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Where Are the Joysticks For Retro Gaming?
Doctor O writes "With all those nice emulators for classic gaming around (such as MAME, VICE or Stella) I want to establish monthly retro gaming evenings with some friends. The problem is I can't find any good joysticks for that purpose. There's a new version of the legendary Competition Pro, but judging from the many one-star reviews on Amazon, it's terrible. I found the USB version of the classic Atari Joystick, but it doesn't seem to be available and would have prohibitive shipping costs to Germany anyway. So, Slashdot to the rescue — where are the suitable USB joysticks for retro gaming?"
For anything older than Super Nintendo (SNES, Genesis, SMS, NES, GB, GG, etc) that mostly used a digital joypad (rather than analog stick), the Gravis Gamepad was pretty darn good, though they did wear out fast.
Is this what you're looking for?
iSKUNK!
The linked USB device costs $16.99 One shipping option to (I picked Bayern) Germany was 16.95. So you get a retro joystick for under $35. They also have another shipping option that runs $28 so you'd be looking at $45. Still not what most people would consider prohibitive.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
How timely, as I have been asking the same question... I used to have an Apple //c, and although I have indulged in retro Apple // gaming on various emulators over the years, it was never quite the same without using a traditional Apple analogue joystick. I have since decided to tackle this obvious problem with some electronics hackery. I recently (as in last week) purchased an original Apple // analogue joystick at auction on eBay, and I plan on building an Apple-joystick-port-to-USB-human-interface-device adapter circuit using a microcontroller such as the Microchip PIC. Should be straight forward, and if I am successful I will publish a how-to online, with schematics, parts list, microcontroller source code and Gerber data for the PCBs. Wish me luck!
http://gear.ign.com/articles/765/765614p1.html
These were going for around $10 on ebay a while ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_controller#In_the_home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namco_Arcade_Stick
etc. (there are also resources to build them)
Generally quite close to classic joysticks, only much better. They are slightly on the expensive side, but OTOH will be, most likely, the only link with you for your great-great-great-great-grandchildren / etc.
One that hath name thou can not otter
On Google?
My answer is Ebay: http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=joystick&_sacat=See-All-Categories
http://www.xgaming.com/ Been thinking about those ever since the dreams of my own little arcade heaven in the basement started :)
... is The Arcade
.... Question is just if you can get something jury-rigged with a serial-to-USB converter or something.
Has nice stuff for almost any system from USB joysticks and adapters, plus much more:
http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=f1647d5dde457e9508ed04cd632c0dcb
This is something i've been looking for a while too, i had a serial-interface joystick labeled "multijoy" by Micro-Technica, which for some weird reason stopped responding a few years ago. Unfortunately i can't find any info for this or its maker on the web. I'm planning to try the following: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/05/decent_cheap_us/
....My pants. Silly question.
I use Mame quite a bit for the classic arcade games of my youth.
Those old games had every type of joystick. From the wireframe starwars game, which had a double handed pivotal 4 button thing, to the Outrun steering wheel and pedals, to the 6 button knob and stick Mortal Kombat. (And the track and ball of Missile Command, but I never did play that)
No one USB joystick controller is going to be suitable for every game you want to play.
On the other hand, I've found that keyboard and mouse are sufficient for about 95% of my gaming needs, with only the slightest hint of a readjustment to my style of play.
I've tried several USB joysticks - not joypads, joysticks. The only kind I can ever find are optimized for playing Street Fighter type games and they totally suck for arcade gaming. They only have 8-directional movement which absolutely cripples you in some games. The joystick registers a mechanical "click" whenever it engages. It's either on or off, no middle ground. This is fine for Pac-Man but absolutely sucks at Joust and Gyruss. I've never seen a good analog stick, those are all optimized for flight sims. I did once see a nice arcade two-stick set with an integrated trackball for a sky-high price, advertised as the ultimate arcade stick...again, the same digital joystick optimized for Street Fighter.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
If you're looking for plug and play, this, or similar fight sticks, could work nicely as they are plug and play with Windows: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox360-Fighting-Stick-EX-Xbox-360/dp/B000V02P6Q
If you're wanting a bit more genuine experience, though, and are willing to put some time in to build your own panel (it's easier than it sounds), Ultimarc makes some of the nicest controls around. The owner, Andy, is one of the greatest guys to deal with when it comes to support, as well.
