Joysticks clearout

jamorski · March 2013

If any of you are like me and have been enjoying Speccy life for 30 years, there seems to be one item of hardware in particular that accumulates rather alarmingly. JOYSTICKS! I have about 30 now, and invariably I only ever use the same one when gaming etc. So, I thought I would offer them around. If anyone interested wants one or more, there free to a good home, as long as the postage is accounted for. Most probably work fine, though not tested. If there is interest I'll post a list.

snigfarp · March 2013

jamorski wrote: »

If any of you are like me and have been enjoying Speccy life for 30 years, there seems to be one item of hardware in particular that accumulates rather alarmingly. JOYSTICKS! I have about 30 now, and invariably I only ever use the same one when gaming etc. So, I thought I would offer them around. If anyone interested wants one or more, there free to a good home, as long as the postage is accounted for. Most probably work fine, though not tested. If there is interest I'll post a list.

That's kind of you, and I'd be *very* interested please! I've had trouble finding a joystick that has good (or cleanable) contacts. I even tried buying some new old stock joypads, only to find that their fire buttons have some kind of rapid-fire thing built in - useless for using the menus on Barbarians and Intergalactic Space rescue. If you had a joystick that works or at least has contacts that can be cleaned, and has an ordinary fire button, then I'd be very interested! It would be nice to play-test my future projects with a proper joystick :-)

jamorski · March 2013

I've not had time to update my old list yet, but in the meantime, what sort of joystick would you prefer? Competition pro style, SJS1, Quickshot I or II, Cheetah etc?

joefish · March 2013

snigfarp - did you buy some of those Quickshot 7 pads that were going cheap on eBay? I got some too, and they behave weirdly. In some ports the fire is on all the time, in others it works sporadically. I did open one up and start to re-wire it to avoid the autofire circuit, but I got sidetracked.

I do have quite a few joysticks, but I'm always interested in the more obscure ones. I'd like to see a list. I recently got a Moonraker 1, which is one I remember you could separate from its base. It used a TV aerial plug to reconnect so you could use a TV lead and the handle as a remote trigger. I always meant to make a bar extension for it like a helicopter joystick.

One I would love to get hold of is the twist-grip Cheetah joystick.

Quickshot 1 joysticks can always be refurbished by cleaning, using a new clear sticky sheet to hold the bubble-caps in place and slightly bending down the tips of the control leaves to improve responsiveness.

jamorski · March 2013

Ok, well heres a list with the bulk of them on. A few more in various boxes need cataloguing, but theyre mostly Quickshot I or IIs I think. As mentioned previously, not sure of their individual condition as far as working goes as I've not tested most of them. There are a few interfaces too if anyone wants to get into that side of things.

SVI quickshot
Cheetah 125+
Cruiser
Mini Competition Pro type
Competition Pro
Quickshot VII
Quickshot I
Spectravideo
Sinclair SJS-1
Cheetah Mach 1
unknown - Should take a picky really, someone may identify it.
Cheetah 125+
Quickshot II Turbo
Quickjoy Junior sv119
Quickshot QS 128F - Massive thing, postage could be steep!
Competition Pro 5000 boxed, mint!

snigfarp · March 2013

Thanks jamorski!

jamorski wrote: »

I've not had time to update my old list yet, but in the meantime, what sort of joystick would you prefer? Competition pro style, SJS1, Quickshot I or II, Cheetah etc?

I have absolutely no preference. This wouldn't be for action games, just for testing my own turn-based creations, so as long as it works (or can be made to work) and doesn't do anything funny with the fire button it'll be useful to me. From what joefish said, the Quickshot I might be a good bet as I can have a go at cleaning it if the contacts are iffy. The boxed mint Competition Pro is tempting but I feel I should leave that one for a collector!

joefish wrote:

snigfarp - did you buy some of those Quickshot 7 pads that were going cheap on eBay? I got some too, and they behave weirdly. In some ports the fire is on all the time, in others it works sporadically. I did open one up and start to re-wire it to avoid the autofire circuit, but I got sidetracked.

Most probably. They were being sold in pairs for some reason. One of them works fine and the other seems to have bad contacts in one direction, and both do the autofire thing when I hold fire down. The working one may be useful for some games but not my own!

As it happens, I do have a QuickShot II which seemed fine when playing Barbarians, but when playing Buzzsaw it was randomly rotating shapes on its own. The QuickShot went off to my brother for attempted repair along with another joystick with bad contacts, and both are still there, hence the hunt for another joystick!

joefish · March 2013

I'll take the QS 128F.
It would be good to have a large tough one for shows.

snigfarp - you're better off getting a microswitched one. Either the Pro/Cruiser style ones, or if you want the grip and trigger fire, the Quickshot II Turbo.

But if you don't want it, I'll take the Quickshot II Turbo too.

What pairs of grip-style joysticks have you got? I want to do a twin-stick controlled game, so pairs of Quickshot 1s or 2s or 2-Turbos would be appreciated.

jamorski · March 2013

Seems I may have to do a photo session, though I think the Cheetah 125+ are grip-ish. Theres a pair of them. Aren't Spectravideo and Quickshot I similar? If so, they could pair up?

snigfarp · March 2013

joefish wrote: »

snigfarp - you're better off getting a microswitched one. Either the Pro/Cruiser style ones, or if you want the grip and trigger fire, the Quickshot II Turbo.

Sounds like a Pro/Cruiser style one would be my best choice, then!

jamorski · March 2013

In my opinion the Cruiser is better microswitched, more responsive. I used it extensively with artstudio in the early 90s. If you've seen my jigsaw and chess sprites in other posts on here, they were done using that joystick.

bugpat · March 2013

I will be happy to take 2 :
The Competition Pro 5000,
and a Quickshot II Turbo if you have another one, or the competition pro. :D
I'm in France, so if you accept to send abroad, I can pay the shipping costs with paypal...

jamorski · March 2013

To be fair, I think the postage costs are going to higher than you could buy one in France for?

Mousey · March 2013

PM sent, as I'd like the Mini Competition Pro one. :)

(I would have liked the Cruiser too, as they are brilliant joysticks, but it's already accounted for!)

bugpat · March 2013

jamorski wrote: »

To be fair, I think the postage costs are going to higher than you could buy one in France for?

I guess postage must be 4 or 5? for the 2 joysticks. If so that's ok for me, as I can't find anything near the place I live... :smile:
By the way, if you're OK, I Prefer the comp pro 5000 and the other comp pro...

jamorski · March 2013

Anyone whos requested one of my joysticks (fnar!) will get a PM soon, just need to assess weigh and waggle them individually to calculate postage. After these few are gone, I'll update the list with whats left for 'round 2' as it were.

mel the bell · March 2013

im interested in any of the weirder ones thats left, i got to the party late :(
i prefer comp pro joysticks mi sen but prolly missed all them lol

tbh im not sure what joysticks are in a garage which were from mi dads stuff, might be my old comp pro from back int he day, that he wired up a rapid fire switch before they became commonplace

infact i cant really remember what joysticks i have in the loft already lol, should have a look really

jamorski · March 2013

I know many of you who requested Joysticks may e wondering as to whats happening. I'm trying to gather together several suitably sized boxes to be able to pack and weigh them for posting. It is surprisingly hard to find boxes of a joystick-ish size. Not long now I hope

bugpat · March 2013

I think we're not in hurry and can wait a (little) bit more !:D

Joysticks clearout

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