Project: Dedicated Smash Bros Arcade Stick - Update - Seimitsu LS-64 in action!

Tech Talk
61

Yeah I saw it before, it’s really interesting and I like that he included the wiring process. I just think his final button layout isn’t as ergonomic as mine, including the mounted c-stick.

After CEO, I’m going to post pics and vids of the stick in action; as well as give all the details about the stick and future plans regarding the stick. CEO allowed the new DLC characters to be played in Smash 4 last minute, so I updated my regristration and will be competiting as Ryu in Smash 4 as well. I’m really excited to see the look on peoples’ faces!

62

I remember someone asking if using a wii nunchuck would be better or putting the gamecube analog stick with the box instead. Would that be possible?
Definitely ask if you could be on stream for some matches! I’m looking forward to seeing the stick and see it in action! Could we get a preview of what it looks like?! :smile:

EDIT: I mean like would it have been possible to use the analog stick from the gamecube controller itself instead of having to get the LS-64? I was just curious.

63

I think that they are the same parts inside

64

If I used the analog stick from the gamecube controller that would defeat the entire purpose of the arcade stick IMO. I want to use a joystick like a normal arcade stick.

Well the reason why I decided to wait until after CEO to post details/pics was because I’m going to be picking up everything at CEO because there was time constraints to have everything ready in time if it were to be shipped back to me before-hand. I wanted to show you guys something tangible instead of a wall of text, but I might as well spill the beans about everything now.

I actually will have 2 arcade sticks instead of 1. As of now, there are 2 padhack’d gamecube PCB’s:

[list]
[] 1st padhack using the LS-64 (analog joystick)
[] 2nd padhack has a “shift” button so I can walk/run depending if the button is held, this will allow me to drop it into an existing arcade stick and use a normal JLF.
[/list]

[list=1]
[] (First stick) Due to the LS-64 being so big, I plan to order a custom case to be made. I wanted to have a physical stick to still play with first so I plan to use a sturdy tupperware case to house everything (buttons and joystick) until a case is built.
[] (Second stick) I have been playing on this setup already with an existing stick I had (qanba q1) on Dolphin netplay (PC), so I requested for this setup to be padhacked as well. I plan to drop this PCB into my qanba q1 and will have a pretty much complete setup with this since it’ll be using a simplified setup (no duplicate buttons). I still have extra buttons wired on this padhack so both sticks can match button layouts in the future when I get a new plexi or case for this padhack in the future.
[/list]

The second stick came into fruition when I got the idea about a month ago. Since I was already using this setup on PC, I wanted something I could also use on a gamecube. Plus, I also had a goal of having something that other people could copy if they wanted to play Smash on a stick; so having a non-analog smash stick works great as well.

So yeah, that’s the current news; I’m very excited to finally get my hands on the stick and start using it. I wonder how much of a transition I will have to make to get used to the 1st stick so I have the option to play on the 2nd one if I can’t get used to it in time. It’s ironic that I’m much better of a player on an arcade stick (already) compared to a controller just because I’ve been playing on the computer all this time. However, the sticks aren’t close to being finished. The wiring process will be complete, but I plan to fully trick out the first stick with a custom case (I was possibly thinking B15) and possible do the same with the second. So this thread will still be updated in the future as the progress continues!

And yeah, I plan to ask if I can get stream time. I will be competing in both Melee and Smash 4, so I don’t see why I couldn’t. Plus, I’ll be playing Ryu so I’m sure that will be pretty hype to watch. I don’t have a Wii U but I’ve been practicing Ryu at a local video game bar we have in my home-town whenever possible. I can’t wait to try his cr.LK, cr.LK xx DP combo on stick, it’s gonna feel so great!

65

Wow sounds awesome! I can’t wait to see them in action this weekend! I’m curious on your future plans for the sticks. I think it would be awesome to have a smash stick. Yeah Ryu seems pretty nice even though the physics and gravity is not my personal liking. Anyways looking forward to your update soon!

66

Hey! I didn’t get to catch CEO were you on stream?? How was the stick?

67

I got home from CEO not too long ago and I’m dead tired, I’m going to post a lot of info/pics on the stick as well as the other one that was wired tomorrow after work. However, I uploaded a video of the stick in action to satisfy anyone’s curiosity until then.

https://youtu.be/tVXBBsniNOE

68

Wow nice! So is this the 2nd stick or first stick? Thanks for the update! Can’t wait to see all the pictures and info about it.

69

I was googling around see if anyone somehow made a fightstick for smash and stumbled upon this. All i gotta say that actually looks sick. cant wait for more update. looks good. keep up the good work.