~Someone whose built his own arcade specifically for the purpose of reliving the classic.
I was attempting to use a Nintendo Wii controller with a NES emulator under ubuntu the other day.. mednafen .. but I got frustrated and put it on hold for a bit. linux recognizes it alright, but mednafen is looking for something in /dev/input/js*, and the wiimote is of course a bluetooth device.
mednafen is the only nes emulator I tried that ran mario adventure, a hacked SMB3 rom with new levels so thats why I didn't just try a different emulator.
I'll probably try again later.
Why do you need a USB joystick? My Atari console has no USB port.
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
I have a dual XArcade joystick. It acts as a old fashioned PS-2 keyboard and you need to buy their keyboard to USB adapter, since most generic ones can't deal with many simultaneous key presses.
It's built like an arcade cabinet and is quite expensive as a result.
It's absoloutely fantastic. It can take a real punishing.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Just buy a nice Logitec Playstation 2 style USB pad and enjoy 99% of the games if you set it up right.
MAME works well on it, some games will require fiddling with no matter how good your controller is.
As some one who remembers when the 2600 was still on the shelves... I can honestly say, just buy a newer style controller, don't torture your hands like that and if you use a pad like the NES do not do it!!! You will end up with Nintendo finger like I did... lol (At least it hasn't seemed to effect me in any really bad way that I can tell, now if I get bad arthritis in just those 2 fingers I might complain a little)
There are plenty of tuts for getting a PS3 controller working on a PC.
A product I recently heard of (haven't tested myself, bought the speedlink competition pros); basically an adapter for atari compatible joysticks http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=267. So just dust of the good old grenade joystick from the attic, bring it down to the basement where you live and let the games begin.
p.s. The competition pro clones are alright for the occasional SWOS-match, a bit clunky compared to the working order original but that may pass with time.
The answer is the mighty (expensive) X-Arcade joystick. Buy two of the two-player models or four single-player models and you'll be set for four players: from one-button games to eight-button games and trackball games like Millipede. And they have plenty of adapters, so you can use them with non-serial or non-USB systems as well. I know they have adapters for Dreamcast (out-of-stock, *sigh*), GameCube/Wii, XBOX/360, PS2/3, etc. I wish I knew of a superior - cheaper or "more universal" (NES, Genesis/MegaDrive, SNES, and such) quality joystick - but as with most goods, the high-quality gear requires high-caliber materials, workmanship, knowledge, and engineering, so you have to pay the price for them.
Most men are not thought unwise until they speak.
This is pretty expensive, but it seems like what you're looking for
http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-dual-joystick/
of course you could always find an old arcade cabinet and gut it and wire the controls to a serial cable or some other connector to your PC but that's a bit beyond me.
The competition pro is decent as far as I know. I've seen it survive a rough game of Decathlon. If you know that game, you'll know what I mean.
[ irc.p2p-network.net -> #zomgwtfbbq ][ http://zomgwtfbbq.info ]
I use a Wii remote + Classic pad for most PC gaming purposes, while not "retro" it works for most games and works for Linux/Windows using a small app and a USB bluetooth adapter. I guess it works with Mac too.
Except for N64(which I rarely play) games, it kind of works for all. For most consoles you just need a d-pad and a few buttons, and after years of physical labor my hands aren't as agile to hold a square/flat pad like when I was a kid, so this is a good solution for me. It being wireless helps a lot with "party"/hotseat gaming, too.
I used to have a PSX/PS2 pad with an USB adapter for two pads before that, but all the wires were a bit of a pain when passing the pad around.
www.dealextreme.com has a lot of controllers and no shipping cost.
The original is always the best.
I bought all the adapters I need from Lik-Sang before Sony shut them down, but there must be other retailers.
Probably a bunch of original controllers plus adapters will cost less than any fancy "Arcade" stick anyway.
For convenience' sake, a PS2 controller covers almost all bases.
Points to note if you are on a Mac:
Most emulators (i.e. Richard Bannister's stuff) won't enumerate multiple identical adapters. Neither will the various joypad-to-keypress utilities I tried that I forget the name of.
I have a 4-way PS2-USB adapter that doesn't get around this either. Perhaps buying different adapters will help, unless as is likely, they are the same guts inside.
Finally, PS3 Bluetooth controllers simply wouldn't work on OS X due to a limitation of the OS X Bluetooth stack. It is possible to get them to work cabled over USB.
