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pfitz1982

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I am having custom arcade sticks made and badly want to re-create the 90's US arcade feel that this cabinet would have had. So my question is what would the appropriate joystick and buttons be to accomplish this?
 
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I used to love it when John, the manager at Golfland in Southern California put the Happ Perfect 360 Control in Street Fighters machine. My Shoryuken would come out every single time.
 
I use to hate the perfect 360 controllers but I think I'll give them a try again. I use happs with microswitches but I have a couple of perfect 360s that I took out of a big blue cabinet awhile back.
 
I use to hate the perfect 360 controllers but I think I'll give them a try again. I use happs with microswitches but I have a couple of perfect 360s that I took out of a big blue cabinet awhile back.
If you’re interested in ever parting with those 360s, I’d be willing to buy them off your hands.
 
there's also those IL sticks? industrias lorenzo or whatever. I don't know the exact history but people were saying happ used to contract with them? iirc there was something about the happ sticks no longer being as good as they used to be so people started using these iL ones? But that was back like in 2009... maybe times have changed?
https://focusattack.com/brands/Industrias-Lorenzo.html

i think that red, white, blue concave buttons were standard on SF control panels from back in the day? But you might want to go convex... especially if you plan to play mvc2 at all. For those I would still get the happ buttons I think. IL would be fine as well though.

Another more important aspect is the actual layout. I would do straight across, because that was the standard on us woody cabinets. I would just do 6 buttons, not 7 or 8. If you plan to use this with a supergun you should be good but you might want to add a credit button? If you are going to use this with consoles you might want a select (option) button as well as a home (xbox/ps) button.
 
OK...

"Happ Competition" sticks are the ones that went into classic USA SF and MK cabs.

I'ts my understanding that Happ used to contract out the manufacture of these sticks to a company called IL (Industrias Lorenzo). Sometime around 2008 Happ stopped using IL and moved production to China, and the quality of the parts dropped, at this time they also switched from using Cherry brand micro switches (very good) to Zippy or E-Switch brand switches (not as good).

However IL continues to make the original Competition sticks with the original design and the original molds in the original quality with the original Cherry Microswitches... the only differences is they're sold as "IL Euro" sticks and not "Happ Competition" sticks.

What makes the China made Happ sticks not as good?
the molds seem inconsistant, and the tolerances are off, this causes the sticks to sometimes bind, or motions might have sticking point, and two sticks side by side might bind/stick in different ways/different places. They also used cheaper materials, most notably the nylon actuator (which is made out of nylon to help to glide and spin smoothly while having excellent wear resistance) was replaced with an ABS one that is not as smooth and prone to binding. the switches they use now are also a bit less sensitive and less consistent in their actuation distance.

None of these are things a casual player will ever notice, however when building my MK and KI cabinets I original had new Happ equipment and I was attempting to get good enough to 1CC both games... playing daily. I'd have certain moves with complex joystick inputs that wouldn't execute sometimes. I chalked it up to me just not being good, but then started reading up on the IL/Happ situation, so I swapped to IL sticks and my execution rate went to 100% and I was able to 1CC on my first play through with the new sticks despite not quite ever making it before then ... I attribute that mostly to the actuator and cherry switches.

TLDR:
if you want the "Happ" Name then buy Happ Sticks
if you want the actual original sticks then buy IL sticks.
 
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I just wanted to echo that you should use battop IL sticks and concave screw-in buttons.
It would be wrong to use something like convex snap-in buttons IF you want that perfect original USA SF recreation/feel.

No
SANWA_OBSF30_BLACK__09578.1434564116.1280.1280.jpg

Yes
IL-PSLH-CAVE-DH__48504.1558915602.275.275.jpg

The color layout should also be 2x Red, 2x White and 2x Blue.
Basically you'll be recreating this...
5716461034_748ccabf10_o.jpg
 
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Might I chime in. I grew up with a few arcades around me using Old school Happ everything & concave buttons. I loved the feel so much when I started getting into collecting PCBs that I built a Capcom inspired custom controller for my MAS super nova using old school Happ parts (including the old school white nylon actuator in the joystick & concave buttons). The buttons I have in these also have the cherry switches oriented vertically into the button, as opposed to horizontally mounted below it. Nothing wrong with both ways (convex/concave) IMO for old school American arcade feel.
26F1598B-BAA5-4F8F-ACBB-C426AA161210.jpeg
 
built a Capcom inspired custom controller for my MAS super nova using old school Happ parts
Nice looking yea, I love the metal diamond pattern overlay with Capcom on it.
For games like Street Fighter I feel I play slightly better with a Semitsu LS32, for games like Mortal Kombat however its IL/OG-SuzoHapp 100%!
 
JLF for life :D
Yea just go ahead a TRY to play MK with it, you'll get your ass handed to you.
In MK special moves are almost 90% tap/tap/tap motions, not rotational or circular motions (yes a few exceptions like Sub-Zero's freeze projectile).
 
If you’re interested in ever parting with those 360s, I’d be willing to buy them off your hands.
I think I should give them a try one more time before I part with them. Sounds like maybe they might be better then I remember them being or I'll think they suck again.
 
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