old genesis arcade power stick -> hori joystick

[kemical]

I've always liked the old sega genesis arcade power stick, I've had it for more than 10 years now, I think it's the perfect size and weight for a shooter controller, plus it's got a nice rounded hand rest area to the left of the joystick which suites my playing style.

I started using it again for emulators, but it has one of those horrible fake joysticks which hardly works anymore (the rubber circles ontop of pcboard).. after playing for 30 minutes your hand feels like it's going to fall off.

So earlier today I started thinking if it would be possible to get a seimitsu or sanwa stick inside, the seimitsu would be a close fit, not sure if it's possible, and I don't know if the sanwa is any smaller vertically..

but then I remembered the hori stick in my tekken 5 controller, and it's only an inch or so tall, and I found that it would fit inside the genesis controller...
So I sacrificed my tekken 5 stick, I'll just move one of the seimitsu's into it eventually.

It was kind of tricky getting the stick to fit inside the genesis controller, luckily the joystick pcboard was removeable, and the hole at the top of the hori stick is the exact same size as the hole on the genesis controller..

I had to break off the 4 screw shafts holding the original joystick, but for some strange reason there were 4 other's in there which fit nicely around the hori stick..
I also had to break off a metal bracket that was welded to the inside of the base (for supporting the original fake-stick).

then I drilled 4 holes into the plastic cover that held the genesis "control pad" pcb in place, and rotated it 45 degrees (almost looks like an octagonal plate now) and was able to screw it down into 2 of the existing 4 holes... then the hori stick just screwed into it normally.

So now I have the most comfortable and solid feeling joystick I've ever used , it no longer makes my hand and wrist ache horrible since it has a slightly more real stick.. the next best thing would be to get some real pushbuttons in there, but maybe re-use the genesis ABC buttons somehow (they are the same size as the japanese arcade start buttons)

[bigbadboaz]

That is a CRAZY mod. I too have wonderful memories of that stick - I still have a brand new one in box, along with the six-button version, in storage somewhere back home. I would never have imagined you could fit a real stick in there. It's great to see - thanks for posting it.

[oxtsu]

Well done, kemical. Thanks for taking the time to post the build detail. It's interesting.

[dementia]

That's amazing. I hope you can eventually replace the face buttons as well


Would that mod be possible on the six-button version? There are turbo switches that take up more space, but the buttons are smaller.

[Neon]

Nice man, I'll have to try that with mine.

Wonder if that'd be possible with the Saturn Virtua Stick? (Crappy Sega one not the hori one).

[kemical]

I'm not sure about the virtua stick, if the joystick inside is about 1" to 1.5" inches tall (the part holding the switches) then it might fit.
The peice of plastic that holds the original rubbery-blah stick pcb in place works great for figuring out a way to hold a new stick in though, since it's flexible and easy to cut through.

I tried figuring out some ways to get real buttons in there today, and it seems like its a bit too complicated compared to getting the stick in, there is definitely a way to do it though, I'd need some black 24mm? start buttons to make it look right (should still be able to use the abc inner buttons after a little modification).

[Neon]

I wonder if it would be possible to replace the rapidfire buttons with X, Y, Z buttons? If so it'd be badass for my supergun, better than the hori RAP due to the base size...

Then again maybe I could just transplant the hrap PCB in there if it would fit...haven't opened either up to make measurements. Should be interesting...

[awc]

I used to have the six button version and used it for everything on my Genesise from '93 onwards. Those were memorable Genesis sticks, still.

[Neon]

6 button version?

Do you remember the specific model name? I'll have to hunt it down...only ones on ebay at the moment seem to be 3 buttons like mine.

[SheSaidDutch]

Simply amazing

How does it play now that it's modded?

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

"Ain't nothing better than homecooked stuff." It's definitely the sense of pride. Screw whether or not it's excellent, though being excellent is good.

[SheSaidDutch]

"Ain't nothing better than homecooked stuff." It's definitely the sense of pride. Screw whether or not it's excellent, though being excellent is good.

I concur esp with food

Since I've been cooking lately everyone wants damn sweet stuff.

[azmun]

6 button version?

Do you remember the specific model name? I'll have to hunt it down...only ones on ebay at the moment seem to be 3 buttons like mine.

I think this was simply called the 6 button arcade stick and is virtually identical to the 3 button one except for extra buttons and turbo switches.

[Molloy]

I remember liking that stick alot back in the day. The rapid fire was alot better than the ones on other 3rd party pads and made Desert Strike a hell of alot easier.

It was also really handy for that James Pond olympics game (I forget the name). There was a 360 rotating bit on a unicycle and I remember my friend with a power stick blitzing all my times.

The 6 button ver was called the Arcade Power Stick II. Doesn't look as cool as the 3 button version though.

[604_degrees]

Just if anybody think to install microswitches into it, like me: yes, this is really stupid idea