70

This is the second stick, the one without the analog joystick. I have a shift button that allows me to switch between run/walk depending if the button is held. This stick has a jlf joystick.

The first stick, the one with the analog joystick (LS-64) is wired and ready to go; it just currently lacks a case to house everything in. The joystick is way too big for any traditional case so I plan to commission someone to build a case that will fit this giant joystick.

Anyway, I went out to play smash 4 Ryu yesterday after work so I didn’t get to update the thread. I’ll be posting everything with the current news as of tonight… I promise! Expect lots of pictures but no videos because I actually don’t even own a gamecube, wii, or wii u if you can believe it. I go to a local video game bar every Wednesday to play fighting games so I can get videos of the stick in action there if you guys would like.

71

Oh gotcha. Wow really? That would be nice still to get some videos with the stick! Wow I wonder how you practice tech skill in melee and pm then? Do you own a pc good enough to run dolphin? Anyways looking forward to the pictures!

72

UPDATE!
First I would like to give credit to Gummo for doing the wiring job, if it wasn’t for him; I’m sure none of this would have been possible. The wiring job seemed really difficult and I got lost as he was explaining things to me in person at CEO about the process it took.

All pictures are contained within spoilers.

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Non-Analog Arcade Stick
This was the one I competed with at CEO. The gamecube padhack is housed in a qanba q1 I had already owned and I upgraded the parts to sanwa at CEO. The analog version currently lacks a case because the LS-64 is too big to mount in any existing case I have, I have to get a case custom made for it.

Top view - shows button layout. Ignore the button names on the default qanba artwork.
4 orange buttons = A, L, Y, B (from bottom to right)
4 yellow buttons = c-stick buttons (up, down, left, and right)
green button = “shift” button. (See video below)

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/bzB9ddi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3gGxSqI.jpg

https://youtu.be/WnK5RJbAg10
Demonstration was done via Dolphin emulator because I don’t own any nintendo consoles, however the shift button on the arcade stick works the same way on console as it does in Dolphin emulator. Whenever the shift button (green button) is NOT pressed, the joystick is 100% engaged (acting as the left analog stick). Whenever the shift button IS pressed, the joystick is x% engaged. I can I open the stick and adjust the percentage (in every direction) if I’d like but I currently have it set to 40%. I plan to raise it but need to do more testing to find what will be appropriate. The shift button is what allows me to walk/run, and do tilt attacks so it was an integral part of this build since this stick lacks an analog joystick.

If you look to the left of the stick (in the video), you can see a gamecube-PC adapter, this is needed so I can use the stick on the computer since the stick now lacks a usb cable and now natively uses a gamecube cable (since there’s a gamecube PCB inside it).

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/wBPz0m7.jpg

Due to the gamecube PCB inside, Gummo had to dremel off a piece of the interior structure of the case so the case could close. The piece that was removed served no vital part of the structure of the case, it was just a piece that allowed the qanba q1 to be mounted with table clamps. We covered the hole with black electric tape.

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/T5SIg9S.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/z8A5vA5.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TnFHPlyIEI4/maxresdefault.jpg

Now for the part that every one wants to see… the guts!

http://i.imgur.com/tKTY6un.jpg

I highlighted 3 unique areas of the insides (see spoiler below).
Red = screw terminals which is where the buttons and everything are connected to. This allows solderless removal/addition of buttons since currently not every button is mapped to the stick because I currently lack enough buttons on the stick.
Green = Trigger potentiometer. This is a slider that is normally attached to the gamecube controller’s trigger, sliding this allows me to set whatever % I’d like for the light shield button. Currently the stick lacks a light shield button and only has a hard shield button. This will change once I get a new case/plexi with enough button holes.
Blue = 4 potentiometers that allow me to adjust how much % the “shift” button will change the joystick to. Each pot controls one direction of the joystick. You just take a small flathead screw driver and turn them, it’s pretty simple. However, they will turn forever so I hooked up the arcade stick to a computer to know how much % I’m getting when I’m turning them.

I also included close-up’s of the pcb.

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/1Qxuoa3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hUY3RnT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qsi8Ifz.jpg

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Analog Arcade Stick
This is the stick that will use the LS-64. Because this one lacks a case, I can only show you the wired PCB, buttons, and joystick (LS-64).

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/P1NLQFl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IryW0pG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tsYeHvf.jpg

I’m very excited to get this one ready to play. I’m going to have a hard time mounting the joystick and I’m going to PM Per from Akishop to see if he has any documents about the LS-64 that would have more the dimensions on the stick, or possibly mounting instructions. If anything, I could just tupperware it or use a wooden box.

