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.
 
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!)
 
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.
 
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:
 
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...
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Most digital joysticks (home and arcade) used 4 switches - 'blister' in the case of Atari sticks, leaf (Quickshot), or microswitches (Kempston). There were even joysticks which used mercury tilt switches.

What makes the difference is the restrictor, which governs how far the joystick can be moved an a given direction. There are various restrictor types. Some arcade games use 4 way which is diamond or cross shaped which prevents the stick going diagonally. This is ideal for maze games like Pac Man or platformers where diagonals aren't used. (In fact Pac Man arcade is almost unplayable without a 4-way restrictor).

Most games use an 8-way restrictor but there are various types, from circular (used in arcade games like Gyruss and Time Pilot where the controller needs to be able to move smoothly from one direction to the next), Octagonal (Good for fighting games where you need to hit diagonals), and square, where it's easier to hit diagonals than non diagonals.

My arcade cab has a rotating restrictor, where you can rotate a square restrictor to make it 4-way or 8-way depending on the game, and my Kraft joystick also has switchable 4/8 way. This noticably makes the sticks 'corner happy', but you get used to it.

That's why home joysticks varied so much on if you could hit diagonals or not - the restrictor designs were different, and combined with the design of the switches that made a lot of difference in feel and if the sticks were 'corner happy' or not.
 
Josey Wales said:
As far as i remember the Quickshot II Turbo was the first ever micro switched stick.

Top ten sticks, as i said Zipstick was the best, not as rigid as the Competition Pro.

https://retromash.com/2015/04/10/top-ten-joysticks/
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Hmmm... No 'The Arcade' by Suzo. My favourite stick.


In the meantime I managed to find a Competition Pro on Ebay for £25 on a buy it now, so I bought that as I haven't yet managed to locate my old microswitched sticks. Hope that arrives soon! The Kraft joystick I'm using feels very clunky.
 
BTW, the Competition Pro turned up, and works a treat.

Not in perfect condition but it does the job. The buttons are actually leaf switches, which makes them feel a little 'dead' with little travel compared to microswitch ones.

However playing games on the Spectrum is far better using this stick.
 
I've got the modern USB clear Competition Pro, and it's way better than the C64 Maxi stick in feel and responsiveness.

However that list of joysticks is missing TheArcade by Suzo, which is sort of like a single button Comp Pro. I had two of those. Expensive, but very reliable and responsive, and basically identical to the short travel arcade sticks found on Jamma cabs back then.
 
Timber said:
Yea, I don't think it's a definitive list in anyway but feels more like a 'who's who's' of the most popular models with a UK-bias.

I only have the most recent black Competition Pro USB and it just doesn't quite feel the same, some of it is certainly the plastic and texture, although it's a lovely recreation.
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I prefer the original 9 pin Comp Pro I got off ebay. The leaf switch fire buttons are much more pleasant to push than the microswitched ones of the USB sticks.
 
Guest2 said:
It amazes me that a joystick made in 1987 that sold for around £12 still beats out some of todays latest and most expensive sticks.
I still use mine from time to time with WinUAE using the USB adapter. Works great.

Is this to do with the demise of UK manufacturing and everything being made on mass for as cheap as possible in China? Many things today seem to be of worse quality than they were in the early 90s.
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I worked in computer shops back in the 80's and the quality of sticks did vary. At the bottom of the pile for reliability were the Atari and Quickshot sticks. The Atari's were so prone to breakage that Atari sold a repair kit! The Quickshots were popular with kids because they were cheap, had suckers to stick on a desk or table, and had autofire. However they had really terrible cheap leaf springs and contacts which fractured after a relatively short time. Playing Decathlon with its vigorous joystick waggling also hastened the demise of many Quickshots, they just couldn't take the punishment.

Top of the list for quality were microswitched sticks like the konix, Arcade by Suzo and Competition pro. Those never broke.
 
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