I need some input please

scaboo4u

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Hey guys I'm looking for a good 4 way joy stick for Ms pacman.
I have tried a couple and to be honest they are shitty pieces of crap.
I'm not looking for the original just a good replacement.

Thanks
 
Why not put an original in? There are some out there.

Otherwise just get the 4-way red-ball top with microswitches from Arcadeshop and use a mounting plate adapter. It works just fine and you can't hear the click of the switches if you have the sound at normal levels...
 
I really liked the feel of the one you're looking at over at Paradise arcade. It was, however a microswitch instead of leaf, but felt really nice and responsive. You'll need to re-drill new holes for the mounting.
 
yeah. Why screw around. Just put an original one in it. Buy an new centering grommet and it will be like new..

The only possible problem is the mounting holes.
 
i guess million point pac players say the joystick is no big deal, but i couldnt stand any modern joystick and my quest ended with finally getting an original. if youre anything like me you wont be satisfied until you have the real thing.
 
i guess million point pac players say the joystick is no big deal, but i couldnt stand any modern joystick and my quest ended with finally getting an original. if youre anything like me you wont be satisfied until you have the real thing.

For those who can't readily put their hands on the real thing, they might want to give one of our new Leaf-Pro™ 4-way versions a spin. It's a short throw stick, with high-quality leaf switches and it's easy to tweak. I finally learned some patterns (only took 25 years :b) so I could give it a good test and managed to hit 120k on pac...which is way better than my usual score. The only thing that's really missing is the grommet feel, but I think folks will find that the control is very good for this type of game.
 
that does look awesome! i had no idea full sized leaf switches were still being made...
 
Here is a review that I did of the Leaf-Pro 4 way on another site(CAGDC)

As others have said...there is no beating the original sticks...I think the grommet feel is what they really do need.


4 way leaf switch JS review
« on: April 09, 2011, 09:39:33 PM » Quote Modify


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In my on going search for the perfect JS (for me) I decided to purchase a couple of these leaf switch sticks from Groovy Game Gear.


http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/...id=365&zenid=d27bf8ea002f019ad9c486e6ad8b365d


I took delivery of these a few days ago and installed the 4 way into my MAME CP...after 2 hours of play with this stick, here is my conclusion.


First impressions(before installation into CP)..............It's a small unit, not much bulk to the switches housing...no problem with that...good to fit into CP's that haven't got much space in them from top to bottom...this would not be a problem with most MAME cabs...and is a good thing if you want to replace a JS in a commercially produced unit..eg...X-Arcade...It should fit?

The throw..............This JS has a pretty short throw, I've only experienced one other JS with a similar short throw, that is the Suzo 500 (micro switch) stick.

Whilst holding the unit in my hand, moving the stick from left to right and up and down, the Resistance from the spring is not very much...but not the softest I've ever felt, there is a reasonably positive feel to the movement also...so far so good.

Installation......This was made a tad more painfull than it should have been, the screws that hold the 4 way restrictor in position are proud of the body of the housing ...I opted to chisel away some of the bottom of the CP to house these proud screws...I could have also put spacer washere between the housing and bottom of CP, but didn't like that idea...although it would have worked...either way, It's still time wasted looking for washers or chisel and hammer if you don't have them at hand. So, a bit of a design flaw there that really should not have been...but not a huge problem!

After installation.....as suspected, the amount that the stick protrudes above the CP is not enough (for me anyway)...if my CP was a metal one, It would have been perfect...a couple of hours messing around would fix this though...I won't bother just yet.

When installed into my 16mm(o.63") thick CP the top of the ball is 48mm(1.89")above the CP...enough for it to be acceptable to ME , but not ideal.

Let's play........I tested this stick out on two games, zookeeper and Ms Pacman. 1st game up, ZK.....Hmmmm...not good, the shorter stick combined with the shorter throw than I was used to, produced a crap game(although this is not unusual) I did notice though that the accuracy of my jump placement was much better, the Resistance of the spring in the JS was also slightly less than what I was used to. Things did improve as I played more games, that is, as I became more familiar with the feeling of the new stick.

