Best Joyst./;ick for a 60-in-1

[ChaosJohn]

The point I'm trying to make here is: if you have an OCTAGONAL restrictor, then your movements are restricted to those 8-ways, eliminating the problem of landing in that "dead zone" where you think you're going UDLR, but you're really in a diagonal. This is the "missing the turn" problem you get with using just any ol' 8-way stick. The octagonal restrictor allows you to play the pacs AND the 1943s equally well with no switching because it elminates that "dead zone."

I see your point, but I'm not completely convinced.

The problem isn't just a dead zone, but quickly getting from one side to another... Let's say left to top. The problem occurs because when you're moving from left to top with a 4 way, there's a crossover point where you just switch over and you're clicking top and not clicking left. With an 8-way, there's that diagonal zone where you're clicking both left and top.

If you've played a four way game (let's say Ms. Pac-Man) a lot, then you're used to anticipating wanting to turn at the next corner and you already have the joystick clicked into the turn. Unfortunately, if it's an 8 way, you might still be double-clicked, and since left was clicked first, it will ignore the top click.

I guess with practice, you could learn to be meticulous about centering between each click or focusing on where you are with the octo-restrictor, but either way I think it would take some re-learning to get used to playing a 4-way game with an 8-way joystick.

The bottom-switchable joystick is fine, but let's say you're at a party and you're playing Ms Pac and then someone says, HEY! LET'S PLAY GYRUSS!!! Do you really want to open up the control panel and remove a restrictor plate and replace it?

There are some top-switching 4/8 way joysticks, but I think I'm going to go with the simplest solution here. The control panel was actually set up for two players, so there are 2 8-way joysticks with 3 buttons each... I'll just switch one of them to a 4-way joystick and wire both sets of controls to player 1. That way you can play 4-way games with a 4-way stick and 8-way games with an 8-way stick without any futzing around or switching. And it'll also save me stripping and patching up and re-covering the control panel to a single set of controls.

 

[ChaosJohn]

And here's the alternative:

Mag-Stik Plus.

It's a 4/8 way switchable joystick. You pull up on the stick and rotate it 45 degrees to switch between modes. $45 shipped is a lot for a joystick, but it would do the trick.

 

[gibbous]

Yeah. Ultimate solution is to have both styles of sticks if possible. But I'd still take an octo restrictor over any available switchables.

Still, and perhaps it's just my playing style, but when I go from left to top, I don't touch the diagonal notch using the octo restrictor. I'm not riding the ridge of the restrictor, touching the diagonal first before getting to the top. Nor do I have to re-center when going from left to top. I just go straight from left to top in a straight line.

Now is my line going from left to top on an octo as straight as it would be if there was a 4-way restrictor? Probably not. Is the difference significant? I highly doubt it. I would think the difference (if any) wouldn't even be enough to make a difference in your scores. With even novice players, the hand knows well enough the general direction to start to go from left to top, and the octo notches are enough get you in perfect position to finish the trip to the switch.

To find out, maybe I'll play a few rounds of Pengo on my dedicated cab, and then a few on my MAME cab with octo restrictor, and see if there's a difference in scores.

Ultimately it would be interesting to have someone who can get some more impressive scores in Ms. Pac or DK to try it, but I've all I've got for now.

 

[cdjump]

I picked up a Mag-Stik Plus and all I can say is if you are used to a normal arcade stick the feel of this one might not do it for you, personally I think it is a POS!! For me it is only good for collecting dust!!

I've got one of the mag-stiks doing the same thing, for the same reason.
I ended up buying a ms-pac reunion joystick (4 way), and wrapping the piece that hits the micro switches with tape, so that it just will hit the diagonal, if your dead on the diagonal. Since i've done this, the 4 way games play great, and i still get 8 way functionality on the 8 way games.
I play ms pac quite a bit, and have no problems with missing turns due to the 8 way stick, and i do tend to roll the stick.

 

[ataridoctor]

Using a Mag-stik plus can be compared to difference between wearing a condom or not as far as feel goes, buy one and you will see what I mean.

 

[cdjump]

the mag-stik might be ok with the bat top - but it feels plain weird with the ball top.
For those that don't know, it uses a magnet to keep it centered. Feels really weird. It takes a good deal of force to get it off center, then its loose once its moved to one side. Really just the opposite of a spring centered, or rubber grommeted joystick.