Aloha Everyone! I think i’m catching my breath from packing all the orders that came in over the Turkey Sale Weekend!
But we still have deals going on and have a few new products in the store that I wanted to share with you. They are from Phreak Mods, we now carry The Link!
Well I took up Moon’s advice to try a no throw gate, and I think I should have jumped on these sooner. I absolutely love these gates, especially in clear!
The anodized tops you have are pretty nice too armi! The only problem I had was that I tightened the bat top with the adapter and now I can’t seem to get the adapter out.
Also I think i got JLF springs instead of LS-56 springs. Other than the springs, it was another awesome order!
I mainly play a lot of the anime fighters and have been playing Cronophantasma for the past few weeks. This helps a ton with airdashes and feels nicer on half circle motions that follow up with another directional since I don’t have to travel as far.
When i played a bit of Raiden on my 360 the quick movements felt perfect since it pretty much stops at the actuation point of the switch. Overall it fits my want for a super quick yet not too tight stick when used with the 3lbf spring. The only thing i wish it had was an octagonal variant since I loved the 56’s octo gate but wouldn’t mind a short throw version.
Round 3 prototypes arrive this week, so I thought I would share a rendered picture of what’s on the way!
These are the adjustable actuators. As they are currently designed there are 8 different displacements with one actuator.
When the prototypes arrive we will share the 3d rendering of a JLF split in half to show differences between our actuators and what the different settings do.
The biggest advantage is choice, plain and simple. With an adjustable actuator you can tune the stick to your fighting style, instead of tuning your fighting style to a product.
We expect final anodized versions in late December after we work through one more round of testing this week!
So in simple terms, these actuators are larger, which reduces the distance need to travel to press in the microswitch tab, resulting in faster game movement with less physical hand movement?
That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the person…
One of the gotchas about the LS-56/-58 is the short engage.
It’s easier on average to play with the LS-32… The LS-40 and LS-58 are not what I’d call “everyday”/“average” play joysticks. You want to be relaxed and not tight/stressed-out. It can be very frustrating to play with them under those conditions.
On the other hand, if you can get adjusted to the difference in feel, they are definitely easier to use – STILL – than a JLF and require that much less muscle than an LS-32. (Diagonal special moves/dragon punches are the hardest moves to pull off consistently with joysticks aside from some timed charge super moves. They’re NOT impossible but it definitely takes dedicated practice and more time to get used to controlling characters with some joysticks.) I’d call the LS-40 the “tweener”/fighter joystick. Not as easy in general to use as an LS-32 but still easier and less frustrating than a stock LS-56/-58. This is all using just the stock LS-32 spring. An LS-58 (at least) with the Paradise Arcade Shop 3 lb alternate LS-56 spring definitely feels closer to a higher-tension LS-32 than with the (IMHO all too loose) stock LS-58 spring. Yes, the engage distance hasn’t changed at all but you at least have some extra resistance that can help you actually use the joystick if the normal spring tension is too loose for you!
Again, hard to explain in words, you just have to try test them out yourself.
I think many players will welcome seeing new after-market parts offerings for the Seimitsu joysticks but I’m going to learn to live with the quirks and stick to spring mods and alternate tension springs. The alternate tension springs will definitely help with the smaller, less bulky LS-series joysticks. It’s very easy to load up an extra spring in the LS-32 and I even rediscovered the fact that I attempted such a mod on my first LS-40…(!) (LS-40 spring mods – generally NOT recommended. Get an alternate tension LS-32 spring when it becomes available. See following note => ) However, the smaller size of the spring retainers in the LS-40/-56/-58 means there’s less space to put in an extra spring let alone a half spring or whatever crazy set-up you try. It can be difficult putting E-rings back on these joysticks – needle nose pliers seem to work best for the smaller joysticks and you CAN get the rings back on without harming the actuator itself if you’re careful. That job is made several times more difficult if you have a high amount of spring tension under the spring retainer cap/actuator. It’s incredible how far joystick pieces fly when you remove the E-ring!
