NEW Ball-Top Joysticks

D_Harris

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I don't know if it is known, but I have a question concerning the reason there are so many different styles of ball-top joysticks. I'm not referring to directional differences which can be changed with restrictors or the varying number of needed inputs, but the number of different ball-tops by themselves.
I fail to see why there was such a need to keep "re-inventing the wheel" Was it for proprietary reasons, monetary reasons, or a belief that a better ball-top could be made, so they kept trying?
I know there are differences in feel between them due to the resulting variation in throw distance, spring/grommet strength, height, relative ball/shaft size(no jokes), and axis point.
I know that players get used to certain joysticks with certain games, but from the start, why were subsequent designs not considered redundant?
Some joysticks had to be more expensive to make, or were naturally problematic from the beginning.(ie: Universal & Atari System 1).

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
I'd offer that so many of these sticks were very cheap to manufacture at the time, that in many cases it was probably heavily influenced by a business decision.

Once you pay to have the mold made, it was probably close to printing money, as injection molding is relatively cheap in the volumes that a lot of these games were made in. Plus, you have the opportunity to customize the stick for the gameplay, cab, etc, which does contribute to the overall feel and style of the game.

In the end, it was probably just cheaper to companies to have custom ones made, versus sourcing them from a 3rd party (which will include a hefty markup).
 
If making them in-house was cheaper then why up the cost by changing the design of the bases? Why not just re-engineer whatever style was cheaper?

If every ball-top game I ever played had a joystick like Pac-man(with whatever restrictor was necessary) I would have been very satisfied.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
may have trademarked designs so every company may have had to come up with their own.
 
I did mention that proprietary reasons were a possibility, but could find little as far as patents for all the specific joysticks from each of the major arcade manufacturers.

If you could only use one ball-top, which one would it be?

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
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