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
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