I’ve been having a tough time deciding which joysticks to use. The “free” joysticks that came with my 48 in 1 board aren’t very good, so I’ll probably just toss them in the parts bin. You never know when you’ll need a joystick or two. I wanted to match the 80’s cocktail aesthetic as much as possible, so a ball top joystick was a must. I also wanted a joystick that can be switched between 4 and 8 way operation. Nothing sucks more than playing games like Pac-Man without a real 4 way joystick.

Ultimarc makes a joystick that switches between 4 and 8 way on the fly so I ordered a couple of those to try out. I also won an auction for a pair of cheap Seimitsu joysticks that are supposed to be great for fighters and side scrollers, but they don’t switch between 4 and 8 way easily. Both types have the same mounting plate, so once I get the cabinet I can easily switch them out and decide exactly what I want.

I’ll need a total of four joysticks (two for cocktail panels and two for the horizontal control panel), so I just need to decide if I want the same type of joystick on every panel, or if the Seimitsu sticks in the 8 way configuration will work in the horizontal panel. Most of the 4 way games I like are vertical, so the Ultimarc sticks will definitely be going in the vertical control panels.