49-way stick question

bones3010

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So I'm strongly considering taking the plunge for the ArcadeSD board and if I do I would like to take advantage of the boards ability to automatically distinguish between needing 4-way versus 8-way, etc. However, I'd be putting it in my bartop Pac Man/Galaga anniversary machine and really want to keep the look of the cabinet as much as possible so I'm wondering if anyone makes a 49-way stick that maintains the look of the small red ball Pac Man sticks. Does anyone know who might make/sell those? I checked ultimarc and didn't see any there..

Thanks!
 
Thanks for the reply! I actually seen that one, but it looks like it's meant more for MAME and other PC setups, since it requires programming and a USB connection. Do you know if this would work somehow in a true arcade game setup (and specifically for the ArcadeSD)?

I'm really just looking for a plug-and-play 49-way that just so happens to look like a Pac stick, if one exists. The Happ ones just come with those oval-styled sticks.
 
GGG used to make one. It wasn't like a pac stick though as it was taller. I really disliked the way the 49way felt and had such a huge throw that I sold it.

You could probably use a Ulitmarc Servo Stick or maybe the Ultrastick 360 with a Pi or something to automatically program it.
 
I'm really dim when it comes to programming things, lol... If I had the brain-power to do stuff like that I'd pull together a nice raspberry pi to JAMMA rig in a heartbeat. I'm too busy and lack the focus to learn how to do anything overly-complicated right now so I'm trying to stick with a multigame board like the ArcadeSD for the time being.

Oh well, it looks like I may just have to go with a manual 4-8 way stick because it means more to me that the look of the panel stays stock.

Thanks!
 
I'm really dim when it comes to programming things, lol... If I had the brain-power to do stuff like that I'd pull together a nice raspberry pi to JAMMA rig in a heartbeat. I'm too busy and lack the focus to learn how to do anything overly-complicated right now so I'm trying to stick with a multigame board like the ArcadeSD for the time being.

Oh well, it looks like I may just have to go with a manual 4-8 way stick because it means more to me that the look of the panel stays stock.

Thanks!

I believe there are instructions on this site for the servo stick with the ArcadeSD. I don't think anyone has done the Ultrastik yet.
 
Thanks for the reply! I actually seen that one, but it looks like it's meant more for MAME and other PC setups, since it requires programming and a USB connection. Do you know if this would work somehow in a true arcade game setup (and specifically for the ArcadeSD)?

I'm really just looking for a plug-and-play 49-way that just so happens to look like a Pac stick, if one exists. The Happ ones just come with those oval-styled sticks.

I didn't see that it is USB only, so yeah, that would probably take some work to make it happen.

Probably the best bet would be a Williams 49-way. Sinistar had a red balltop. Those are hard to find, but Arch Rivals used the same joystick, just with an orange ball. The orange ones are usually $50 or less here or on ebay. I found just the red stick to add to mine, but I don't remember what I paid.

It has a different pinout than the happ 49-ways, so you will have to make sure the arcade SD can handle it.
 
The Ultrastik 360 isn't USB only. It outputs UDLR via the 10 pin header.

It looks like the 10 pin header can only be used to output 4 switches (8-way stick), so you would still need to be able to program the ultrastick through USB to change the program.

For this to really work with the arcadeSD, you would need the 14 pin output of a normal 49-way stick, and use the arcadeSD's logic to convert the signal.

There is a map download utility for linux, so it wouldn't be hard to set up a pi to handle the programming. It would make it a lot less plug and play though.

Using a sinistar stick will still likely be the easiest.

There are a few selectable 4-8 way sticks on the market now as well, so those might be worth looking at. You would still have to know which games use which stick though (as you would with trying to make the ultrastick work).

You might also find a balltop shaft that will fit in a regular happ 49way too. Paradise arcade maybe?
 
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