Are Happ/IL joysticks still the best for retro arcade gaming?

>>3109552
it's all subjective, just go for personal preference and adjust the gate accordingly

>>3109552

Happ sticks are big, clunky and imprecise compared to JP sticks.

What they have over JP sticks is that they're virtually indestructible. This was an absolute requirement in North America because the patrons there abused the cabs constantly.

>>3109594
>>3109552

HAPP sticks are decent, but I wouldn't say they're overly good quality.

Happ is basically the low-end name brand stuff, I have them on my Neo-Geo MVS cab but I think soon I'll upgrade to sanwa or something a bit higher end.

I think the ball tops are a little more "arcade" and function a bit better as well.

Happ sticks are really durable but bad at everything else. They used them everywhere in the US because players there liked to throw their whole body weight into the stick for some reason.

OP here. My problem is that when I look at cabinets from the 90s they pretty much all used Happ and it seemed to work pretty well for everything, but when I look at Jap stuff there are a dozen options and it's hard to sort through it all and find one thats good for general use.

>>3109609
A sticks a stick at the end of the day.

The difference in "feel" will be minor, if they're all microswitched they'll all feel somewhat similar outside of things like weight of the sticks, and if the switches are leaf switches or just regular.

If you're just trying to figure things out, go with Happ, I think they're 12 bucks for a kit, which makes them a lot more reasonable then others.

>>3109552
a lot of people say that Sanwa parts are better/ more responsive and Happ parts are more durable

apparently most of the arcade machines in the 'States used Happ parts which is what I used and didn't know it at the time. one of these days I might make a stick out of Happ parts because I like the way they feel because that is what I am used to.

>>3109613

I'm just getting psyched out by all the info out there. I'm doing a lot of research but it's hard because people tend to lean towards a single genre and base entire communities on that, while I'm looking for a multi-purpose stick.

Right now I'm leaning towards the LS-56 as a Jap option but the affordability of the ILs, along with the "Hey, they worked for everything back in the day," are making a pretty strong case.

>>3109609

Happ actually has quite a few variant sticks, though the common ones were generic 8-ways. They're made to mount to 3/4" MDF or Ply control panels common in North America. They're also made to be easily serviceable/swappable with snap-in switches.

Jap sticks are made to mount to thin sheet metal panels and be more compact, but that comes at the cost of being able to easily service or swap the switches.

The buttons from both regions are the same way.

>>3109625

Jap sticks have characteristics that make them a bit specialized. The Seimitsu LS-56 has a very short engage distance and sharp diagonals. This makes it ideal for twitchy SHMUPs but will get in the way with fighting games where those properties make it easy to mis-input your specials.

Contrast with a Sanwa stick which has a long engage and smooth diagonals, making fighter inputs much easier but unresponsive in a SHMUP.

>>3109646

So if those are two extremes, would an LS-32 or 40 be in the middle?

>>3109658

Not really. The 40 still has a very short engage and the 32 is a circular fighter stick with a longer engage like a Sanwa JLF. The main difference between the LS-32 and JLF is that the 32 has a shorter stick and stiffer spring.

>>3109745

So what do I do?

>>3109764

Just get the stick suited to the games you play the most. It's not like they stop working entirely when you start a game they're not the best for.

Seimitsu LS-32 > Sanwa JLF
Sanwa makes better buttons though

Or just admit to yourselves that joysticks are nothing more than a shitty 80s legacy and D-pads are better for everything.

>>3109869
idiot, ever tried playing a shmup on a dpad vs. on a stick?

>>3109879
Yeah I've used sticks. Crap, the lot of them. Who wants to do all that movement (which technically takes longer) when you can just flick your thumb?

>>3109860

But the games I play the most are Street Fighter and Metal Slug, and they seem to favor two different extremes.

>>3109929

Mslug isn't twitchy like a bullet hell game. You wouldn't go wrong with an LS-32.

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>>3109613
>A sticks a stick at the end of the day.
Not really. The difference between anything with an adjustable gate is mostly down to preference, but anything with a square actuator is simply NOT acceptable for 2D fighters. The fucking cube always changes angle ever so slightly, leaving you with noticeable differences in diagonals.

>>3110012

Hm OK then.

If an LS-32 is fine then would a Zippyy knockoff be alright? I can get it for 10 bucks and with a longer handle so I don't have to make a recess on the underside of the panel.

