Button and Joystick Replacement for Neo-Geo cabinet advice?

McCHitman

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Button and Joystick Replacement for Neo-Geo cabinet advice?

I'm in the process of restoring/ bringing back to life, a Neo-Geo MVS-4 cabinet. I plan on replacing the buttons and joysticks, but don't know which ones I should get. I plan to stick with the original color scheme.

What type should I get and where from?

Is Amazon a good place to order a joystick from or should I stick to Happ or Sanawa?
 
I'm in the process of restoring/ bringing back to life, a Neo-Geo MVS-4 cabinet. I plan on replacing the buttons and joysticks, but don't know which ones I should get. I plan to stick with the original color scheme.

What type should I get and where from?

Is Amazon a good place to order a joystick from or should I stick to Happ or Sanawa?

twistedquarter.com and groovygamegear.com both have a good selection. I have the Happ Competition in my golden. They seem to work fine. I have standard micoswitches in mine as that is what it had in it. I like the solid click instead of what you get with a leaf but that is because that is how I remember playing them in the arcade. Can't really speak for the sanawa's as I haven't used one in a while.

Edit: I should say last time I ordered from groovy it took a few days to ship but the quality is generally good. Twisted usually ships pretty quick.
 
Pretty much any place will have the buttons you are looking for. They are usually just standard HAPP buttons with microswitches.

As far as joysticks, I think they were HAPP Competition 8-ways originally, but some replace them with Sanwa's because they prefer the feel. Just pick whatever you like on them.
 
It's all personal preference. If you want to stick close to stock, HAPP Competitions or IL Eurosticks are the way to go. Most people seem to prefer the IL over the HAPP, from what I've heard. However, I have two Neo control panels, and both had HAPP Ultimates on them when I got them, so I'm wondering if that's what SNK used originally. General consensus seems to be that Ultimates are far from Ultimate...

If you want to go the Japanese route, then you either want the Sanwa JLW Bat Top or the Sanwa JLF. The JLF is the preferred Sanwa stick, but the mounting hardware is different from a standard US cabinet like a Neo, though it's not difficult to modify to fit. Many pros prefer these, though I think the casual player is probably more indifferent. The JLW's mounting is US styled, meaning it will drop in just like the Competition or the Eurostick, but retains the Sanwa 'clicky' feel. Most people don't seem to like the JLW as much as the JLF.

Personally, I ordered one of each (sans the Competition) a few months ago and have been spending time with each one to try and choose which model I want to go with long term. Here are some of my opinions:

HAPP Ultimate: I don't much care for them, myself as I find myself hitting diagonals too easily and end up crouching or something when I don't want to. This is probably just me, but I've been unable to adjust my playing style enough to counter it. After 5 years of trying to work around that, I decided to give other sticks a shot.

HAPP Competition: This is or is close to what most people probably grew up on here in the States. As such, the height and feel of the stick is about right and will be very familiar to most players. I don't actually have one of these, believe it or not, to accurately compare to the others here.

IL Eurostick: Basically the same at the Competition in all aspects. They feel damn near the same, from what I've read. Compared to the Ultimate, these are a little taller, which I personally like. The IL feels a little higher quality vs any HAPP I've ever used and tends to be preferred by most people who have tried them (when compared to the Competition). I have not used mine enough yet to know if I have the same issue with it and diagonals yet, but I do tend to like the feel of it better when compared to the Ultimate.

Sanwa JLW: As I mentioned above, if you like the Japanese style sticks or just like the louder click they make, but want a bat top (most are ball tops) and one that will drop in your cab with no modifications, then this is a good choice. The stick is quite a bit shorter than either of the above sticks, which is REALLY noticeable at first. The feel of the bat itself seems a little 'cheap' to me, especially when compared to the IL, though I do like the metal shaft and how solid the whole thing feels. It also has an easy way to change between 8 way and 4 way, which is a nice touch, but largely unnecessary on the Neo. However, Neo Mr Do! with a 4-way stick is A LOT better.

Sanwa JLF: Again, if you really want a good Japanese stick, this is the one to go with. Standard, it's a ball top, but you can buy a bat top for it if you want (which is what I did). As I mentioned, the mounting plate is different (made to fit candy cabs), but you can make your own or even buy a mounting plate for the JLW and attach it to the JLF so that it fits your Neo - pretty easy. It comes with a square restrictor insert, which is sort of like what the HAPP and IL have/feel like, but I prefer to use one like this, which helps with my apparent diagonal issues :p The square one it comes with can be rotated to switch to 4-way mode, much like the JLW. Too bad Paradise Arcade seems to not carry it anymore/right now (link), because they let you buy it piece by piece so you could get exactly what you wanted without ending up with extra parts.

In the end, I'm probably going to go with the JLF + bat top, but I need to find another one plus another JLW mounting plate to use with it. Right now I have an Ultimate and a Eurostick in my cab.
 
Currently TL;DR due to being at work, but I appreciate the information. I can't see the links at work either...

If I take a picture of the joysticks that I have is it possible to identify them. Although I don't know if they are the sticks that originally came with the original cabinet or not.

I'm not a snob about the sticks and buttons I don't think; I would just rather have them as much to the original feel as possible, basically what I played as a child in the arcade.

Thank you guys
 
Currently TL;DR due to being at work, but I appreciate the information. I can't see the links at work either...

If I take a picture of the joysticks that I have is it possible to identify them. Although I don't know if they are the sticks that originally came with the original cabinet or not.

I'm not a snob about the sticks and buttons I don't think; I would just rather have them as much to the original feel as possible, basically what I played as a child in the arcade.

Thank you guys

TL;DR version minus Japanese stuff since you want it more true to the original feel:

Based on the two NG CPs I have, it seems that HAPP Ultimates may be what were originally used, though most people will say that HAPP Competitions were used originally. Either way, either the Competition or the IL Eurostick are the preferred sticks for US style Neos, and from those, most people tend to prefer the IL Eurostick.

Even shorter: Get two IL Eurosticks :)

And yes, if you post a pic of the underside of the stick, they can be easily identified in most cases. Though I'm not sure how easy it would be to ID a Competition vs an IL Eurostick since they're both basically the same stick (and I don't have a Competition on me to compare against my Eurostick).

I've attached two pics, one of the HAPP Ultimate which you can ID based on the square and round base with little 'notches' and 'bumps' near the end of each microswitch. The Competition and Eurostick can both be ID'd based on the completely round base (the other pic is an IL Eurostick).
 

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