need help picking a joystick

[George35]

So, I've decided to attempt to build my first arcade controller, and am in need of some advice. First, can anyone tell me what the difference between the Happ Ultimate, and Competition sticks is? And second, I've also been partial to the short ball topped sticks used on pac-man and galaga cabinets; does anyone know where I can find one like that? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

[Cynicaster]

If you're interested in Happ, go with the competitions over the ultimates, hands down.

 

 

[boog]

If you're looking for a short ball top stick you'd probably be happier with a Japanese stick from Sanwa or Seimitsu. If you want something cheap, the Zippyy stick is a reasonable quality Sanwa knock-off for around $8.

[George35]

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it. Looks like the Sanwa JLF is what I'll go with, and will probably use a Happ Competition for a second project.

[Cynicaster]

I have Comps on my cabinet and I'm hard pressed to level a single complaint at them. Granted, I'm not some big arcade afficionado who has certain expectations on how the joystick on such and such game should be; I'm just some guy who loves to play old arcade games on MAME.

 

I've read a lot about it and the general consensus seems to be you need to select your joystick based on the games you like to play most. Shoot-em-ups, fighters, golden age classics, etc. all have different types of sticks that are favored. Any general purpose MAME rig is by definition going to be a compromise, so you have to choose sticks that are the best overall fit for what you like to play, and just accept that the sticks will be better on some games than on others.

[Slutty]

As someone who works on a lot of arcades and sticks, my personal favorite is always Sanwa. You can't go wrong with good Sanwa quality.

[DaytonaUSA]

I second Sanwa. By far the best components I've ever had.