This may be different in Snow Leopard, but I wasted so long trying to help code around it I swore I would never go back to it.
"There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates." - Chuck Peddle
Many are missing the point here...
If that is the USB joystick that I purchased a few years back, it is roundly terrible. Sticky and unusable. Avoid.
If you're really into sticks and emulation, remember that Xbox 360 controllers basically out of the box all work as PC controllers. A solid fighting stick would give you a great ball for Pac Man. If that doesn't suit your fancy, building a stick setup for your games is a time-honored tradition that doesn't require much skill, but always comes out looking badass.
Of course, you'd need a stick, a trackball, a ring, etc... But those are solvable.
The ______ Agenda
No, it is Linux. Which I pronounce as leenooks.
that is to say, even if I cared one way or another about terminology, I was in fact clearly referring to the kernel itself in my original post.
Check out the Videogame Connector Pinouts at Pinouts.ru. Many of them include suggestions for connecting them directly to a PC.
You could also get something like the Ultimarc U-HID or I-PAC. Many MAME users have been using these for years to adapt the controls in their arcade cabinets to work with PCs. You'll have to wire up a connector to let you plug in whatever kind of joystick you want but the flexibility means you can use it with several different controller types.
You want one of these... http://www.xgaming.com/store/category/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arcade_(joystick) and http://www.xgaming.com/store/category/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/
Well if you want a digital stick & buttons like an arcade machine of yore any wired PS3 peripheral will do as it has a USB connector and presents itself as a joystick e.g. I bought one of these the other day and it has a great feel. The only weirdness is that the buttons come up in an unexpected order, so you need to be able to reprogram your emulator to recognise that - MAME certainly supports that though.
Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
Buy your prefered original joystick on ebay or whatever and then get:
http://www.legacyengineer.com/storefront/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=35&products_id=86
You should be able to hook it up pretty easily....
They're on pre-order for the next batch, but if you're looking for a nice retro controller, then check this one out... http://www.reflexaudio.com/products_joystick.htm
Something like http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=828 from Amigakit, perhaps?
I own one and it gives exactly the same gaming experience as back in the good 'ol days of my beloved C64. (From the time I got rid of those floppy Quickshots IV)
bickerdyke
Seriously, you guys:
Listen to CMDR TACO: http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/
However, you don't have to build an entire cabinet-
According to Slagcoin.com: "What matters most is the gaming experience. You should be open to using parts and settings that may be different from the familiar standard."
Now-
I have the Interact Dreamcast Alloy Arcade Stick. It's not as popular as other normal Street Fighter Sticks, but I'm a Soulcalibur guy. I preferred 8-way action to 4, and the Interact stick never let me down. Whooped many an ass with this bad boy: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=IRo&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=interact+dreamcast+alloy+arcade+stick&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Point being, people are divided on what stick is best for them. The only thing I find consistent in arcade sticks is that basically everyone loves a real arcade stick to an aftermarket. Accordingly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_controller
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html
Sanwa: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanwa-d.co.jp%2F&sl=auto&tl=en
http://www.happcontrols.com/
MAKEZINE! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Ut8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=happ+site%3Amakezine.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
No matter everyone else's opinion, find what controller works for you. 4Way, 8Way, find what you like best. Maybe you can buy an old console arcade stick and convert it. Maybe make one from arcade parts. Put in the effort and you will not be disappointed.
Use the original, you only have to build an adapter. http://www.student.uni-kl.de/~dittrich/joyadapter/index.html
I use one of my original Zipsticks with a Stelladaptor (http://www.stelladaptor.com/), so you could get an old Zipstick, Comp. Pro, etc. from eBay, then use the Stelladaptor to connect it to your computer with a USB lead.
The other thing I use (for games that require more than one button) is my home-made arcade controls (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.a.kitching/mamecp/cp1.htm).
Sorry dude, but you got trolled. I was one of the idiots who replied to him :-(.
If this doesn't work for you then I recommend that you hunt down a USB version of any Thrustmaster controller, such as the Thrustmaster Firestorm.