My conclusion as a suitable new JS for ZK....Yeah, it should be OK....the shorter throw does away with the lag you get from moving the stick from left to right, and up and down,(the lag I was getting from the Tornado Terry Ms Pac stick was getting me killed much, much more than should have been happening) so in effect, response is much better, which in turn leads to more accurate gameplay.


My conclusion as a suitable new JS for Ms Pac.......I'm not sure wheather it's because I haven't played Ms Pac for some time, but It seemed as though the stick was sticking a bit more than it should around some of the tight corners..in other words, cornering was not as smooth as I would have liked..but still pretty good...no worse than many other sticks I've tried...once again, this might have been because I haven't played that game for some time..there isn't as much cornering to do in ZK as there is in Pac...so I can't really blame the stick for my lack of play time with the Pac games.


Final conclusion.......It's going to take some getting used to(maybe 4-5 hours) but I think it's a better stick FOR ME than most I have tried, at least I can "feel" the game through this stick much better than the Ms Pac stick....it had NO feeling in it whatsoever, I felt detached from the game.The Leaf-Pro does not feel anywhere near as solid as a WICO, and it isn't....but for $18 and some postage It's pretty good value.....So all up, a 7.5 out of 10 from me (compared to 10 out of 10 for the stick in my ZK cab)...or a 9 out of 10(compared to the Tornado Terry Ms Pac stick)


Obviously others would rate this stick differently to me....but that's MY conclusion after 2 hours of use...not really enough time...but I'll update my thoughts if they change much.


Note...the hole patern does not lend itself to direct replacement into most CPs??....centre of holes are 61mm apart

john

.
 
For those who can't readily put their hands on the real thing, they might want to give one of our new Leaf-Pro™ 4-way versions a spin. It's a short throw stick, with high-quality leaf switches and it's easy to tweak. I finally learned some patterns (only took 25 years :b) so I could give it a good test and managed to hit 120k on pac...which is way better than my usual score. The only thing that's really missing is the grommet feel, but I think folks will find that the control is very good for this type of game.

That looks like a nice stick! I would take the review in the previous post with a grain of salt since it was installed on a wooden MAME cp.
 
Just one thing to keep in mind. This is a leaf switch stick, which means it, unlike the majority of microswitch based sticks, can be "tweaked" to give you as much crossover or separation in the cardinal directions as you find necessary. Getting stuck in a corner may indicate too much crossover. I give these a basic adjustment when I build them, but it's up to the end user to fine tune the switches for their style of play.

Also wanted to add a note on the restrictor comments; This stick is also used as an 8-way. In it's 8-way configuration, the restriction plate sits below the top surface. The 4-way functionality necessitated an additional restrictor plate, which also adds more strength to the overall assembly. So in total, the only way to keep everything at the same level would be to unnecessarily increase the sticks top plate thickness. This really does little more than what a few washers would do at the mounting bolts. Also, for new installations in wood, its not too hard to route out a little extra space for the restrictor. But I will see if I can dig up some cheap spacers to include with the 4-way option. Worst case, I'll laser cut some myself. :)
 
OldTymeToys said:
That looks like a nice stick! I would take the review in the previous post with a grain of salt since it was installed on a wooden MAME cp.


With all due respect, You should use the stick before taking anything with a grain of salt...how it looks, has nothing to do with how the stick performs!

I think the review was favourable to the stick, I did point out valid points about it's design.

To RandyT...I would suggest that an adapter plate be made an option, so that the stick can be retro fitted to existing standard hole patterns.

Also.....an option to buy a longer shaft, for those people like me that have wooden CPs...and want the stick to protrude some more above the CP.

These options would make the stick a more attractive alternative to original leafswitch sticks.........even if I wanted to put this stick in an original cab, there is no chance that I'm going to re drill the CP so that I can bolt it in.




john

.
 
To RandyT...I would suggest that an adapter plate be made an option, so that the stick can be retro fitted to existing standard hole patterns.

I will look into this, but it may take some time.

Also.....an option to buy a longer shaft, for those people like me that have wooden CPs...and want the stick to protrude some more above the CP.

This, I am more wary about doing. The "disconnect" you felt with the other 4-way was due to the long throw distance between switch actuations. Just making the shaft longer will add exactly that kind of issue, so without re-designing the entire assembly, a longer shaft will ruin the feel you said you liked. A real Pac stick is short for just this reason.
 
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