Berzerk Joystick

SuperBee4406

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
2,399
Reaction score
10
Location
greenville, South Carolina
I am in the process of converting a Berzerk cab back from a horrible conversion. So while I am collecting parts to put this game back to a Berzerk, I am taking notice to the type joystick that most people have in thier Berzerk. Most fans of Berzerk know or have the "Bat handle" joystick that came as the stock joystick for Berzerk. But I noticed as people are buying these machines, and fixing them, most of the time they have a standard Wico style joystick in them. Why is that? Was the Bat Handle prone to failure and mostly replaced by OPs? Was the joytick installed in some games and not others?
 
So its because they are prone to failure. So they are rare because when they failed the OPs just threw them out instead of saving them. Which is wierd because most tech guys throw parts in a box in the corner versus throwing stuff out.

Its really interesting how those joysticks worked.
 
Yeah, and my guess is that "gunk" under the joystick used to be a rubber soffet. Purely a guess though.
 
So its because they are prone to failure. So they are rare because when they failed the OPs just threw them out instead of saving them. Which is wierd because most tech guys throw parts in a box in the corner versus throwing stuff out.

Its really interesting how those joysticks worked.

The original manuafacturer offered replacements for the bat joystick beause they were failing so often. The optics point up on the joystick and the crud pointed out in the link above would fall on the optics and cause the stick to not function correctly. I'm not positive, but I'm guessing that later runs of Berzerk came off the assebly line with the replacement stick.
 
The optics point up on the joystick and the crud pointed out in the link above would fall on the optics and cause the stick to not function correctly.

Actually, no the optics point DOWN (the reflective disc is _under_ the optics PCB) so the crud story is a myth. I think it was much more a case of the reflective disc becoming dirty (dust, crud, drink spills maybe) or maybe the actual optical parts becoming bad (looks like one is replaced on mine).
AND I think the basic design is not that great. Hitting the diagonals is hard and is essential in the later stages of the game (so far scored just into the 10000 points).

I released the spring as much as possible because it took a lot of force to play a game. That is already much better (you'd expect a spring to loose some strength over the years but this one is still very much alive).

I even thought about removing the spring completely.

I do wonder about that crud under the actual handle. If that used to be a rubber disc, it would "soften" hitting the end of travel on the joystick, which now is a mean "hard" bump.

The drawing in the schematics do not specify it though....
They do specify a spacer (nr. 3 on the drawing and list) but it doesn't say what material it is. I haven't _fully_ disassembled the stick yet though. It's all pretty stuck.

I am going to experiment with a Suzo Inductive joystick base. If I could get it to work with this joystick it would be the perfect replacement.....
 
Back
Top Bottom