Off the shelf, these have the best reputation. The Mad Catz ones are pretty easy to mod, if you don't like the parts. That said, the Mad Catz Tournament Edition and Hori Real Arcade Pro sticks come with real high-end arcade parts. I think they are all designed with consoles in mind, but some come with a USB plug. I have Mad Catz's TvC stick and Hori's Wii Fight Stick and they both work fine for me (via cwiid). The Hori stick is one of their "cheap" ones, so it doesn't have good parts and they aren't easy to replace, but probably it's better than anything off of DealExtreme, and it wasn't that expensive before it was discontinued. The X-Gaming ones are probably ok too (though impressions seem more mixed), but I didn't want two sticks attached to each other (the solos have been listed as out of stock for some time now).
Designed for the retro games on Xbox Live, it's USB compatible, the Mad Catz Arcade Gamestick:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/765/765614p1.html
The best joysticks for retrogaming are of course the original ones with a Retro Adapter.
It has support for most original joysticks and gamepads: C64/Amiga, Atari 8-bit computers and consoles, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Saturn, Neo Geo, MSX, BBC Micro, PCE/TGFX, NES, SNES, N64, PSX, PS2, 3DO, CD32, PC Gameport, you name it.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Honestly, getting an arcade cabinet and sticking a PC inside was the best (gaming related) move I ever made. Obviously you need the space but it results in a 99% perfect arcade gaming experience. I bought mine over a year ago and I've yet to become bored with it (unlike every other (purely) gaming device I've ever owned, WII, XBOX etc). Having the correct controls for arcade game is simply unbeatable. Bombjack, for instance was simply not designed for DPads or keyboards it works so much better using a proper arcade stick.
Another factor in recreating the genuine experience is the monitor. You have to have an old style, low-res 15Khz display. Again, the old arcade were designed with the blurryness of these displays in mind. Some games look awful on an LCD or razor-sharp CRT yet look incredible on a 15Khz arcade monitor
I love my cab and will be very sad when the monitor eventually and inevitably dies...and CRT's are becoming as rare as hens teeth.
Amazon reviews?
Well, if you believe them, shame on you.
The USB competition pro is really quite good. Remember it's a fast 8/16-bit home computer style click-click joystick, not a mushy slow arcade stick designed to stand up to abuse from drunkards though.
Why did joystick buttons switch sides? On old sticks like this one, the buttons (in this case button) are generally on the left side (in this particular case it's easily re-positionable if you run the cable from the right side rather than the back, but the general design of old joysticks has buttons on the left), but for modern arcade sticks and joypads all the buttons are on the right. It's kinda weird, isn't it? One would think that since most people get better fine motor control out of their right hand it never would have changed...
Sendou Wave Kick!!
Related, if perhaps not quite so retro:
I recently recovered my old MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick (PC gaming joystick, not meant for console use). It's a wonderful joystick, but only offers a GamePort connection and the driver CD is 32-bit only.
Is it worth trying to get it working on a modern 64-bit Win7 laptop that doesn't have a GamePort? I know there are GamePort/USB adapters, but from what I've read the Sidewinder joysticks used both digital and analog signals, plus had to receive signals from the PC (for force feedback), and apparently most (all?) adapters can't support the full functionality. Are there any that are worth getting? Beyond that, drivers are of course a concern; if I can get enough driver support for flight sims that's fine, although the full analog control + lots of buttons + force feedback experience would be very nice, and ideally the configuration utility would be available (to account for the fact that a lot of games don't actually have direct support for joysticks anymore).
Thanks for your help, seriously. I'd love to get this thing working again, and I can't be the only person with a similar hardware/software situation.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
In the days gone by when I was really into retro gaming I had no trouble finding designs, work-logs and ideas for building my own joysticks for MAME gaming. They usually used a hacked keyboard controller or cheap joypad board built into a wooden case with arcade quality buttons. Search engines seem to still return plenty of results for "mame controller" or "arcade controller".
Edmontonian traveled around the world and couldn't leave my geek behind...
I took apart a usb keyboard ( the flexible one.. it was crap as a keyboard ) and fit the usb controller inside a 'classic' non-analogue joystick and wired it up so I could play mame games on my N800 on the 9 hour 100km bus rides in India ( or was in Indonesia... whatever ).
As an aside.. I remember walking into a hostel in Kuala Lumpur wondering if I'd be too out of place taking out my soldering iron in the common room. I was shocked to see a guy sitting there working on a circuit board.
Used to see loads of these being offered fairly cheaply a few years back. Surely there's someone still making them or 2nd hand via ebay? Then plug in an old joystick, buying one if you have to, but try looking at your local freecycle group and you can probably get a free one! Then simply plug and erm play.
