Depending on your setup, you might have to turn on the LEDs separately from the arcade. These look great-especially in a dark room-but you’ll have to do some extra wiring to power them. If you spend a little extra, you can have LEDs embedded in your buttons. Just because a joystick has a bat-shaped head doesn’t mean it’s an American one-these are generalizations. Occasionally, manufacturers do switch up the tops. The tops of joysticks are typically screwed connections-you just twist to remove and swap them. However, if you prefer the loose movement of a Japanese stick but want a bat-shaped top, you can make it happen. The tops of American joysticks tend to be shaped more like a baseball bat, while Japanese sticks are typically more ball-shaped. They usually indicate which route they went by mentioning Happ or Sanwa specifically or including “American” or “Japanese” in the description. Other companies mimic the look and feel of both Happ and Sanwa controllers. Unlike Happ, its buttons are typically flat and don’t require much pressure to activate.Īdditionally, Sanwa adds restrictor gates to the bottom of its joysticks to make certain types of movements easier (like hitting the diagonals), which can be helpful for fighting games or platformers. Sanwa, though, tends to use ball-shaped tops and looser action for its joysticks. Its buttons are typically concave and require a strong push to reach the click phase. Happ’s American-style controllers typically featured bat-shaped tops and tight-action joysticks. The differences are noticeable in both look and feel. If you look at a Mortal Kombat machine, it almost certainly will have Happ controls, while a Street Fighter machine will have Sanwa. They also perfectly exemplify the differences between American (Happ) and Japanese (Sanwa) styles. Two companies manufacture the most popular joystick and buttons styles: Happ and Sanwa. Japanese American joysticks (left) tend to have tighter movement than Japanese sticks (right). With all this in mind, let’s break down the differences. Once you do, you can achieve both the goals of the original machine and your own performance improvements. Beyond just general quality, how a joystick moves, the style of its topper, and the shapes of buttons vary based on different schools of thought and types of games.ĭue to these differences, you have to know why manufacturers designed joysticks and buttons to behave the way they do.
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If you own an original or replica arcade machine (like this one from Arcade1Up), you might think the joysticks and buttons could be better, and they can! You have to know which style you want and how to connect them, but don’t worry-we’ve got you covered! How to Choose the Right Joysticks and ButtonsĪll joysticks and buttons are not created equal.