Superully
Active member
a couple of months ago, i picked up an extremely rare Nintendo Space Firebird UPRIGHT cabinet. unfortunately, the control panel had been slightly modified: a replacement joystick had been inserted and two buttons had been replaced!
the hunt for an original joystick was on! someone who had recently done a Nintendo Helifire restoration advised me that the joystick i need would be identical to the ones used on the Space Firebird cocktail tables. luck was on my side (at least that's what i thought), because there was one on ebay for sale just when i started looking. got it for cheap ...
i then removed the joystick from the control panel, here's a top and bottom shot of the stick itself
however, i soon had to realize that that joystick would never fit the joystick cutout on the control panel which is much wider and narrower
i was at a loss on what to do, because i had never seen a Nintendo joystick which would fit that cutout. but i didn't give up and started looking again. by sheer accident i stumbled upon a set of joysticks which were advertised on a UK-based website. those sticks were described as being original heavy-duty Nintendo sticks and judging from the pics provided, they looked like they would fit the cutout, so i bought them!
having received the sticks, i immediately placed one of them on the control panel to see if the holes and the stick would line up with the cutout - and they did PERFECTLY (doesn't look like that on the picture, but that's caused by the distortion of the camera).
i thought that problem had been solved, however, when i tentatively installed one of the sticks, i realized that the shaft of the stick was way too short. basically, when i screw on the balltop, it rests directly on the control panel and because of that the stick can't be moved left or right. no problem i thought, i'll simply install a longer shaft from a different Nintendo joystick model, but when i disassembled the stick to exchange the shaft i had to realize that it is welded onto another piece of metal!
to make a long story short, i have two options now:
- find someone who can weld on a longer joystick shaft
- find a piece / stick like that which already has a longer shaft installed
but here's the big question first: what type of cab were those joysticks used on originally? as i've said above, i had never seen a stick like that before!!!
looking forward to your input, can't wait to get some more insight fom you guys. perhaps someone has a completely different idea / approach to this!
the hunt for an original joystick was on! someone who had recently done a Nintendo Helifire restoration advised me that the joystick i need would be identical to the ones used on the Space Firebird cocktail tables. luck was on my side (at least that's what i thought), because there was one on ebay for sale just when i started looking. got it for cheap ...
i then removed the joystick from the control panel, here's a top and bottom shot of the stick itself
however, i soon had to realize that that joystick would never fit the joystick cutout on the control panel which is much wider and narrower
i was at a loss on what to do, because i had never seen a Nintendo joystick which would fit that cutout. but i didn't give up and started looking again. by sheer accident i stumbled upon a set of joysticks which were advertised on a UK-based website. those sticks were described as being original heavy-duty Nintendo sticks and judging from the pics provided, they looked like they would fit the cutout, so i bought them!
having received the sticks, i immediately placed one of them on the control panel to see if the holes and the stick would line up with the cutout - and they did PERFECTLY (doesn't look like that on the picture, but that's caused by the distortion of the camera).
i thought that problem had been solved, however, when i tentatively installed one of the sticks, i realized that the shaft of the stick was way too short. basically, when i screw on the balltop, it rests directly on the control panel and because of that the stick can't be moved left or right. no problem i thought, i'll simply install a longer shaft from a different Nintendo joystick model, but when i disassembled the stick to exchange the shaft i had to realize that it is welded onto another piece of metal!
to make a long story short, i have two options now:
- find someone who can weld on a longer joystick shaft
- find a piece / stick like that which already has a longer shaft installed
but here's the big question first: what type of cab were those joysticks used on originally? as i've said above, i had never seen a stick like that before!!!
looking forward to your input, can't wait to get some more insight fom you guys. perhaps someone has a completely different idea / approach to this!