It's hard to do your first time, but if you're really having trouble there are forums for it. Try Shoryuken.com's tech/hardware section. There are many people who will build a custom controller for you. Happ controls has pretty much any arcade joystick part you could ask for. As for compatibility, I don't have a clue, ask an expert.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Well i like playing some of the old games from my psx and i use the playstation joysticks with a very cheap adapter which has ports for two joysticks(with annoying red light that shines through a blue see through plastic. If you have pair of these laying around that would be a very good substitute for original ones. I know they have served me well for my emulator needs, and as each emulator has key configuration i gather that any kind of joystick with as much buttons possible is the best one(not the one you have to bend your fingers like a freak to use all of the buttons the joystick has).
SF2, SF2CE and turbo all ran in a standard Capcom CPS-2 cabinet with the same joystick and button types as all other contemporary Capcom arcade games.
Maybe someone wants to play games not published by Capcom.
Exceptions may include defender, missile command and tempest.
Or anything that uses a 4-way guide, such as Pac-Man and Tetris The Grand Master 2+. Or anything that uses the so-called 49-way joystick, a predecessor of the N64's digital proportional thumbstick.
Got the X-Arcade for my mame needs; the thing is built like a tank and fully microswitched - wonderful to play; much better than the good old Commodore josticks. By simulating keypresses the thing will work on practically any game too. Within mame, simply passing "-ctrlr xarcade" as cmdline makes all buttons work the way you expect them (including coin-slot and start buttons.) Simply amazing. But yes, it is a bit expensive, esp. if you have to ship it to Europe.
how about this one Exquize me for the dutch link though. ..
http://www.muizenshop.nl/p/speedlink-competition-pro-usb-joystick-%2B-game-collection-99-best-of-c64-classix/52872/
Just built my own USB arcade joystick a few weeks ago. It was crazy using real arcade machine parts to build the thing. Works like a charm and since you are making it yourself you can setup the configuration any way you like. Total time to make it took maybe 2 hours or so and ran me about $60 dollars.
This site will give you all the info you could ever want to know about arcade joysticks:
www.slagcoin.com/joystick/introduction.html
I bought the parts from here:
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/
Tons more info here at NeoGaf:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207393
Oh, be still my heart; someone has mentioned Stella on Slashdot :) For development and testing in Stella (as the main developer and maintainer), I tend to use the following:
I'm mainly going for 2600
Then plug your 2600 joystick into a USB port.
I'd like to see you gaming with the guys
I agree with you that a keyboard is suboptimal for this, but plenty of other Slashdot users have recommended a LAN party for "gaming with the guys".
Where Are the Joysticks For Retro Gaming?
In a tattered cardboard box at the back of the closet...
If only WICO was still in business. I loved their joysticks!
I was for a long time on a hunt for a proper USB Joystick for emulators as well. I settled with the Speedlink Competition Pro USB and I'm pretty happy with the feel of it. Works nicely with the emulators I've tested in Windows and OS X and of course, no drivers are needed since it's just a plain digital controller.
The Speedlink is quite easy to find in online stores here in the Nordic, not sure about other markets.
URL to manufacturer's page about it: http://www.speed-link.com/?p=2&cat=313&pid=18089&paus=1
I juust need to get a second one now, for some serious multiplayer fun ;)
Lots of interesting old input devices can be found with goodwill or craigslist. The price isn't bad, either.
if its MAME you're mostly looking at you want this:
http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-solo-joystick/?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&cvsfa=2340&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=58474d2d534f4c4f
expensive but appears to have a nice arcade style joystick its pretty expensive though. personally i think my joypad works fine for MAME, an old atari pad would stink for something like street fighter or mortal Kombat anyway
Start here: http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/joysticks_amusement.htm
These joysticks will outlast your computer. You could will it to your grandchildren.
Get a USB Arcade Controller and go to Happ Controls. For a total of about $60 in parts you can build any arcade control design you want. These are real arcade buttons and joysticks so they will last.
