JamesRobot | 5,793 Events Team · Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Pretty much grew up with bat top sticks in the arcade and I can't really recall too many games that had ball top. Do you have a preference? Does the game matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Bat just because I'm US based and that what we mainly had here. I can see the benefits of the ball top, and would actually use one if building a panel, but I just have more experience with bat so that's how I gotta vote. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docile tapeworm | 4,198 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Tore apart a mk fight stick and put a ball in it. ball. Shooters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teh_Lurv | 254 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Ball top. Easier to wrap your fingers around it than a bat top. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRobot | 5,793 Events Team · Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 I'm likely gonna mod my Asteroids Arcade1Up here soon and I'm on the fence about the setup. Leaning towards ball top. I foresee a lot of 2 player fight games getting played. Any argument one way or the other for fighters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaosu | 104 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 I actually just received my two bat tops today for my Sanwa JLF sticks, ordered on Amazon. I really prefer the bat tops to ball tops. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 10 minutes ago, Vaosu said: I actually just received my two bat tops today for my Sanwa JLF sticks, ordered on Amazon. I really prefer the bat tops to ball tops. Oh that's pretty cool. You get the shape of the bat top with the clicky short throw of the Sanwa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) 50 minutes ago, JamesRobot said: I'm likely gonna mod my Asteroids Arcade1Up here soon and I'm on the fence about the setup. Leaning towards ball top. I foresee a lot of 2 player fight games getting played. Any argument one way or the other for fighters? I would say go ball top as the Sanwas and Seimitsus have that quick response that makes them a top choice among the competitive crowd. The only reason to go bat top, and I mean like a Happ bat top since thats what I find most people tend to mean by that due to those being in pretty much all of the American arcades, is being used to it. For example, on a bat top, when playing fighting games I tend to do double taps or fast back and forth motions by more or less smacking the stick from the side. The Sanwa style ball tops have a much shorter throw and feel much more clicky feel, vs the springy feel of a bat top and as a result, people tend to grip and use them differently. Edited January 23, 2020 by MachineCode 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaosu | 104 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 I went with bat top over ball top since in my modded Arcade1Up (once my control panel gets here) I'll be playing all the way up to PS2 games, as I have an old gaming laptop in it instead of the typical Pi 3B+, and for longer play sessions I find bat tops more comfortable on my hands than ball tops. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chromableedstudios | 24 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Bat or ball is aright, long as I've got an octagonal gate. Square gates just feel werid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 6 hours ago, chromableedstudios said: Bat or ball is aright, long as I've got an octagonal gate. Square gates just feel werid? They do but they make it possible to do a 4-way / 8-way switch. Nothing worse than trying to play pacman on someones rig that didn't know the difference and have him not move right due to hitting 2 directions at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,939 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 I don't understand why anyone would be more comfortable with a bat top. I grew up with those in most local arcades as well, but it just feels weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkchylde28 | 1,546 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) Honestly, the only "bat tops" that I can recall from my arcade days were fighters, and later ones at that. For folks saying they grew up "primarily" with bat tops, what games were you playing? Virtually everything I played as a kid and up into my teens was a ball top, but then again, I'm now over 40 and started with early/classic stuff like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Centipede, etc. and stopped specifically heading to the arcade once fighters basically took over (1994-1995 or so?) and pushed just about everything else out save a couple of skee-ball machines, maybe a pinball machine in the back corner and a bunch of ticket machines. This goes for both my original hometown as well as where we moved to when I was little, both PA (and southern NY when we went camping) and VA, although both are on the east coast. Edited January 23, 2020 by darkchylde28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docile tapeworm | 4,198 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 37 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said: Honestly, the only "bat tops" that I can recall from my arcade days were fighters, and later ones at that. For folks saying they grew up "primarily" with bat tops, what games were you playing? Virtually everything I played as a kid and up into my teens was a ball top, but then again, I'm no over 40 and started with early/classic stuff like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Centipede, etc. and stopped specifically heading to the arcade once fighters basically took over (1994-1995 or so?) and pushed just about everything else out save a couple of skee-ball machines, maybe a pinball machine in the back corner and a bunch of ticket machines. This goes for both my original hometown as well as where we moved to when I was little, both PA (and southern NY when we went camping) and VA, although both are on the east coast. Folks that grew up with primarily bat were playing what pushed you away. street fighter and mk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docile tapeworm | 4,198 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 I like the feel of the ball but i don’t like joysticks for shooters so I got rid of my mk fight stick. I thought a short throw ball would allow me to control the spaceship more precisely but that’s not how it works once the stick clicks your heading that direction at an already determined speed so I might as well use a d-pad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Thats any arcade joystick really as they just trigger microswitches on and off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki | 4,932 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Honestly I don't care so I won't vote. I don't feel either has a benefit. It's a personal issue if you can't wrap your fingers around one or the other well enough. My Neo-Geo comes with its stock bat type, yet the modern iCade cocktail has a bair of balls simulating a Ms Pac-Man cpo space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docile tapeworm | 4,198 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, MachineCode said: Thats any arcade joystick really as they just trigger microswitches on and off. Ya that’s what I found out. I had a sanwa. It was nice but like you say it just like hitting a d-pad. Even if you had a pressure sensitive stick I don’t know if any game is programmed with that in mind? Edited January 23, 2020 by skinnygrinny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,939 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 3 hours ago, skinnygrinny said: once the stick clicks your heading that direction at an already determined speed so I might as well use a d-pad. The difference is that with a cross-shaped D-pad, diagonals don't really feel intuitive. It's literally pressing two individual directions at the same time, rather than holding one specific direction. With a joystick, going diagonally feels "the same" as going in a cardinal direction. It's a little better with a "round" D-pad (Sega style), but in general I just play shooters much worse on a D-pad. Hell even the famously shitty NES Advantage is preferable to me. I'm sure it's possible to adapt, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MachineCode | 159 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 10 minutes ago, skinnygrinny said: Ya that’s what I found out. I had a sanwa. It was nice but like you say it just like hitting a d-pad. Even if you had a pressure sensitive stick I don’t know if any game is programmed with that in mind? You had games like Blitz that used the 49 way stick so there were 3 distance zones per direction. Other than that, Space Harrier used a true analog flight stick. Star Wars Arcade (80s) used an analog yoke and the 90s ones used analog sticks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,401 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 The main benefit of a joystick for shooters is freeing up your right hand. Sometimes with console shooters I have to play with a claw grip because you don't want to for example lift up the shoot button while pressing a charge attack or bomb. That's why I can't go d-pad. Ball top all the way though, and clicky Seimitsu sticks please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuNKeY | 241 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 I voted bat as that is what I am more accustomed to, but ball is nice for shmups or any game that you need to make small movements with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nesmaster14 | 433 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Ball top for me as I mostly play shooters. In terms of switches, I'm probably in the minority, but I actually prefer the NES Advantage's membrane switches over micro switches (LS-32, etc.). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumez | 2,939 Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Bat top isn't getting as many votes as ballz, but I'm still curious. People who voted bat top, how do you grip your stick? Man I'm surprised this thread has been able to stay clear of innuendo so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ookii_risu | 206 Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 I prefer the bat top. For some reason it feels a lot more accurate to me. The ball tops generally feel looser. I love the MK fight stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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