Are Happ 8 Way Competitions Really Noticeably Worse Than IL Euros?

Wow still no takers? I figured someone would've know what type of contollers these were by now. They had to have been some sort of common replacement at one time because I pulled them off my MK1 and they're in my SSR. I will say that the single holed /non adjusting screw location in the corners pattern matched the original MK1 hole pattern perfect.

I did some looking around last night, but no luck.

1) Square top (looks to be at least), with 4 mounting holes in the corners, and not the kind of elongated holes that give a little wiggle room to adjust. These holes are fixed round.

2) Switch plate mounting area is round, with lobes, and has 2 slots between each switch.

3) Square white nylon actuator, which makes contacts with microswitches. Microswitches are arranged in a way that looks as if micro leafs could have been used.

4) Bat top handle, smooth not textured like IL handles.

I wonder if Happ briefly had an old model similar to the Ultimate before the Suzo merge?
I was familiar with all the HAPP sticks before the merge and that wasn't offered. That doesn't mean it wasn't something they made in the 90s. I'm guessing it's some other company like Coin Controls that made something similar to the HAPP sticks at the time.
 
I was familiar with all the HAPP sticks before the merge and that wasn't offered. That doesn't mean it wasn't something they made in the 90s. I'm guessing it's some other company like Coin Controls that made something similar to the HAPP sticks at the time.

Looked into it, you're right...it's some model Coin Controls from the late 80s, but the catch is that my sticks were probably modified with Happ parts and I'm guessing at some point before the merger.

I say this because I've found others discussing them, these joysticks were late 80s and originally came with the micro leafs which explains the 2 slots near the microswitch (because the leaf mounted there). I'm guessing when the leafs went bad, route operators converted the micro leaf with the microswitch, and upgraded the old round actuator with a square one...probably pulled loose Happ parts out of a box like the square actuator, shaft spacer, and Happ bat stick. The original Coin Controls was a bat stick, but had more of a ball shaped top. Due to the age of the joystick, I'm guessing the upgraded parts are original Happ parts before the merger since mine looks like it has a white nylon actuator and shaft spacer (nylon is pre merger right?). One guy even commented and said the joystick I have could have been an ancestor to the Happ Ultimate, which explains why they are terrible sticks and tried to be upgraded with Happ parts.

I suppose my joystick upgrades could've been done with modern IL parts but I doubt they wouldve wasted good parts on these joysticks, which leads me to believe the are original Happ parts before IL became what they are today. One thing is for sure is that they weren't upgraded with modern Happ (pvc) parts.
 

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Looked into it, you're right...it's some model Coin Controls from the late 80s, but the catch is that my sticks were probably modified with Happ parts and I'm guessing at some point before the merger.

I say this because I've found others discussing them, these joysticks were late 80s and originally came with the micro leafs which explains the 2 slots near the microswitch (because the leaf mounted there). I'm guessing when the leafs went bad, route operators converted the micro leaf with the microswitch, and upgraded the old round actuator with a square one...probably pulled loose Happ parts out of a box like the square actuator, shaft spacer, and Happ bat stick. The original Coin Controls was a bat stick, but had more of a ball shaped top. Due to the age of the joystick, I'm guessing the upgraded parts are original Happ parts before the merger since mine looks like it has a white nylon actuator and shaft spacer (nylon is pre merger right?). One guy even commented and said the joystick I have could have been an ancestor to the Happ Ultimate, which explains why they are terrible sticks and tried to be upgraded with Happ parts.

I suppose my joystick upgrades could've been done with modern IL parts but I doubt they wouldve wasted good parts on these joysticks, which leads me to believe the are original Happ parts before IL became what they are today. One thing is for sure is that they weren't upgraded with modern Happ (pvc) parts.

Well, IL and HAPP comp sticks have a different diameter shaft than the CC and Ultimate sticks, I don't think that the actuators on your sticks are the same unless there is an added bushing?

EDIT:
That actuator on your sticks is more like an Ultimate in size.
 
Here's a photo of a HAPP Ultimate Acutator, it's also in the video I posted so you can see the size difference.

50-7508-10_1.JPG
 
Here's a photo of a HAPP Ultimate Acutator, it's also in the video I posted so you can see the size difference.

50-7508-10_1.JPG

Do you know when the Ultimate was first produced? If that pic is a modern Ultimate, is the actuator white nylon, or PVC? If it's nylon, I'm surprised they wouldn't use the same in the Comps.
 
