best joysticks and buttons for fighting games?

partygt

Active member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
4,122
Reaction score
19
Location
California
best joysticks and buttons for fighting games?
where to buy them?
Thanks
 
Depends on what you like. But in general.

If you want old-school, "American style" sticks and buttons that are closest to the ones you grew up with:

iL Eurostick Joystick
iL buttons, concave
Cherry switches


If you want newer style, Japanese type buttons:
Sanwa JLF joystick (or Sanwa JLW depends on your preference)
Sanwa 30 mm buttons (OBSN, OBSC, OBSetc depending on your preference)

Can be bought at paradisearcadeshop.com.
 
just want what works best! i prefer leaf as i grew up in the 80s robotron style joysticks less micro noise! i never really played fighter back in the day butthey are growing on me. i am converting a bowling cab of to play fighters. id love some art for the sides but odd shape makes it tough.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0662.jpg
    IMG_0662.jpg
    200.5 KB · Views: 48
  • IMG_0663.jpg
    IMG_0663.jpg
    197.5 KB · Views: 39
  • IMG_0664.jpg
    IMG_0664.jpg
    197.8 KB · Views: 35
  • IMG_0665.jpg
    IMG_0665.jpg
    199.8 KB · Views: 28
Depends on what you like. But in general.

If you want old-school, "American style" sticks and buttons that are closest to the ones you grew up with:

iL Eurostick Joystick
iL buttons, concave
Cherry switches


If you want newer style, Japanese type buttons:
Sanwa JLF joystick (or Sanwa JLW depends on your preference)
Sanwa 30 mm buttons (OBSN, OBSC, OBSetc depending on your preference)

Can be bought at paradisearcadeshop.com.

I would agree 100%. I have used others and I wish I never wasted my time and money.
 
I grew up on American controls, but now use exclusively Sanwa, when it's my choice. That's just me.

But on the subject of Sanwa, it doesn't sound like you're going that route, but if you do, you will need to give consideration to how the stick mounts in the control panel. It may not mount right in on mounting hardware designed for American sticks.

I remember there being a kickstarter or rumors of a prototype all-in-one mounting plate that could swap onto just about any stick and be mounted in just about any cab/CP. Does anyone know if that actually exists now?

:edit: looks like it came to fruition. Need some of these for the sanwas jimmy-rigged into my big blue.

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/mounting-plates/1175-universal-arcade-joystick-adapter-plate.html
 
Last edited:
just want what works best! i prefer leaf as i grew up in the 80s robotron style joysticks less micro noise! i never really played fighter back in the day butthey are growing on me. i am converting a bowling cab of to play fighters. id love some art for the sides but odd shape makes it tough.
I use to make fighting game joysticks, so this is an interesting question. I'm a little outdated in new tech, but I think I can lead you the right way.

In any case, you might be making things a little difficult for yourself here. I've never played a fighting game with leafs before, but if you want to go that route, it may be the easiest (but not necessarily the best way to play a fighting game, imo). Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with new leaf joysticks and buttons.

If you want to make things complicated, you would have to compromise a bit. If you want silent, I would consider the new Sanwa "silent" joysticks and buttons. They're microswitched but are relatively silent.

Silent joystick:
https://paradisearcadeshop.com/levers-sanwa/1456-sanwa-jlf-tprg-8ayt-sk-silent-joystick.html

Alternatively, there are optical joysticks that are available that are also silent, but let's not get into that.

Sanwa buttons (mentioned before):
Regular Sanwa buttons are relatively silent already. But there are mods that are even more silent on the paradise arcade site.

If you go Sanwa, you need to understand that these are not exactly made for wood control panels, and you'll need to plan out your control panel layout well.
 
If you go Sanwa, you need to understand that these are not exactly made for wood control panels, and you'll need to plan out your control panel layout well.

The snap-in buttons work just fine...at least in my wood panel. Screw-ins will not work, though, as the panel is much thicker than the button and you can't get the "screw-down side" onto the buttons threads.

For the stick, the all-in-one mounting plate I linked above should make quick work of mounting a jap-style stick.

But, I don't think he's going un-American.
 
ok sanwa and ultra light touch micros. this is a blank wood cp just cut.
thanks for the help. this will be old dog new tricks! now i just need ideas on what i can do with the sides as far as artwork very odd shape
 
...
:edit: looks like it came to fruition. Need some of these for the sanwas jimmy-rigged into my big blue.

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/mounting-plates/1175-universal-arcade-joystick-adapter-plate.html

Yeah, they work well. I used those on my modified Big Blue control panel with Sanwa parts.

3CSL4Bm.jpg



ok sanwa and ultra light touch micros. this is a blank wood cp just cut.
thanks for the help. this will be old dog new tricks! now i just need ideas on what i can do with the sides as far as artwork very odd shape

Post a pic when you're done so we know what you eventually went with. Good luck!
 
