Hi all,
I've been wondering where to get good, decent quality new joysticks for MSXes. Joysticks are consumables and will wear away eventually. I guess this thread could be a good place to gather together the alternatives you have found!
Some alternatives I've found already:
- Retrozones is selling some new Mitsubishi ML-50JY *
- These gamepads for SEGA **
- These competition PRO joysticks
*) The ML-50JY are nice for some games. But having a potentiometer-based switches, they lack any kind of tactile feedback for when the switch is actually shorted.
**) These are easy to wire up to use on an MSX (but should not be used as-is!). They are very flimsy and small, however (I already broke the D-PAD of one after very light usage!). But they are cheap!
Requirements of a decent joystick (IMO):
- Both buttons working, or re-wireable (without replacing the DB9 -connector!)
- Decent price (this can be debateable; but < 20€, or at most <40€/joystick - depending on quality!)
- I prefer tactile feedback (but this can be a matter of taste)
- Good quality overall
With off-the-shelf DB9 -connectors, there is the problem of the flaps at the sides which will interfere with most (MSX) computer cases (of the era). There are extension leads that can alleviate the problem, however - but often they will make the setup unnecessarily clunky.
Ive seen somewhere new Competition Pro joysticks for a decent price, but none I've found are functional as such on MSX (with both buttons!); also they (forgot where) didin't state which leads in the cord are actually present; if they are not all there (but only the 6 required for directions + one button) it may be impossible to modify them to work on an MSX in a clean way (because, AFAIK, no "slim" DB9 connectors are available off-the-shelf). EDIT: I found a competition PRO joystick which has clear documentation - added above!
