Old 9 pin joysticks for 8-bit computers are surprisingly expensive

Ravenger

Ravenger

Ravenger

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I've been trying to locate my old Competition Pro and Suzo Arcade atari-style 9-pin joysticks to use with my 'new' ZX Spectrum, but haven't had much luck so far (lots of junk to sort through).

I did manage to find an old Kraft joystick which works fine, but I really hate the feel of it.

Anyway, I decided to check on Ebay to see how much an old microswitch joystick would be. Can't be that much can it? Last time I looked you couldn't give them away.

Most decent microswitched sticks are selling at £40-50! A Kraft joystick like the one I have is on sale for £49. These are bonkers prices.

Nothing to buy (that's decent) on Amazon either, and I can't seem to find any retro stores selling them.
 
Yep another retro item taking a big price hike lately! Look at Sony Trinitrons over the last couple of years also.

Don't know if anyone is still making the 9 pin Joysticks now...if not I guess the price is only going one way now.
 
As those old joysticks never lasted long AFAIR, so any ones left now are probably worn out?
CRT getting scares too? In the end, weren't Sony's Trinitron tubes behind NEC/Mitsubishi's DiamondTron or even LG's Flatron?
 
KompuKare said:
As those old joysticks never lasted long AFAIR, so any ones left now are probably worn out?
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Not the microswitched quality ones like Kempston and Suzo sticks. They're extremely robust.

I worked in computer shops back in 80's and we had lots of Quickshot joysticks break (normally due to playing Daly Thompson's Decathlon). The schoolkids loved them as they had turbo fire and a trigger fire button, but they had really poor quality leaf springs that just broke after a while. They seem to be more common on Ebay but I won't touch them because they're rubbish (even if they're authentically what many Spectrum owners at the time used).

As for the original Atari sticks, Atari even sold a repair kit for them as the internal plastic parts were prone to breaking. This was about half the cost of buying a new one.

I can't recall a decent microswitched stick going faulty, and even if they did the microswitches were easy to replace. (Mine were certainly working when I got them out about 10 years ago, if only I could find them now!)
 
I remember back when I had a C64. The standard joysticks were leafspring, and they were crap. I desperately wanted a microswitched joystick, but they were horribly expensive back then too!

Edit: Ha! Just read your last post after writing mine and realised you've said everything I said already, but with more detail. :)

Indeed, you remind me that the best I managed to get my parents to spring for was a Quickshot 2.
 
Yeah the Quickshot 2's were cheap, so budget conscious families and schoolkids would buy them. They often ended up returning them though. At least with a years warranty they could get them replaced. And they did it fairly often!

Working in a computer shop at least I had a staff discount - I could buy at trade prices, so even on a meager salary I could get the decent joysticks.
 
I'm still going on my original competition pro. Agree with the comments on Quickshot ones - they looked the business at the time but didn't last 10 minutes!
 
Yeah.....the 'new' Competition Pro Retro sticks are quite difficult to get hold of whereas the USB models are readily available. Some of the continental Amiga stores like below and such get them on and off, but they've been very scarce over the last couple years so it wouldn't surprise me if these new models command a decent price on eBay let alone the originals. Could even be out of production TBH. Possibly there are custom jobs out there.
They're not bad, probably a decent match for the originals, though the buttons seem a little off, though its hard to judge a well worn in stick from the 80s versus a modern effort. Wouldn't match the likes of the original Zipstick IMO, but decent enough.

https://amigastore.eu/en/307-competition-pro-joystick-retro.html
 
Ha, I just googled a Quickshot 2 Turbo.

How much we loved that as kids until it went all saggy after a couple of months of intense use. I also remember them seeming to be almost disposable they were that poorly made.
 
As Zombiefan mentioned, the Poweplay Cruiser is an amazing and highly durable joystick, good reason that a 35 year old joystick has its own Wiki page. In 1986 they were just fantastic controllers and are still goid today.

Also checking in here as a kid that broke a joystick playing Daley Thompson's Decathalon, some joysticks that came bundled with a Speccy were weak enough for an 8 year old to break.
 
My favourite was the Arcade Joystick by Suzo (Who are actually an Arcade controls manufacturer).

Like a comp pro but with one button. Built like a tank, and currently going for £70 on ebay. :eek:
 
ZombieFan said:
I've still got my original PowerPlay Cruiser joysticks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerplay_Cruiser

I've owned them for about 30 years and only had to replace one microswitch. Someone will have to pry them from my cold, dead hands.
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That Wikipedia entry does clearly show one problem i always had with those joysticks: diagonals.
4sXgcMn

Eight directions from four switches never really worked for me and made me wonder what joystick those platform game designers used.
After 30 years I would expect the plastic on the stick to wear out too. Making diagonals even harder...
 
Nice selection. I think some of those are the Quickshot python, I was quite happy with that stick back in the day. I also had the Quickshot maverick arcade stick which was good and I can remember trying to repair the leaf spring on one of those quickshot kemptson sticks, I think I tried to use matchsticks and sellotape, it actually worked for a while at least :)
 
KompuKare said:
That Wikipedia entry does clearly show one problem i always had with those joysticks: diagonals.
4sXgcMn

Eight directions from four switches never really worked for me and made me wonder what joystick those platform game designers used.
After 30 years I would expect the plastic on the stick to wear out too. Making diagonals even harder...
Click to expand...

I don't remember having problems with diagonals with mine, and I used to play a lot of SWOS on the Amiga. However, I've got a pair of them and one definitely feels better than the other so the manufacturing must have been inconsistent.
 
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