What's your favourite Joystick.

[Bryce]

I don't usually start these kinds of discussions, but last night I was clearing out some stuff and decided I had way too many joysticks. Some of them have to go, but which ones....?

The selection looks like this:
2x Atari CX40
1x Competition Pro (see-through plastic version)
3x Quickshot
2x No-name Quickshot clones
1x Amstrad JY-2
2x CPC+/GX4000 Gamepads
1x Analogue (PC but converted for CPC+)
1x Dual analogue for my Acorn Electron

My favourite was always the original Atari CX40, So I've kept those two. Next favourite is the Competition Pro, although the clicking can get annoying, kept it too. The "exotics" - CPC Gamepads, and the Analogue CPC+/Acorn will be kept aswell. The others are heading for the scrap. They barely achieve €1 on ebay, so it's not worth the bother. The parts will be stripped out for spares.

Bryce.

[TotO]

No favorite joystick in this list.
The GX4000 Pad is nice because can be used with 2 fires butons.

SpeedKing with 2 buttons (SEGA version) and an adapter, if great to use on CPC.

[Carnivius]

I've had a few joysticks.

Atari CX40 - Never liked it.  Found it immensely uncomfortable and mostly just swung it around the room by it's cable like a sort of mace and chain weapon.

Cheetah Bug - Won it in a competition come to think of it.  Possibly from Amstrad Action but I'm not sure (I'll have to go looking in the issues and see if there was a competition for it and see if my name is there, I'm fairly sure I got it from some gaming magazine of that era).  But I really liked it, seemed strangely fitting for games with small characters (SwitchBlade, Sensible Soccer on Amiga).  Made a nice plasticky thud sound when I also used that as a mace and chain sorta thing too. 

Cheetah Star Probe - This was my main joystick for a very long time.  I really liked it's angular sci fi look but the loud clicking used to drive my parents crazy and I'd have to resort to using the keyboard when they were in the living room where the CPC was.

Competition Pro - Again another I found uncomfortable to use and eventually dismantled it.

Quickshot Python - I actually had the home computer version but never much cared for it but somehow also had (and still have) one for the NES.  Again no idea why cos joysticks never really felt right on the NES and certainly I gave up on using it shortly after I obtained it. Still have it because it's difficult to get rid of without just throwing it in the bin.  Nobody on ebay seemed to want it.

Quickshot Maverick - This became my main stick for my Amiga.  I liked the arcade feel of it and the two large red buttons could be made to function independently so it was a true two buttons joystick and various Amiga games such as Turrican II and James Pond 3 worked with it so less need for keyboard.  I don't know what became of it though.

Dual X-Arcade - Main joystick of choice for arcade games running on MAME on my laptop and also I had various adaptors for it to connect to PS2, PS3 and so on cos it worked great with Street Fighter and Neo Geo games and the like.

Logic 3 Starfighter - PC joystick.  Dunno why I have this.  There's absolutely no reason I have for a large flight control like analogue stick for a PC.  I don't play any games that are meant for it. 

Cheetah 125+ - This be my current CPC/Amiga joystick as I no longer have the others.  Picked it up at a car boot sale and it works fine but I guess I'm just not a joystick gamer these days. 

But for most things these days I'm not really into joysticks anymore far preferring the Dual Shock (latest DS3 model on my PS3, and a wired PS2 one for anything I use my laptop for, usually emulation).  It's by far my most favorite game controller design of all time.  Comfortable, perfect size for my hands, all buttons are easily accessible, it doesn't make loud clicky sounds.  I'd be quite happy to find out if there's a PS1/PS2 to CPC/Amiga style adaptor actually.

Now I'm gonna go try find out where I won that Bug from or it will actually start to 'bug' me... sorry for the pun, but you know what I mean.

EDIT:  Found the competition for the Bug in issue 76 of AA.  Did they ever list the winners of competitions?  I'm having a hard time finding which issue that might be if they did.

[Gryzor]

That's an easy one.


Pacman and Tomahawk, real arcade joysticks at home, next to my CPC! The company that made them (Anerousis SA) was one that actually built arcade cabs, so quality was nothing short of superb. They were quite cheap, too, the feeling was awesome (NOTHING ever came close to them) and build quality... well, once we threw one out of a third-story window to see what happens, the case had a haircrack and kept on working like nothing happened.

[Bryce]

I always liked them too, but they are rather large for my crowded desk.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I always liked them too, but they are rather large for my crowded desk.

Bryce.

Not that larger than what your hands when playing though... Plus, they're so resilient you can just bury them under junk.

[TotO]

Pacman and Tomahawk, real arcade joysticks at home, next to my CPC!