I agree with you @GeorgeC . I currently play on two arcade sticks regularly. A TE-S+ with a fairly heavily modified JLF (Cherry switches, .5mm aluminum actuator, 2lb spring, Octo-Gate, Link) and a Hori SCV with an LS-56 with a 3lb spring and octo-gate. I switch the gate to a short throw Mahina every now and then but this stick ends up being mostly for guests and some have complained about the ST gate. Lately I have begun to realize that avoiding the gate actually feels better to me when on offense or in the neutral game but I like to hit the octo gate when I’m on D because the pronounced corners let me rock from stand guard to crouch guard with confidence. It really is all about personal preference. That’s why I’m thankful for the many options out there for fine tuning lever assemblies. I also really appreciate all of the insight that you have given us about different joysticks. You seem to enjoy tweaking levers as much as I do. (oh lahd)
I’ve had people play on the no throw gate and end up liking it after they start getting used to it. It takes adjustment, and if you are expecting a JLF then it’s a big difference. But once you start to realize how good it feels and how fast it is, it becomes really hard to go back.
I feel like I need to do something else to modify my JLF’S, they’ve got standard (4-way) gates and 2lb springs inside and it works fine I think for the newer fighters but when I play CvS2 I feel like I’m driving a bus. Which actuator would y’all suggest I utilize to reduce my throw?
I should have mentioned that these are totally green fighting game n00bs. Many of them don’t own joysticks of their own (yet) and they may have simply been blaming their scrubbtastic faux pas on the gate. I switched it back almost to humor them and they said it felt more comfortable. I got used to it and ended up really liking it and I’m sure they would have too, given the time to adjust. I need to get a NT and try that out.
@Zensouken - You should try the .5mm (normal throw and gate hater) and 1 mm oversized actuators and see which you like more. They are cheap enough to try them all but anything larger than 1mm wont really work with the stock Omrons. There may be some middle ground between 1mm and 1.5mm on the new adjustable actuator but I don’t believe those details have been discussed yet.
Most people have no idea how different the other joystick brands are from Sanwa’s.
They talk with NO REAL KNOWLEDGE WHATSOEVER and declare loyalty to one and only one product that they’ve ever used! Ridiculous!
I do wish Sanwa had less of the universal presence they have now in the joystick market.
There are probably many people that would have KEPT their joysticks had they known and tested an alternate control lever. They were definitely frustrated by the JLF in most cases. There aren’t as many people who can’t get used to the OBSF buttons.
There are certainly enough people who switched to Seimitsu and Korean levers once they found out about them!
IF I hadn’t bought that HRAP 3 SE with the LS-32 lever when I did, I would never have realized what a huge difference microswitch layout design makes!
(Funny thing: the LS-32 control lever is the only Seimitsu part on that HRAP 3 SE joystick case that’s still original aside from the PCB. I HATED the PS-14-G buttons… I was originally going to replace them with Sanwa buttons until RealNeoGeo convinced me to try PS-15 buttons with SW-68 microswitches. They’re almost as comfortable as the Sanwa OBSF-30’s and Pearl buttons.)
I would NEVER go back to JLF-style gateless microswitch tabs if given the choice. Those gates make all the difference to me in reaction time, doing dash moves, playing retro games – a HUGE part of my gaming, being able to do 360 moves, being able to use square gates, comfort, etc.
They’re to joysticks as the Sanwa buttons with the SW-68 microswitches are to me –
(Most non-OBSF-30 buttons are like hitting bricks to my fingers. With very few exceptions, I haven’t played with joystick controllers that had comfortable non-Sanwa buttons…)
The comfort level they provide is WHY I still play with joysticks instead of boxing them up and forgetting them for years like I bought with previous joysticks I bought prior to the Mad Catz TE’s and HRAP 3’s.
