That Wikipedia entry does clearly show one problem i always had with those joysticks: diagonals.
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...
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.