Yeah, they work well. I used those on my modified Big Blue control panel with Sanwa parts.

Nice! That's what I need my big blue cpo to look like. Sadly, it does not. Some day...

I like the og color scheme that you went with for the buttons (RGB). I went w/ orange buttons for kicks and blue buttons for punches, to match the cab's color scheme.
 
Nice! That's what I need my big blue cpo to look like. Sadly, it does not. Some day...

I like the og color scheme that you went with for the buttons (RGB). I went w/ orange buttons for kicks and blue buttons for punches, to match the cab's color scheme.

Sounds awesome--would love too see it!!
 
One other thing to consider with sanwa's or other japanese buttons, which I am currently solving on my setup: the male connector on sanwa buttons is .110. Most american cabs have .187 female on the JAMMA harness. I just ordered some pre-wired .110 female connectors from focusattack.com:

https://www.focusattack.com/green-16pc-22-awg-wire-with-110-quick-disconnect/

Am going to crimp some male .187 connectors on the opposite end, to provide a better interface to the JAMMA wiring. I've had the stock .187's on the Sanwa's for years and years with few problems, but recently they've started coming loose (losing a button's function) regularly during gameplay. Figured it's time for a more trouble-free solution.

Of course, you could always cut the .187's off and crimp on some .110's for a much less expensive fix, but I personally try to work around modifying stock connectors, wiring, etc. whenever possible.
 
Looking to replace the joysticks in my Big Blue fighting machine.

Is the consensus still iL Eurostick Joystick being the best sticks for American style feel?
 
like many I grew up with IL or Happ sticks, but frankly, they arent great for fighters. The gates where down very quickly and when I was running a street fighter on location they would only last a few months before diagonal inputs would start cutting out. Eventually what I used was a Sanwa, but traded out the spring for a little heavier to better mimic the feel of heavy IL springs. I also retained bat tops. Eventually we switched out the gate for a circle gate and rollie optical pcb to replace the clicky switches (super easy swap). The result was a super smooth stick that never failed to register and lasted almost a full year on location before needing any servicing.
 
Looking to replace the joysticks in my Big Blue fighting machine.

Is the consensus still iL Eurostick Joystick being the best sticks for American style feel?

My understanding is that in the US, Street Fighter II and such originally used Happ Competition sticks, which were actually made by iL (Eurosticks) and just rebranded. Happ Competition sticks now are made by someone else (in China), and even worse, so don't get those.

Go to Paradise and get the true iL Eurostick if you are nostalgic for that original US feel. I just received some a few days ago and they brought back memories...

If you want to be competitive though, go the Sanwa route...
 
like many I grew up with IL or Happ sticks, but frankly, they arent great for fighters. The gates where down very quickly and when I was running a street fighter on location they would only last a few months before diagonal inputs would start cutting out. Eventually what I used was a Sanwa, but traded out the spring for a little heavier to better mimic the feel of heavy IL springs. I also retained bat tops. Eventually we switched out the gate for a circle gate and rollie optical pcb to replace the clicky switches (super easy swap). The result was a super smooth stick that never failed to register and lasted almost a full year on location before needing any servicing.

Interesting. From 91 to 94 I was in college and worked in the campus arcade to make a few bucks so I could afford meals. I remember the day they replaced the Eurostick style original sticks with Super 360 optical sticks. NONE of the "serious" players liked them. Maybe they never gave it a chance? It was funny...SF2 Hyper Fighting was right in front of the counter / cash register where I sat. After the change, students dropped in a quarter, and had a WTF? moment a few seconds after playing. They turned around and looked at me like it was all my fault. That happened a dozen times that day. :) They were changed back the following week.

It's funny how experiences / preferences can be so different from one area to the next.
 
We eventually had to replace the gate on ours from a circle gate to octagon because players like to ride the stick along the gate and some players struggle with putting in inputs and not having the gate corners as a reference. No one missed the awful clickiness of the sanwa switches though.
 
I think it just comes down to preference. If you're used to playing with the iL/Happ sticks, you probably won't like the Sanwas (at least at first).

There are folks out there that try to mod their Sanwas/Seimitsus so they feel a bit more like the iL/Happ sticks and vice versa. There are endless debates on this. But I think in their hearts they're just more comfortable with what they grew up with.

For me, I use the iL hardware on most of the older fighting games, and of course Marvel games. For newer games, I use Sanwa hardware (since that's what I learned those particular games on after American arcades closed). My personal "competition" stick for consoles has an old Sanwa Flash1 optical PCB, with an octagonal gate, and a heavier spring (a lot like the set up that neopolss mentioned).
 
Back
Top Bottom