Hotrod joystick

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Moderator: Chad

Arjen Gnodde

Hotrod joystick

Post by Arjen Gnodde »

Hello,
<p>

I was thinking about buying a Hotrod joystick to get a better 'arcade-feeling' than using the keyboard all the time.

<p>

I was wondering if anybody on MARP already uses a Hotrod joystick and could tell me some of his experiences with it. Should I buy one, or are there better options available?

<p>

Thanks, Arjen...

--
arjen@ukonline.co.uk
Ian Gledhill

Post by Ian Gledhill »

Hi Arjen,
<p>

I bought a Hotrod (the one with more buttons) last year - it's
sitting in the sitting room connected to a dedicated MAME PC on a 32"
telly.

<p>

It really is the final part of the 'arcade feeling' - it's quite
common for friends to come over and play arcade games on it,
especially as it works so well with 2 players - and I've found out
it`s wine-proof (thank goodness!).

<p>

I don`t think I've played with MAME properly since I bought the
HotRod.. no point - it's just not the same!

<p>

They're expensive to get over here (I assume you're in the UK with
that e-mail addy) - it cost me about 250 quid in total (40 quid
customs bill + P&P) but now I have it I don`t regret it! I also made
a special version of WinUAE so I could play Sensi Soccer on it.... it
just uses keys, so any open-source emulator will work on it.

<p>

I certainly don`t think you'll regret buying one - and it should last
for _years_.

<p>

Enjoy!

<p>

--
Ian Gledhill
IanG@amiganet.org avatar@ukonline.co.uk

--
avatar@ukonline.co.uk
Chad

Post by Chad »

I don't think hotrod will give you a purely authentic arcade feel for
older pre-90s games, but it does a very good job (much better
arcade-feeling) than a keyboard or joypad could never do. The hotrod
is an 8-way joystick, this means that you send a distinct input when a
diagonal is pushed, this makes many older 4-way joystick games
difficult to get used to because you have to train yourself to NOT hit
diagonals if the game interprets the diagonal ambigously. Which is
certainly not an authentic arcade feel.

<p>

For neogeo games and later it is authentic, primarily because i think
they use a very similar (if not the same) joystick.

<p>

The buttons themselves are the best thing about the hotrod, wonderfull
spring action and a illustrious feel.

<p>

I ordered my SE a few months ago and had a big problem with it not
working and not being able to get a new board because support is very
sluggish. however they finally got around to shipping me a new
motherboard (for the hotrod), after unlatching 12 screws i installed
it and now everything works very nice.

<p>

The only complaint i have (and it's not really a complaint) is that i
still don't have a good (tempest) spinner. But i do have a very good
joystick in the hotrod. I would recommend learning the differences
first hand of 4-way and 8-way joysticks before you buy though.

--
churritz@cts.com
AL

Post by AL »

Arjen ,
Two words......" buy one "

<p>

More words, one now. Why ?
A: Because the thing rocks. Try playing Robotron on keyboard VRS
Hotrod......only one winner !
B: don`t mind Chad ( no offence Chad ! ) , it DOES bring about 99% of
original arcade feel.

<p>

Cheers,
AL

--
alexweir@indigo.ie
Zylquin

Post by Zylquin »

I have to agree with Chad and say that the Hotrod does not work too
kindly with 4-way directional games like Pac-Man. What I did was take
mine to someone who had a bit of ingenuity (begged Dad to fix one of
my toys again!) and "convert" one of the joysticks to a 4-way by
removing/repositioning some internal parts.
Then depending on what game I am playing I used the 4 or 8 way
joystick. After making this modification I am very happy with the
purchase.

--
zylquin@hotmail.com
Chad

Post by Chad »

zyloquin: what did dad do to make the 8-way in to a 4-way, i've been
reading the board that someone can flip an 'actuator bit' to make the
8-way into a 4-way, but there were some doubters on the board.

<p>

but i'd like to have your dad post here and tell us what he did to
make one 4 way and one 8 way that would be cool.

--
churritz@cts.com
Zylquin

Post by Zylquin »

I'll do my best to explain here. First unscrew and remove those 4
white rectangular switch boxes that surround the base of the joystick.
From each of these switch boxes remove the silver metal strip as you
wont need it anymore. Now you reattach these 4 switch boxes so that
the little red buttons that protrude from them are directly N, E, S,
and W of the base of the joystick. On mine the red buttons are now
about 0.2 cm (~1/12") from the rubber base of the joystick. You'll
need to file some little plastic groves off before you reposition and
reattach the switch boxes. When reattaching the switch boxes you'll
need to use two screws instead of one because the plastic groves that
were holding each one in place are not there anymore. Well, that's
all I can think of while I sit here looking at the guts of the HotRod.