There are two separate limits: If the value of the shipped item is less than 22EUR (excluding shipping), then customs isn't involved at all. If the value of the item is between 22EUR and 150EUR, then you have to pay "Einfuhrumsatzsteuer" (VAT so to speak, currently 19%) on the value of the package (including shipping). Straight from the horse's mouth. If the value of the item is more than 150%, you also have to pay applicable customs fees (depends on the category of the product: database lookup). All limits are in EUR, the exchange rate is fixed once per month and can be looked up here. For the rest of July it's $1.2271 per euro, so to avoid all surcharges, the value must be below $27. (Supposedly customs does not invoice amounts below a certain threshold which is higher than the 19% on 22EUR, so the limit may be a little higher in practice, but don't count on it.)
A note to people sending stuff to the EU: Don't incorrectly classify shipments as "gifts". This only results in shipping delays as customs checks the packages.
In the example, $16.99 device plus $16.95 shipping, you'd end up paying just the $33.94 (ca. 27EUR at the moment). 16.99/1.2271 is less than 22. If you order two (2*$16.99+16.95), the value is more than 22EUR, so it would cost you (50.93/1.2271)*1.19=49.39EUR plus any customs handling fee leveraged by the shipping company. Unless handling surcharges are less than 5EUR, it's cheaper to ship the two items in separate packages.
Btw., $16.95 shipping is a ripoff for a small and light electronic item. I get stuff shipped from China for next to nothing.
I've always thought of Happ being a good place for building your own joystick, which in the end should fit your needs since you built it yourself. http://www.happ.com/pc/pc.htm
When I was a kid, I took apart an old Atari (broken) Joystick and realized that it was very simple wiring, Just contacts so I got some plexiglass and some radio shack buttons and made my own game pad from the cable. It worked like a charm.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You can build one (like the namco arcade stick mentioned previously) for about $30 if you've got an old keyboard lying around. I bought replacement (aka "real") arcade joysticks (one 4-way, one 8-way) and buttons (8 of 'em) from some website a couple years back. I believe they were $12US and $2US each; respectively. Fairly simple to wire up to the PCB of the keyboard. With some careful planning (read: testing EVERY 2 leg combo on the IC) you can avoid the ghosting and masking issues (limitations) of the various keyboard manufacturers. Then you'll wind up with something like this:
http://stafney.com/~tstafney/gallery1/mame_circuit.jpg
Yes, I'm quite proud of it even though it's ugly, and yes that's my old-assed ASCII chart covered mouse pad underneath it. Feel free to get creative! All those gray wires are connected to a 50 PIN (internal) SCSI cable I had lying around. The joysticks and buttons are wired up to the other end. So I have a nice, easy quick-connect. Plan was to attach other controller styles. But the 4 and 8 way joysticks seemed to quench my MAME thirst enough that I never wired up anything else. If you've got any questions just contact me via my crappy website URL'd above.
regards,
t
You have an old NES/SNES/Genesis/N64/whatever console controller just lying around waiting to be used? Go to http://www.retrousb.com/ and grab a controller to USB adapter for it.
Playing retro games on a SNES asciiPad is the perfect way to spend a day or three.
CmdrTaco has a page outlining his building of a MAME cabinet. If you want an arcade-style joystick with new components (up to and including Golden Tee-style trackballs with licensed technology from Atari), his page is a good place to start.
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
I have a Hori Xbox 360 USB pad: http://www.buy.com/prod/hori-xbox-360-fighting-stick-ex2-uhx3-07/q/loc/108/205483240.html -- $50, and any Windows XP+ machine can run it just fine. I imagine it's doable in linux, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, it's perfect for MAME. Digital joystick and enough buttons for most arcade games.
There's about one or two Adaptoids on Ebay per week. Since the company which produced them has disappeared, they tend to go for about $80-$120 US.
Madcatz built a controller for the Xbox 360 (also 100% pc usb compatible) a couple years back that just might match all the original posters requirements.
http://reviews.cnet.com/game-accessories/mad-catz-arcade-gamestick/4505-10110_7-32028594.html
I believe this device is the most similar to the items linked to in TFA. He doesn't appear to want a giant arcade control deck, just simple (yet modern) joystick units vaguely reminiscent of the Atari 2600, Odyssey 2, or Commodore VIC-20. Will all the extra buttons and functions on this controller, you'd be hard pressed to find an old-school arcade game that wouldn't play well on it.
Yep, there's NOTHING like the Xarcade sticks.
Build like a tank, uses the original arcade sticks as used in the arcade-machines,
comes with 21 micro-switch buttons (also the same round buttons used in the arcade machines) for the 2 player version.
