Favourite Joysticks

edited May 2007 in Hardware
What was your favourite joystick?

I started off with the Quickfire II that came with my Speccy 48k+, but soon found it was not much cop. The contacts started failing, and it would be hard to get the accurate direction on some games, i.e. you would press it diagonal and you would go left!

My dad bought this excellent little joystick, but I have no idea what it was called.

It was a pretty simple little thing, you held it in one hand and it had a little thumbstick that you used the other hand on. It used micro-switches instead of contacts, so less chance of failure.

The best thing was it had two independant fire buttons, so if you had a programable interface you could set them up for different things.

It was great for playing Elite, lasers on fire1 and missles on fire2.

Wish I knew what it was called.

When it finally died after about 8 years of abuse, I went to get a replacement but could not find one as good. I asked the dippy shop assistant for a joystick with micro-switches and two seperate fire buttons. I do't think he knew what I meant because he gave me a Cheetah joystick that had 4 fire buttons, but of course all did the same function.
Post edited by MoonMonkey on

Comments

  • edited May 2007
    Hmm, not quite a "thumbstick", but could it have been the Competition Pro?
    Personally I only ever had one joystick (the SJ11 or something... the grey one with a thumb button that came with my +3), until I recently bought a Quickshot on ebay for about 5 quid.
  • edited May 2007
    was it the Cambridge intelligent joystick?
    I had one of those, i liked the thumb stick so much that when the case got damaged i built my own joystick using the stick assembly, and bits from a maxpack vending machine and an old Ford radio :diy joystick
  • edited May 2007
    Always liked the Konix Speedking (http://archive.gamespy.com/hardware/june02/sticks1/2.jpg) myself, been after one for a while now but they seem to be fairly r@r3!

    I do remember fixing an old knackered QSII with the, suitably mangled, lid from a tin of beans - worked too!
  • edited May 2007
    The one and only Zipstick. Almost completely unbreakable and perfect for playing games like Hypersports, Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc. I've had oen for years and it's still in great condition. :)

    Necros.
  • edited May 2007
    I actually fixed my SJS1 (or whatever it's called) using a couple strips of selotape many times. They reinforced the annoying little metal switches.
    Actually, I've done the same thing on a cheap mp3 player too.
    Aah, retro fixes.
  • edited May 2007
    madvanman wrote: »
    was it the Cambridge intelligent joystick?
    I had one of those, i liked the thumb stick so much that when the case got damaged i built my own joystick using the stick assembly, and bits from a maxpack vending machine and an old Ford radio :diy joystick


    Thats the one! Thanks!

    It way a great little joystick. Mine had square red fire buttons, guess it must have been a later/earlier one.
  • edited May 2007
    I always loved the Quickshot 2. But my all time favourite was the Atari stick joysticks that you got with the VCS. A perfect gaming design!
  • edited May 2007
    my fave was a stick called the navigator cant remember who made it tho.
    looked like a laser gun.
  • edited May 2007
    Necros wrote: »
    The one and only Zipstick.
    Necros.

    I amen to that.
  • edited May 2007
    Tomahawk,a metalic Greek joystick with "kick-warranty"!!!
    Tomahawk1.jpg
  • edited May 2007
    Konix Megablaster. Small, light but accurate as hell - brilliant for many hours of moonlight Elite :)
    Oh bugger!<br>
  • edited May 2007
    My faves were

    Powerplay Cruiser
    Competition Pro
    Quickshot 2
    Cheetah 125+

    I also had one of those Cheetah rat things as well
  • edited May 2007
    icabod wrote: »
    I actually fixed my SJS1 (or whatever it's called) using a couple strips of selotape many times. They reinforced the annoying little metal switches.
    Actually, I've done the same thing on a cheap mp3 player too.
    Aah, retro fixes.

    hehe, I did that with my Cheetah 125+ Joystick back then :) Retro fixes indeed, when your young you can fix anything with cellotape, string, bluetack and the back of a Cornfalkes packet, haha
  • edited May 2007
    My Favs were

    Zip Stick,

    but best of all:


    My RAM joystick. It had an odd shaped base and stick but was excellent. I cannot find an example on the web.


    I still have two zip sticks. If I could plug em into my PC and use em I would.

    Andrew.
    Calling all ASCII Art Architects Visit the WOS Wall of Text and contribute: https://www.yourworldoftext.com/wos
  • edited May 2007
    You can get a 9 pin atari -> USB adaptor for use on pc's have a look here

    http://www.retrousb.com/

    and I liked the competition pro 5000 - excellent sturdy piece of kit.
  • edited May 2007
    Hey maybe Rwap could do something similar for his new Competition pro joystick idea.
  • edited May 2007
    Quickshot II (Microswitch version)
    Speed King
    Zip Stick
    The Bug

    In that order.

    Ive got some really awfull and uncomfortable sticks in my collection.
    Also remember really wanting that massive stick with the stopwatch in the middle. Was somewhat dissapointed when I finally got one. Really sluggish.


    :(
  • edited May 2007
    Has anyone ever seen the Golden Joystick from the Games Master TV series.

    What model was it??


    Andrew.
    Calling all ASCII Art Architects Visit the WOS Wall of Text and contribute: https://www.yourworldoftext.com/wos
  • edited May 2007
    Scottie_uk wrote: »
    Has anyone ever seen the Golden Joystick from the Games Master TV series.

    What model was it??


    Andrew.

    It was a Sinclair SJS1 :lol:
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