

Surely there is a company that makes 8-way IBM-PC joysticks!?

[iamaboringperson]

sure!  you wont find them in the shops! as most people only buy cheap crap

have you never heard of x-arcade? (as an example)

http://www.x-arcade.com/
there are other similar sticks, for professional gamers...

the only way to go IMO :-)

[Damion]

@Jope

I agree, I hated the TAC-2. The firebuttons were
dodgy, and the 'throw' was too short IMO.
Unfortunately they did hold up well, so I often
found myself stuck with one as my only stick.
Better than nothing, I suppose!

[redrumloa]

I don't think I would say it's my favorite, but the Captain Grant is a pretty competant joystick.

[B00tDisk]

Philistines.

The lot of you.

Firstly, in response to this "crap joystick for the PC" remark, I give you:





These.

Now that that's cleared up, as to my stick, I'm proud to say I (apparenlty) stand alone with my Atari2600 Joystick!  It went from the '2600, to a Vic-20, then to a C64, then to my A500, and I bade it a fond farewell when I sold my A1200.

And I played a hell of a lot of games as well...

[jeffimix]

The Atari 2600 joystick is IMO a beautiful work of spartan simplicity.  I have a pair called 'Starfighter the Ultimate Joystick'. still work after decades of hard use, they were getting dodgy so I cleaned the contacts with a Q-Tip. They both work great now, although they do have very little resistance to movement, the spring back reasonably well. I'm wondering how necessary 2 buttons are for most amiga games though - or could I just keep using these little critters.

[pVC]

My favourite is TAC-2 (made in USA, not the ####ty chinese model). And adding microswitches to the buttons made it even more accurate and more gentle to the thumb I have upgraded mine with microswitches and autofire with led Never got TAC-2 to break.. although when I got angry to some game, I pushed the joystick so hard that stick bended little

And if I'd had to pick the worst joystick ever, then it would be The Boss Awful stick... handle was rotating and you never knew which way it happens to be and the only button was on the top of the handle, which forced you to hold it from the top too making accurate controlling impossible And the turning radius was too big too..

EDIT:

The differences between USA and chinese TAC-2's are at least metal vs plastic stick and chinese version has much worse rubber thing that centers the stick, it's first too hard and then it changes it's strength with time. My US version has been just right from the beginning through the years

[Jupp3]

Well, don't recall the name, but design was... Interesting...

I'll describe it...

Quite big handle, comfortable to hand, single fire button...

And on TOP of that handle, small 3-4cm stick, that's used to control!

So, the "lower" handle was used only for fire button & holding the
joystick...

Rather interesting design, but it also worked :-)

I recall another stick with rather similar design...

It just had one really BAD design flaw; It had no diagonals...

Under the stick, there was "+"-shaped hole, that prevented use of
diagonals... Whoever came up with such hideous idea... :-)

Now thinking of it, the design is a bit similar as in "Terminator"
-joystick (You know, the grenade shaped one) but more comfortable...

[Brian]

ZipStick, SlikStick, Tac2, Wico Commander and witch the risk of my life I would also like to include the sweet original SEGA MasterSystem controll in my favourite 5. :-D

[mepmepmep]

Oh, I see you all have forgot to mention the ultra ergonomic Wico Ergostick. A hand held, completely made in rubber sporting microswitches. This crappy image of this rare collectable was all I could find. I've played tons on one of these, however the Tac-2 is my favourite, unbeatable! It's true to its name, it's accurate although i agree to the fact that the firebuttons gives in after a while and you need to have a Tac-2 with the steel handle. The later revisions are crap!