Posted by JP4 on 4, 2000 at 10:43 AM:
In Reply to: Re: the best joysticks and pushbuttons? posted by )p( on 3, 2000 at 5:54 PM:
Hey TromaLad,
Nearly everyone here uses the Happ Pushbutton with Horizontal Microswitch (found at http://www.happcontrols.com/tr/pushbutton/5891xxl.htm), and everyone seems to love 'em. I'm using these buttons myself, and I'm very happy with the feel of them. I would highly recommend these buttons to anyone.
Joysticks are a different story though. The joystick of choice among most (but not all) of us here seems to be the Happ Super Joystick - found at http://www.happcontrols.com/interactive/joysticks/50608400.htm. I'm using these sticks, and they do have a really good feel.
HOWEVER, for my next cabinet I'm going to give the Wico ball-top 8-way joysticks a try. The Happ Supers feel good, but do they feel like the old joysticks of yesteryear? I'm pretty sure that most of your classic games used a ball-topped leaf-switched joystick. So, I'm going to give those a spin and see how it goes. I'll be sure to write back to this board with my findings.
As far as "Happ vs. Wico" goes, here's the breakdown (as far as I can tell):
---HAPP SUPER MICROSWITCH JOYSTICK---
PROS: Good feel, good quality, microswitches seem to be more reliable than leaf switches.
CONS: Yeah, but does it FEEL like a "true" arcade stick like you remember? Also, the clicking of the microswitches as you move the stick around really drives some people crazy.
---WICO BALL-TOP LEAF-SWITCH JOYSTICK---
PROS: The real deal. If you're going to go through the trouble of putting a friggin' arcade cabinet together, why should your joysticks feel less than authentic?
CONS: Harder to get than the Happ sticks. Also, leaf switches seem to be less reliable than microswitches
---BOTH STICKS---
I've heard people who like the Happ sticks better say that the Wico sticks felt "too stiff" to them. But I've also heard people who like the Wico sticks better say that the Happ sticks felt "too mushy". So draw your own conclusions from this one...
Hope this helps!
-JP4