In search of original MK joystick springs and button switches

srarcade80

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In search of original MK joystick springs and button switches

Anyone who is a big MK fan will tell you that the MK experience was never better than on a dedicated machine. A friend who was an op back during MK's hay day told me the game used Happ ultimate joysticks but they had a different part number for the spring inside. He also said the micro switches on the buttons had a different weight that made them lighter to press. They did not make that "click" sound when you pushed them.

I'm trying to find some of these parts for my MK restoration. The game definitely does not feel the same without them. Does anyone have any info on these parts?

Thanks
 
They didn't use Happ sticks they actually used IL Eurosticks.

I have HAPPS in my MK4 and IL Eurosticks in my Killer Instinct and I can tell the difference.

THe Happ Ultimates/competition sticks are knock offs of the IL sticks, they are copies.

As far as the buttons go I can't remember the gram weight on the switches, they are normal switches but had a different weight...I can't recall the exact amount off the top of my head though.
 
Awesome thanks for that info! I'm glad to see the IL Eurosticks are still readily available. I suppose I can order various different weighted micro switches until I find one that feels right.

While on this topic- Another game specific item I am also looking for is the push buttons that were found on the original capcom big blue cabs that shipped out with sf2 champion edition. They were concave in design but the concave was deeper than most buttons. They also felt a little bit taller.
 
Awesome thanks for that info! I'm glad to see the IL Eurosticks are still readily available. I suppose I can order various different weighted micro switches until I find one that feels right.

While on this topic- Another game specific item I am also looking for is the push buttons that were found on the original capcom big blue cabs that shipped out with sf2 champion edition. They were concave in design but the concave was deeper than most buttons. They also felt a little bit taller.

I thought the Dedicated SFII:CE's went out in the Z-back cabinet I may be mistaken here...I'll look into it.
 
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Yes, it did come in the first 3Koam z-back too. (i own both now yay!) I'll never forget the day in 1992 when SF2 CE showed up in a brand spanking new Big Blue as the first unit in town. I swear it was glowing. Another arcade across town got one as well and it was featured on the official flyer from capcom. After the buttons were eventually replaced i never saw those originals again.
 
I think I have 1 or 2 original MK 2 joys somewhere. they are used and beat, but compete. If you want them you can have them for like $11 shipped.
 
Actually I just lucked out tonight. I ended up picking up a game from an ops garage. He happened to have a UMK3 in a MK 1 cab with original controls on it. I took a look, it had original Cherry micro switches but the little switch itself was green with a white body. Most of my cherrys have red switches. I've seen them black too. So I'm guessing it might be a color code. I've never seen the green switch before so that might just be it. I'm grabbing this whole cab friday and i'll raid the joysticks and micro switches and swap for my non-mk stuff before passing this on as a gift to a friend =P

I also was able to find my rare capcom buttons too! I need one more red one but I can't believe he had some. This has turned out to be a pretty good day!
 
Could you post pics cause...I'm not quite understanding how these are different from the standard HAPP stuff you could purchase during the 90's (before they utilized different manufacturer).
 
Here is a pic of a spring and cherry switch out of a dedicated MK cab and then a typical happ button spring and cherry switch. The MK has a green switch. Other happ buttons have either a dark purple color, a dark red color, a gray color and sometimes white. I wish I knew the resistances in grams for each switch to color. The spring for the MK is almost a 1/4" shorter than a standard button. The result is a very sensitive short throw that you barley have to put any weight on to have it register. Any other game where you have to button mash is weird for this, but for MK it feels completely right.

IMAG0541.jpg
 
I was trying to figure out this for a while. iirc the sticks have a different gram weight than the buttons. my dedicated mk4 panel has mainly D44's for button switches, and all are cherry's.

edit: you should be able to figure out the gram weight by the model of the cherry switch (once you figure out which were the ones originally used).

ex. D44 is 75 gram force
 
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IMO the best american bat style joysticks to use in fighting games are the Betson joysticks. Those are the smoothest most responsive and quiet joysticks you can find.
 
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