>>3110048
>The fucking cube always changes angle ever so slightly
It would help if the idiots who made them didn't give them a single central pivot. Has it seriously never occurred to them?

>>3110068
>Has it seriously never occurred to them?

Arcade games haven't been popular in America for 20 years, it probably isn't worth the investment for Happ to reengineer their sticks.

>>3110073
You'd think it would be obvious at the very first blueprint.

>>3110067

The Zippyy is alright. The micros are loud AF and not quite as smooth, though the noise isn't such a big deal under a thick wood panel.

>>3110078

Thats typically not how engineering works. It takes revision after revision to come to a polished product with tons of field testing.

Besides, even in the 90s arcades were pretty cheapo operations. They boomed back from near death and they just threw together what they had on hand. Then it burned out pretty quickly and that was that.

>>3110086

I think I'm the only person who actually loves loud click. Dat haptic feedback.

>>3110048
>>3110068

I'm honestly surprised that with all the arcade parts boutiques out there none of them have taken the Happ design and tweaked it to modern standards.

>>3109896

People who don't want to roll their thumb over a mushy D-pad and hope they get the rid direction, thats who.

Sanwa or Seimetsu both own Happ. I built a Happ stick, but ended up getting a Sanwa JLF with the octagonal restricter. I gave my Happ parts to a buddy to replace the stick in his Neo Geo cab, and I don't miss it one bit.

Don't listen to the weebs. Happs are the best way to play 90s games. Back in the day we all played Street Fighter II on them and it was awesome.

>>3113530
Except if you lived in Japan where they used Seimitsu and Sanwa even back then.

>>3113534

This is America tho

If Happ is your preference then you should be buying IL sticks instead now, Happ switched their manufacturing to China a few years ago but the original manufacturer in Spain still makes them

>>3113537
yeah, AMERICA, THE BIRTHPLACE OF STREET FIGH--

...oh.

>>3113649

Go back to Japan weeb boy.

Lever-modded Hayabusa is a good all-around stick.

>>3113857

Hayabusa's are stock lever's tho... what needs modding?

>>3109625
as someone who autistically collects mechanical keyboards: don't worry about it. worst case scenario you can swap it out later, but generally anything from a decent brand is going to be enjoyable to use. just look at some youtube reviews and set a time limit for yourself to have purchased something by.

>>3113530
>buying inferior hardware
>cuz, muh nostalgia
nope.avi

>>3114885
>Playing games from the 90s
>With sticks from the 10s

>>>/v/

Honestly, you'd be a fool not to go with a Japanese stick.

American-style sticks have two options, the Competition and the Super. And they're basically the same thing.

There are so many more options with Japanese sticks. Aside from the half dozen popular models, all very different, many parts are interchangeable with a wider array of options. Ball or bat? You can have it both ways. What color? There are a zillion options. Restrictor gates? Tons, including several that let you change from 8-way to 4-way. Shaft extenders, different mounting plates, a huge variety of replacement parts.

You can buy a Japanese stick and fine tune it to be exactly what you want. With American style you just pick one and are basically stuck with it.

>>3109552
iL sticks and buttons are only great for modding X-Arcade sticks while the X-A sticks are awesome for emulation due to input being registered as a keyboard.

>>3116185
why is the input being registered as a keyboard a good thing?

>>3116254

MAME responds better to keystrokes.

>>3116010
>look at all this semen pouring out of my mouth, I literally cannot stop sucking cocks

https://na.suzohapp.com/products/joysticks/

>>3116280

Everything I said was accurate, except that Happ has three options instead of two (which I knew, but the Ultimate is complete dogshit and doesn't count). And I don't count the Ms Pac-Man 4-way, because thats niche. So is are the analog sticks and the flight sticks.

>>3116010

Joysticks aren't exactly complicated devices or difficult to vary.

EU/NA manufacturers tend to name stick families after a base model and don't bother to keep track of variants, while JP manufacturers will change the spring or a mounting option and call it a whole new product. It's just the way they offer up their lineup.

There are numerous shaft/top, switch, actuator/restrictor and mounting options available for any stick, Happ/IL and modern IL-likes (eg: GGG, Ultimarc etc) included.

I personally prefer a Seimitsu LS-32 alongside Sanwa OBS and don't much care for IL-style sticks, but to say EU/NA sticks don't also have a hojillion options is either being blind or willfully ignorant.

>>3114886
>play street fighter with snes advantage
>cuz muh retro

>>>/b/