BUT this is only one person’s experience. Everybody has different preferences. I just know that I like to game in comfort with the knowledge that I DON’T have to suffer or get carpal “for the sake of the art” or some B.S. like that!
*Ryu is Street Fighter’s masochistic character…
*
I bought a total of 5 joysticks in the years prior to the Mad Catz TE launch… that’s not a lot considering that was over a 25+year period! That stuff was just shit! lol
I only have minor pieces left of 3 of those joysticks now…
I would have kept the original Namco joysticks if I had any idea how crazy people here would go over them.
For me the first time I felt a Sanwa JLF was in Taito Station in Takadanobaba, Japan. After a lifetime of some really stiff and heavy American joysticks it was like touching heaven. I had to reduce my movements and force because the joystick moved so loosely. Conversely that’s why I added the 2lb spring to get me somewhere in the middle because a completely stock JLF is still a little too damn loose for me. I like my joystick to snapback into neutral with quickness and force. @iNENDOi I’m gonna give those actuators a shot and see what results I get.
On another note I’ve actually never felt a Seimitsu joystick. The button I’ve played on and not felt that much of difference with Sanwas but either feel better to me than concave American buttons. Feel like playing whack-a-mole.
The only thing I really like about the JLF is the compact size, which really doesn’t make too much of a difference unless height is at a premium. I’m surprised how I’ve managed to use it since I started playing on a stick for fighting games (the only time I had used a stick before hand was a relatives PS1 Ascii stick I used to play Raiden Project and R-Type). I wanted something that would have a MUCH shorter throw and W00p recommended the LS-56. After using that I pretty much experienced what GeorgeC wrote with realizing a difference in joysticks I’ve tried the LS-56,58,and 40 and I greatly enjoy the 40 for fighting games, but I do like the short engage of the 56 with some of PAS mods, but the mods really make the joystick more or less usable for certain genres of games. In all honesty I’m glad I used the JLF first and took the time to get used to it since most of the cabinets I play on at my local arcade use JLFs, most of which feel even worse than before do to all the rage other players probably put through it. Yet after playing with other sticks I still find it relatively easy to get back to using other sticks even though they don’t fit my preference since I’m used to traveling a shorter distance and I found myself riding the gate less often and had general improved execution.
I really do have a liking to slightly tighter sticks though, probably due to me playing on super tight happ parts when I played strikers when I was younger. I only hated how tight it was in comparison to any japanese stick, which sort of seems contradictory to my previous statement, but I wanted something in between. PAS’s mods eventually brought that out but I guess I never really was satisfied as much as I was when I used the 56 for the first time after using a JLF for the majority m=of my games.
With the JLF actuator mods I feel that once you go past 1 mm the long throw just ruins the stick. You engage an early distance but that extra distance to the gate just feels bad… I don’t know how to say it but it just doesn’t feel right. It almost feels like the delay from hitting the gate after the microswitches is just empty space that is asking to be filled by the gate. Most of the people I play with can’t tell the difference with and without the actuator mods though. They do notice the difference is throw and prefer the 56 octo gate.
@Zensouken There are currently no mods at the moment to easily shorten throw on a JLF. The gate hater actuator PAS sells actually increases the throw, it’s for people who do not want to hit the gate (hence, gate hater) so it is not what you’re looking for. The other option is increased bell size, but that shortens the engagement, not the throw.
JLF is all around a bad stick to shorten throw on. I would seriously recommend looking into a LS-40 or LS-56. LS-56 at the moment has custom gates to shorten throw to your liking, the LS-40 I have yet to wrap up, but it is being worked on. I personally like the LS-40 better, but if you want to mod it, you’ll have to wait. It needs a long shaft mod (depending on the case you own) and a gate mod if you really want to make use of it. LS-56 is basically a drop in replacement mod and just pick the gate you want, or all of them, to customize your stick to your liking.
Great work on the gates