<p>

You should have a four way joystick if all went well.

<p>

I'd only attempt this is you're comfortable in doing so and you really
cannot live with an 8-way joystick. The worst that could happen is
you do more harm than good, and we don't want that happening to this
wonderful piece of equipment.

<p>

Hope I explained this well enough.

--
zylquin@hotmail.com
Arjen Gnodde

Post by Arjen Gnodde »

Thank you guys, for all these answers.<p>

I have made my decision: I will definitely buy a Hotrod SE joystick.
I am going to move soon, and it will be my first purchase in my new
house. Now, how am I going to break it to my girlfriend that the new
sofa we had planned has to wait another 2 months? :-)

<p>

Bye, Arjen...

--
Arjen@ukonline.co.uk
AL

Post by AL »

You`ll think of something......we all did !

--
alexweir@indigo.ie
Otto A, Toalnd

Post by Otto A, Toalnd »

DO NOT BUY THE HOTROD!! IT TOOK THEM 6 MONTH BEFORE THEY MANAGED TO
DELIVER IT TO NORWAY!!! THAY ARE CRIMINALS!

--
ottoat@stud.ifd.hibu.no
AL

Post by AL »

6 months eh ? A bit harsh alright , but I bet the fact that you have
the thing in front of you makes the wait worth the while : )

<p>

BTW , Tommi from Finland ( your next door neighbour ) got his in a
few weeks , so maybe the Norweigian postal service ( like the Irish
one ), is partially to blame ?
Look for the dispatch date on the box from the US. Mine left the US
after 2 weeks, but took @ 2 months or so to get here.

<p>

Just a thought.....

<p>

Cheers,
AL

--
alexweir@indigo.ie
Guest

Post by Guest »

Well Arjen, I think that I must wholeheartedly recommend the hot rod
joystick. "Cocktail" Lindsey at work says she never leaves home
without it. "Bagotelle" Ted says it's a must for any serious gamer,
even with the missing nails. Buy it and try it.

--
Ian.Shakles@virgin.net
QRS

Post by QRS »

Well, my friend David (Oakster at MARP) got his Hotrod in less than a
month.. and he lives in Sweden.

<p>

Regards

<p>

QRS

--
qrs@telia.com
Oakster

Post by Oakster »

well Arjen (...and Otto), pay a little extra for the Express shipping
and you will have it in less than four weeks, it´s worth it...

<p>

and Otto, Do you know how to sink a Norweigen submarine? Just dive
down to it and knock...

<p>

Ok, sorry about that but pretty i´m sure that you know some bad jokes
about Sweden to, i´m i right?

--
oakworld@homail.com
LordGaz

Post by LordGaz »

I think I might have a software solution to the 4-way joystick
problem but I haven't got a hotrod so I can't fully test this.

<p>

In the later versions of MAME you can define the keys with logic such
as 'P1 Left = LEFT not RIGHT' and this can also be extended to 'P1
Left = LEFT not RIGHT not UP not DOWN' etc. Hence to make it
impossible to go 'diagonally' in a game do the following:

<p>

1. Select the hotrod option in the controllers tab and then run
Pacman or whatever the game is.

<p>

2. Press TAB and go down to 'Input (this game)' by pressing 2 or 8 on
the keypad which are the keys the hotrod uses for up and down.

<p>

3. Press <LEFT Ctrl> which is the key the hotrod uses for SELECT.

<p>

4. Go down to P1 Left (using keypad 2 and 8) press <LEFT Ctrl> then
press these keys in quick succession: keypad 4, keypad 8, keypad 8,
keypad 2, keypad 2. This will define P1 Left as 'Pad 4 not pad 8 not
pad 2'.

<p>

5. Define P1 Right, P1 Up and P1 Down in the same way ie. P1 Right =
Pad 6 not pad 8 not pad 2, P1 Up = Pad 8 not pad 4 not pad 6, P1 Down
= Pad 2 not pad 4 not pad 6.

<p>

And hey presto a 4-way joytick definition for Pacman. Let me know if
it works!

--
garyjlee@hotmail.com
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