Do you know when the Ultimate was first produced? If that pic is a modern Ultimate, is the actuator white nylon, or PVC? If it's nylon, I'm surprised they wouldn't use the same in the Comps.
I have a 20 year old HAPP ultimate that I bought from them directly and that one is nylon, the new ultimate actuators are pvc just like the comps.
 
Wow I didn't think the ultimates were that old. It's a shame the merger had such a drastic consequence on their joysticks.
Looks like I have a CC joystick with possibly vintage happ ultimate parts.
 
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Wow I didn't think the ultimates were that old. It's a shame the merger had such a drastic consequence on their joysticks.
Looks like I have a CC joystick with possibly vintage happ ultimate parts.
Is there anything embossed on the joystick? Like the manufacturer?

I doubt that an operator would swap the shafts from a happ to a cc.

I'm wondering if it's just a variation of a cc joystick that just resembles a happ.
 
Is there anything embossed on the joystick? Like the manufacturer?

I doubt that an operator would swap the shafts from a happ to a cc.

I'm wondering if it's just a variation of a cc joystick that just resembles a happ.
I looked briefly before and couldn't find anything, I'll take a close look later and let you know. I couldn't find any pictures on Google with that set up.
 
This thread got me to swap my sucky happ joysticks for Ils in my JAMMA cab, and the difference is night and day! So much better.
 
This thread got me to swap my sucky happ joysticks for Ils in my JAMMA cab, and the difference is night and day! So much better.

Just curious if you could comparitively rate the difference on a scale of 1-10 (10 being best). Did you know how bad the happ was before you bought the IL?

What game did you swap sticks with?

Tighe, I haven't had a chance to look at my joysticks in depth to find out what they were, but from a quick look I could see any brand stamp. I did however find 1 part number very small inside the top of the housing. I'll copy it down and post it this weekend when I have more time.
 
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They had to have been some sort of common replacement at one time because I pulled them off my MK1 and they're in my SSR.
I have pulled several of these off games too including an MK1. I have no idea where they came from, I always assumed they were a cheap Happ clone. I've seen them with metal washers on the bottom as the actuators wore down and I've never had them in 100% working condition so I just toss them in the parts bin.

As for the rest of the thread - I agree 100% I never use modern Happs. I bought boxes of NOS sticks off an OP I use in my cabs, or before I found them the ILs. For the small difference in price it's not worth the frustration of missing input.
 
in how they're made, the difference is in the materials. current Happ Competition joysticks have the actuating parts made of PVC, while the old Happ Competition and IL Eurosticks use nylon. the build quality is kind of all over the place, sometimes you'll get lucky with Competition, and others you will not and you will find the actuator bind up and rotate with the joystick, resulting in poor diagonal input. you can dab some lubricant of your choice between the actuator and E-clip to curb this problem, it's what I've done in the past.

the other issue you will have probably run into the last 9 years is that the Happ Competitions came with their Cherry replacement E-switches (if you google hard enough you'll find the press release where they actually argued that E-switch was every bit as good as Cherry) years ago I needed new switches on my MK2 and went all in on these E-switches back in 2011 -- if any of you remember what playing fighting games in the 90s was like, armed with Happ Ultimates and games that received thousands of plays, that's what a brand new E-switch felt like. now imagine your shiny new Happ Competition joystick and how it's going to feel when you need accurate circular motions for SF2 or KI. yeah...

fortunately however Happ has switched back to Cherry using these black switches, of which I don't know how they rank in Cherry quality, but are better than E-switch nonetheless. I get joysticks from Happ for $5, so I've been outfitting the non-fighting games with these lately and I've actually been impressed with them. they're not like the Eurostick, of which I've tuned some to my arguable level of perfection, but they're way better than what they've put out since 2009.

Happ makes replacement springs for the floaty Ultimate joysticks (of which I conquered Street Fighter Alpha 3 with many times over -- it's doable, believe it or not) called "heavy springs" -- I don't encourage using these on Competition or Eurosticks.

that's it. that's my comparison and argument of the two. this should have a sticky.
 
I think we all can agree that the ILs are the way to go for fighting games because they are exactly what Happ used to be before the Suzo merger, and reliability in the controls is essential for combos. The main question I originally posed was if Happs were good enough for non fighting games like side scrollers, and others like Sunset Riders, Wrestlefest, Xmen, etc (forget Wico for this hypothetical question).
 
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