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I plan to make a video showcasing how I use the stick to play the game as well as perform various tech skill. I designed the button layout to accomodate all the game’s advanced techniques in a ergonomic hand position. I’m planning to change position of the green button and the down c-stick button (bottom button that was added) to make the layout a little bit more simple. The button layout wasn’t originally designed with the shift button in mind, so I think switching the location of the shift button will allow a more ergonomic feel. Plus, it would allow you access to all the buttons still if you just hit shift with your thumb so you can continue playing with your other fingers.

Thats all for now, expect some videos of the stick in action within the week. I’m open to all questions and requests regarding video making.

Reposting video of the stick in action at CEO:

73

did you use a pcb circuit board to connect the terminals (speaking of the analog one)? looking at your analog one. where the terminals are to the right where all the wires are connected to what are those? interested to see this progress of the analog one.

74

I like how you’re approaching both of the sticks. The digital one by using a third party controller PCB and the analog by using a first party nintendo PCB. Is the third party PCB a Gamestop gamecube controller?

75

Yeah its the gamestop gc pad. That didn’t make a difference I could of used first or third party for both setups.

76

Awesome pictures and videos of the sticks! Any updates on the sticks or videos to show?

77

Gummo, I’d also like to padhack some gamecube arcade sticks but i know very little about wiring, I was wondering if there was a guide out there for beginners like me. Also are any of you guys going to EVO?

78

Soon, I’ve really been meaning to get footage of me using it to show you guys but I just end up playing instead of video recording. I was planning to order 2 tripods so I could mount 2 cameras (one for my hands, one for the screen) to show everything but I think I’ll just have someone record over my shoulder or something.

The first video I want to make is me showing off how my button layout works in game, show I actually press inputs, and showcase how easy execution becomes on the stick compared to gc controller (granted you still have to know how to use an arcade stick otherwise the stick is harder to use).

Techniques and characters I was thinking of demonstrating were:
Wavedash - melee
Wavedash OoS - melee
Wavedash off stage, fast fall, catch ledge - melee
SHFFL - melee
Jump canceled grab - melee
Up tilt using shift button - melee
Pivot smash - melee

DACUS - brawl shiek
Waveshine - melee fox
Double jump cancel (djc) setups - project m lucas
Advanced + extended desync setups - melee ice climbers
SH double fair - melee marth
SHFF laser - falco
Street fighter inputs - smash 4 ryu

And possibly: moonwalking with captain Falcon and float cancel combos with peach if I can learn them in time.

Currently the only thing that isn’t possible to perform on the finished smash stick is shield drop. It technically is but I have to set my “shift down” value to 41-43% which means I would just drop from a platform if I ever tried to down tilt since that is enough % to cross the threshold to consider the character dropping through a platform. I set it below 41% so I can down tilt without the risk of dropping through platforms.
Shield dropping works by the way smash players normally do it, read my next post down for more info.

I’ll try to get a video of me showing everything this week, however until that time, is there any requests you guys have that you’d like for me to showcase in the upcoming video? Maybe specific character combo, technique, or something along those lines.

79

Hmm I think you forgot multiple shining, and maybe do some more brawl specific tech in PM like RAR. If I can think some more specific tech, then I’ll let you know. Are you able to do some netplay? Or have a human opponent?

80

Yeah multi-shining is something planned as well, I forgot to write it down.
That’s a good idea as well, I’m primarily a PM player so I can definately showcase brawl mechanics; however imo RAR is a really really simply concept but I’ll still cover it. And yes I have the ability to netplay, that’s where I get most of my practice in actually and I’d love to play against you sometime if you’d like! I also have human opponents I can play with however I just have to plan everything to get some friends together for a session, it was easier to do some random meet-ups in any game when I lived in Olando. Typically when I go to Orlando I stay there for the weekend but with plans or work getting in the way, I won’t be able to stay up there for another weekend in about 3 weeks :frowning: However, I’ve been wanting to take Melee more seriously so I plan to play against the Orlando players whenever I go up there next.

EDIT: I’m planning on recording the video Thursday night since I’m free then. Also I’m open to anything you’d like to list for me to showcase/perform for the video, I’m open to any smash game. Keep in mind, I don’t own a wii u so I’ll have to go to my friend’s place to record anything regarding smash 4. Currently, I barely play that game so I’m probably just gonna perform some Ryu combos.

EDIT 2: Want to clarify, shield dropping IS possible without needing to set the shift down button to 41%!! I can shield drop how most people do, by tilting the joystick all the way to the edge of the gate and then sliding the joystick to the bottom diagonal. Of course, I use the shift button to do this but it makes me very happy that I can do this. As of today, I don’t think there is any technique that you can do on a controller than you can’t do on this!