Most common arcade setups

Classic Fighting Games Super Street Fighter II Turbo
1

What is the most common hardware used for Super Turbo arcade setups?
I’ve started getting into building as a hobby and I’ve been trying to make things as authentic as possible. I realize this thread does seem a little out-of-place; I’ve had very limited success with this in Tech Talk so I’ve decided to come here to get specific. I figure the people who post and read here will know ST better than anyone else.

In the States, am I correct that the (good) cabinets usually use Happ Competition joysticks? I doubted the P360 would be popular with ST and I’ve heard the older popular one (Super or Ultimate?) is widely considered outdated/inferior/obsolete.
Are the convex pushbuttons really more popular than concave ones for ST nowadays? Is 3/4" fiberboard + 1/8" plexi the usual thickness for a control panel, or are they normally thinner? (This determines how tall the joystick will be. The aforementioned thickness leaves little more of the stick than the bat-top itself showing above the dust cover. A thinner top lets more of the shaft show.)

In Japan, what do they use most often for cabinets? I know it’s all non-dedicated… probably a Sega Astro, Blast, or Versus City? What are they using for parts? I’d heard that Seimitsu LS-32 sticks and Sanwa buttons were the norm. Is that true, even over Sanwa JLF sticks? I’d heard most 2D games use bare shafts and most 3D games use the shaft cover; is there any weight to that statement? Does ANY game prefer Seimitsu buttons as standard?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

2

US: Happ Competition joystick and buttons
Japan: Seimitsu LS-32 joystick and Sanwa OBSF-30 buttons. Sanwa JLFs are sometimes used too.

3

My partner’s got a Capcom (Japanese) Impress cabinet, and I’ve got a Capcom (American) Super SFII cab, so these are at least two points of “hands-on” confirmation. True to form, his cabinet did come with seimitsu sticks and sanwa buttons, and mine came with Happ (I believe Ultimate) sticks and Happ concave buttons. In the case of my cabinet, these parts appear to have been from a Power Stone upgrade kit (I found the Power Stone manual inside the cabinet, and matched part numbers from the sticks).

Our cabinets have since been swapped to all new Sanwa sticks and buttons, all around.

If you’re looking for authentic restoration, then the information you have is correct. If you’re looking for what’s the “best”, well that’s more personal opinion.

4

Hey, thanks a ton for the responses!

I never even thought of the Capcom Impress. :rofl:
Makes sense that it has a good chance of being the stock or default cab.

Is there actually any one most-used cab type for ST in Japan? I would assume most arcades would just put it in whatever they had available…