You can even get one with a TrackBall in the middle for (Marble Madness, Crystal castles etc.)
Very VERY expensive, but it'll take the bashing your friends will give it, since it's built like the arcade machine, same wood, same rubber-corner protection etc.
Heavy, not easy to move around. It'll pretty much take anything you throw at it.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
No joke. The only way to ensure you get what you want is to build it yourself.
Buy an arcade stick and buttons from the nearest Suzo/HAPP distributor, these are what the arcades in the US and most locales outside of Asia have been using for decades. Then you just need a way to interface it. You can buy USB controller interface boards, like GroovyGameGear's GP-Wiz series of boards, or design and build your own using an opensource microcontroller firmware like V-USB. Just stay away from older boards that do keyboard emulation, they suck. Turning a bunch of inputs into a proper USB HID is much more reliable and easy to work with than mapping them to keyboard input.
I've made my own US-style arcade stick, a Japanese-style stick using Sanwa parts, and even interfaced an actual arcade cabinet 2-player control panel. All worked great! :)
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
Maybe you're forgetting that for the most part, the old joysticks /were/ lousy. I would have given them one star on Amazon, too.
The answer to your question is quite simple: X-Arcade. It's bulky (now it looks like no single stick edition exists anymore, I bought the "solo" version a long time ago) and it's expensive... BUT.. you get the real deal... it's got top-notch arcade quality components, sticks, buttons, you can get the best from your gaming playing on those beasts. The sticks are awesome, incredibly sturdy and with top responsiveness, even the most complicated SNK fighting game is perfectly playable with these. As for sticks, I've never found anything better in my whole player life. It's better than the legendary WICO sticks at the Commodore 64's times, better than the Neo Geo arcade sticks, and God knows if those were good, I found such a construction quality only in the best arcades. Got with it, and you'll get to play with any emulator at the best of the (emulated) machine's possibilities.
http://www.xgaming.com/store/category/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/
It's very easy. Find all the info you need here: www.arcadecontrols.com
I suggest you build one on your own as most purchesable stuff is pretty flimsy with a few notable exceptions (Madcatz SFIV tournament edition is damn nice, for example).
I built mine using mdfboard, glue and some lexan glass and it is very sturdy. It has taken quite a beating from frustrated gamers and mashing beginners as
well as enduring an occasional kick without looking too shabby.
Anyway, making your own ranges from pretty simple to pretty difficult. With the simplest possible design you will finish it in a single day with a bit of effort.
Buttons, pcb and stick can be bought from the akihabarashop or lizardlick. Help can be found on the shoryuken forums' tech section.
I suggest reading through the faqs you find there, they are worthy of your time.
A note on joysticks: most american joysticks, Happ sticks for the most part, comes with a octagonal (eight sides or corners) restrictor gate.
What this means is that it has a piece of plastic shaped like an octagon that restricts the joysticks' movement. However they only come with four actuators.
Further note that the actuators are digital, on or off, nothing in between. Japanese sticks such as Sanwa and Seimitsu most often come with the square restrictor gate.
The restrictor gate is easy to swap out on the Seimitsu models and there are, for example, two way restrictor gates avaliable.
Another note on the joysticks: Happ sticks are very stiff. It will require quite a lot of force to move them about. The same is true for Happ buttons. Sanwa buttons activate
very easily whereas Seimitsus requires slightly more force.
Once you have the box ready you will need some form of joystick -> gaming device interface. I chose an old $5 playstation one pad which i got from ebay and soldered
some wires directly on it and then connection them to the buttons and the stick. Soldering on the PS1 pad can be tricky but there are plenty of guides and pictures floating
around on the shoryuken forum to guide you in the process.
Quick disconnects are highly recommended that you use since they are easy to remove should a button wear out. You can probably pick up a few for next to nothing at the local gas station.
Unless you plan on playing on your playstation this solution isnt all that great as it is. A PS1 to USB converter isnt that difficult to get though, heres a list of converters that doesnt cause input delay.
If you dont have a soldering iron or a playstation one pad handy the Chtulu/ChImp board might be of interest.
Slagcoin is a very good source of information, i highly recommend it. Byrdo takes orders from time to time and you can browse joystick vault for inspiration.
Here is my own workhorse creation. Protip: measure twice, cut once.
Good luck and please consider posting some pictures of your creation in the Show off your stick thread.