Do you play Pac-Man with?

[Gryzor]

Do you play Pac-Man with?

Heh, actually I did! maybe I should have take a pic, it'd be a nice meta-joke...

[beaker]

I'd have to say the one I kind of liked was the Voltmace Delta I had with the acorn electron.

I got the Cheetah 125+ with the CPC 464 which was nice and chunky but wore out after a couple of years (I think it also had metal bits rather than micro switches for the movement that I had to keep bending back to make better contact) then the Powerplay Cruiser joystick which I still have put don't really like as because of the materials used. I had the JY2 as well which was horrible. The GX4000/CPC+ pad isn't too bad.

I do prefer using my PS2 pad when using an emulator though.

[Gryzor]

Voltmace Delta??! Is this the one you're talking about?
[attach=2]


O! the ugliness...

[Bryce]

In the world of Acorn Joysticks, the word ugly needed to be redefined....

Chris's Acorns: Acorn ANH01 pair of Joystick Controllers

(These are the ones I have)

Bryce.

[mr_lou]

My favorite joysticks are the WICO ones.

[beaker]

O! the ugliness...

[attach=2]

This is the one I still have with the red buttons.

Ugly?!? Sir, I strongly have to disagree with you there! It's beauty lies in its no frills simplicity and functionality.There's no garish colours, no over the top styling. It's a box that houses the board that fits in your hand with a clearly defined joystck and button sections. You don't have to have suckers to attach it to a desk. There are buttons for left and right handed people (not sure about the one in the middle - if you need to headbutt it maybe???). No sir, the only way they could have made it look better would have been to use some fake wood panelling down the side to add a bit of class... 

[ivarf]

The selection looks like this:
1x Amstrad JY-2

Bryce.

I would have kept the Amstrad joystick just because it is so collectable when you love Amstrad CPC and everything related to it from that era. It had a nice colourful box too

[Bryce]

I had two JY-2 Joysticks. I gave the good one away a while back (To MaV I think), but the second one was in pretty crap condition. Neither of them had the original box.

Bryce.

[SyX]

I got the Cheetah 125+ with the CPC 464 ...

beaker,is that the Cheetah rotatory joystick that you can use with Victory Road? I never saw one.

[Gryzor]

In the world of Acorn Joysticks, the word ugly needed to be redefined....

Chris's Acorns: Acorn ANH01 pair of Joystick Controllers

(These are the ones I have)

Bryce.

Well, they're certainly piss-ugly, but at least they look like they came out of a '70s armored vehicle.

Oh, and they look soooo uncomfortable to hold!

[Gryzor]

My favorite joysticks are the WICO ones.

Ah yes, never handled one but they do look good and arcadey. However, for an arcade joystick, isn't the stick too long?

[Gryzor]

[attach=2]

This is the one I still have with the red buttons.

Ugly?!? Sir, I strongly have to disagree with you there! It's beauty lies in its no frills simplicity and functionality.There's no garish colours, no over the top styling. It's a box that houses the board that fits in your hand with a clearly defined joystck and button sections. You don't have to have suckers to attach it to a desk. There are buttons for left and right handed people (not sure about the one in the middle - if you need to headbutt it maybe???). No sir, the only way they could have made it look better would have been to use some fake wood panelling down the side to add a bit of class... 

Actually, I was thinking of the VCS stick as the pinnacle of simplicity and beauty. THAT was simple. These here are just primitive, sorry!

[beaker]

Actually, I was thinking of the VCS stick as the pinnacle of simplicity and beauty. THAT was simple. These here are just primitive, sorry!

lol, I googled the VCS joysticks to remind myself what they looked like, and I can see something I like 

[attach=2]

Still, the Acorn Electron was my first computer and the Voltmace was my first joystick and I have fond memories playing Repton with it but I don't think anyone will be putting up any Voltmace fan sites any time soon 

beaker,is that the Cheetah rotatory joystick that you can use with Victory Road? I never saw one.

From what I remember it was just a bog standard joystick unfortunately.

[Devlin]

I find a distinct lack of love for the Konix Speedking in this thread. What gives, dudes?

only one post in two pages? shocking.

Here's a pic to remind you of it's majesty.

[steve]

I Have a speedking but it is extremely painful to use because I have to grip the body of the joystick so tightly to stop it sliding out of my hand.

[endangermice]

I have a Speedking too and it's just about my favourite with the ZipStick very close behind!

[Bryce]

The Konix Speedking was one of my favourites back in the 80's, but I can't find iot any more Lost somewhere in my parents house.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

It's certainly great-looking and the novelty factor is high, but as Steve mentioned, a pain to use for any length of time.