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Hey gang... I am at a bit of a quandary. Atm, I am using my pitiful MS Sidewinder [laugh, but it is alot better then nothing] and i am wanitng to buy a new joystick for MAME purposes... a Badass mutha Joystick. I have been browsing about and it's down to "Hanaho Hotrod SE" [As feature in the Decamame comps] and the X-Arcade joystick.

Can anyone comment on either of these so I can make a better choice then just pure randomness..? The X-Arcade seems to be the one I am leaning to, primarily due to USB support and Lifetime warranty, but then if it's just gonna need to be CONSTANTLY replaced, the rep of Hanaho is tempting... but argh! head hurting!

So I leave it to you guys, the gamers who are far more seasoned then I am..

I have a hotrod SE and it's completly well built. The whole set up is just like any new fighter standup. The only problem with it is the 8-way joystick default configuration. There is supposedly a way to turn it into a 4-way joystick but i haven't toyed with it yet. This means fighter games will play great and pacman like older games will play a little different than the originals. know the difference between 4 and 8 way before you buy.

I've had both the HotRodSE and the X-Arcade, but haven't used either of them very much. Funny thing is that for me the keyboard is still the best controller for almost every game that I play, with the exception of Robotron and similar type controlled games.

Chad, this will be a little hard to explain, but I'll try. I was able to convert the HotRodSE from 8 way to 4 way with the use of a small flathead screwdriver. The head of the screwdriver has to be very thin. Under each joystick, you will see an almost circular flat piece of metal that holds the joystick cap (the plastic piece that you have to turn around) to the joystick. You have to pry this piece of metal off the joystick. Pry it "away" from the open end of the metal piece. I believe there are two thin slots on this metal piece. If you stick the tip of the screwdriver into each of these slots (make sure the screwdriver is parallel with the joystick, not perpendicular when doing this), and pry it away from the joystick, it should come right off. Then all you do is take the plastic piece off and flip it around, and then re-lock the metal piece back to the joystick.

The controllers are excellent for Robotron type games that require dual joysticks, but even after converting the 8 to 4 way, I still had problems with control in Pac-Man. I didn't try any other 4 way games. The switch made it easier to play, but still it wasn't perfect.

I hope this makes sense.

I have a HotrodSe + an Oz-Stick ultimate .

Both have their advantages , but I'd actually lean towards the latter , as diagonal control is so much better .

Dunno about the X-Arcade though....


Cheers ,

AL

Both the Hotrod and the X-Arcade use Happ Super joysticks, so they're basically the same thing. I haven't tried either but I do have Happ's Supers on my home made controls. These sticks have a round guide and actuator so they're particulalry indicated for games that require circular movements (Fighting games a la SF2). But because of this reason, diagonals are not always 100% precise. So for (8-way) shoot'em ups (or even a game like Toki) a stick with a square guide would give much better results. Happ does sell a couple of sticks of this type (the Ultimate and the Competition), which can easily replace the Super on the Hotrod/X-Arcade as the mounting plate is exactly the same.
As for the 4-way issue, the Super cannot become a real 4-way stick: the diagonals are more difficult to carry out but not altogether impossible (as in a real 4-way), so the efficiency of a Super in 4-way mode varies from game to game: for me it worked well in Ghouls'n Ghosts, (where the 8-way mode would lead to just too many mistakes) but not in games like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong where only a real 4-way would do.

I have been using a Namco playstation arcade controller with a printer port adapter cable I had made for me. Works well, great controller. Nothing bad to say about it, four way games and eight way all good. They are cheap and well constructed. What more could you want ?

One friend of mine made my joystick. Is a arcade joystick original. when I scan, I´ll publish the photo of it. 8 buttons and works fine with all kind of games, but specially SHUT´N UP (raiden, slap fight, fire shark, etc.)