If you are in the philippines, try this http://www.cdrking.com/index.php?productstype=All+Products&searchvalue=joystick&x=0&y=0&mod=products&type=search
http://www.logitech.com/de-de/search?q=joystick Just about everything you could want.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
I already called an electronics store and asked the exact question, and the guy told me that joysticks are serial and should work, no problem.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was thinking of NES and Super NES controllers, which use a serial protocol. But even NES and Super NES controllers use clocked serial, like SPI and Game Boy link cable, not RS-232-style serial. In short: DE-9 doesn't always mean RS-232.
I upgraded from Windows 2000 to Linux and OSX.
Does the HID Manager in Mac OS X even support devices other than USB HID Class (and possibly ADB on PowerBooks)?
Had you ever hosted one, it would have been easy for you, too. ;-)
I have only been to one in my life and never hosted one, which in the mind of some other Slashdot users disqualifies me from commenting. A lot of Slashdot users appear to live in university housing, where network play is the norm with a similar feel to Internet play (one player per room) and the performance of a LAN. And even some Slashdot users who have kids appear to have set up a permanent LAN in their household, with one gaming PC for each resident and one spare gaming PC for the kids' play date.
Once you're married with three children, you don't happily re-arrange the furniture
The Slashdot stereotype is not to have even a girlfriend. To them, "married with children" is a sitcom, dubbed as Eine schrecklich nette Familie and remade as Hilfe, meine Familie spinnt in your market. But "single-screen multiplayer has a higher wife acceptance factor" has a nice ring to it.
my computer is an iMac which can be put anywhere easily, too.
The stereotype is also that Mac OS X has no notable games. Windows itself has few single-screen multiplayer games without the Wine incompatibility getting in the way. And besides, a lot of iMacs have entry-level 17" monitors, not the 27" Big Mac that you'd need for 4-player action. People aren't going to spend $600 on a Mac mini just to connect it to a TV with HDMI if they can get a 360 with a year of Live and five games for that price. And people who still game on an SDTV (and there are a lot of them in my experience, especially in households with children) aren't even going to know about VGA-to-composite converters, let alone buy one, because they aren't sold at Best Buy.
This has got me all nostalgic for the days that I was an Atari junkie - the 2600 first, then the 400, where I first learned to program.
However...
After running through a big pile of Atari joysticks, I decided I needed something better. One company that was better known for arcade sticks made a standard handheld one for the Atari. I spent a fortune on them, but they were great. Problem is, I can't remember what they were!
They had a steel stick, a black knob, a pale blue 'top cover', and a black base/housing. The buttons (two of 'em, although I can't remember if they were different triggers) were on the front of the stick, rather than on the top. Oh yeah, and the mechanism used leaf-spring contacts.
Any guesses folks?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
You should definitely check out www.retrousb.com They've got all kinds of console adapters and kits.
Sand People code single file to hide their line count.
I know you are looking for retro joystick. But, I have been using:
http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Controller-Adapter-Converter-Playstation-2/dp/B001AATQ0Y
for quite a few years now. Plug and play and I use Joy2key free software to do the keyboard and mouse emulation, macros and more.
Works great for emulators and flash games.
loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
The Competition Pro USB I've bought isn't nearly as bad as the Amazon reviews tell. And I used that stick a lot, both on C=64 and AMIGA. The USB variant which I've bought works exactly as expected. The buttons have micro switches, just like the *better* later revisions of the old original Competition Pro. I always hated the old ones with their metal strip buttons, which you had to fix every few month to keep it working. The micro switches always lasted at least two years (much longer than the cheap, small micro switches used in other controllers back then).
I had bought the CP USB one or two years ago, so perhaps the quality has decreased since then. But the one I've bought definitely lives up to the original.
I bought an extra-cheap gamepad (Gmax, made in China, around $4), 2 transistors, 4 resistors and a 9-pin connector (around $1) and made an Atari-to-USB adapter out of it. Gamepad had all the USB logic that I needed (I just needed to connect transistors on two directions to make a +5V contact). I even managed to put all inside its original case, so I can use it as a gamepad if I wish (not likely, though, it's really bad). Anyway, if you're looking for a cheap Atari adapter, this is something that is cheap and it works :)
I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the USB kits for classic controllers sold by RetroZone. http://www.retrousb.com/
Each processor would proceed sequentially as if it had been better for them not to rise against Saul.