ZipStick/Competition Pro vs The Bug

[Charlie]

Here's a thread that may either get lot's of horrified replies... or none at all.

Among the few things I remain sure of in this life are:
1) I've owned the same Cheetah 'The Bug' joystick for about 20 years and I wouldn't be parted from it.
2) I have an enduring hatred of ZipSticks/Competition Pro's and the pain they inflict on my delicate handsies.

Sadly after many years of happy waggling my favorite stick has given up the ghost. Not, I hasten to add, the 'The Bug' itself but the Atari-type connector - shoving my stick repeatedly in to every port I can find over the years has taken it's toll...
...happily I recently acquired a working Zipstick along with an Atari 800XLF and, yes, still as unpleasant to use as I remember.

-The Sticks in Hand-​

Hmm, at least the ZipStick had a good cable and connector. Screwdriver, wire-clippers, soldering iron and...

-The Horror-​

Yep, my lovely 'The Bug' is once again functional and said evil ZipStick is now bin-fodder. A job well done for me, and I've done my bit to save humanity from this evil device. (Well, I'll keep the micro-switches. The electronics hoarder in me can see uses for those)

If there's enough demand I may even set up a service for people who over the years have been forever scarred by the scourge of the Zipstick/Competition Pro.
Send them to me for further examples of creative destruction, or show the world yourself how you killed one in the pursuit of resurrecting a more worthy device.

 

[DutchinUSA]

Gonna find some bugs right now to squash as payback

Haha .. whatever works for you mate

 

[amigean]

I NEVER understood the attraction of zipsticks/competition pros. My only guess is that their popularity comes down to lack of knowledge of alternatives.

Things to hate in them:

(1) The [size of lever]/[size+weight of base] ratio is just too high, making it impossible to use on a desk, which means you have to use one hand to hold it at all times.
(2) The lever itself has too little room to wiggle, which combined with the horrible quality microswitches and general stiffness, makes it difficult to tell if a move has registered. End result is pushing much harder than you usually would, resulting in achy hands and blisters. All this extra pushing also takes its toll on the microswitches eventually.
(3) It's made of poundland-class el-cheapo-plastic - OK that is uncalled for as almost all of them are - but it is especially unattractive to touch.
(4) button placement was too close to the lever. As humans are generally only equipped with two hands, in order to press fire you have to use the same hand (that remember is occupied holding the damn thing down in place) to do so. At best this means a delay from the lag in releasing the 'hold down' pressure until pressing the 'fire'. At worse, if the need to press fire coincides with a need to turn the lever in some direction, e.g. a hard-right (with no support, because, remember you are not holding it down while you press fire) means the entire joystick flying out of your hands etc. Horrible pile of ex****nt.

Feel better now I got it off my chest. :roll:

 

[Charlie]

I NEVER understood the attraction of zipsticks/competition pros...

Feel better now I got it off my chest. :roll:

Ah, it's good to know I'm not alone. Thank you.

 

[thecellartroll]

I've never used a full-sized Competition Pro. I've only ever used a Competition Pro Mini - I had one with my original C64 and I have one again now. I love it. I get no hand pain as you describe.

Send me the Zip Stick and I'll kill a Quick Shot II to fix it. Now that stick really does deserve to die

 

[DutchinUSA]

I NEVER understood lotsa things and never will

Maybe instead of "lack of knowledge" it is just because we are all different eh?

 

[amigean]

Maybe instead of "lack of knowledge" it is just because we are all different eh?

Sorry didn't mean it to come across as offensive - you make a very good point - not everyone is alike and of course like many things it comes down to personal preference and circumstances.

My frustration stems from the fact that the discordance between my personal experience of it and that of many other people here and elsewhere is just so great. As I don't think of myself as that much different from everybody else, I reasoned it must come down to experience of alternatives. I had the good fortune to grow up with arcade-quality joysticks that didn't cost much more than the average zipstick - joysticks which I found were not generally available at the time.

I tried to document exactly what it was that I found so unappealing about it in the hope that others may relate to it. But of course, it is entirely possible that most people who love zipsticks have known of alternatives and still love them!

 

[roy_bates]

i have both these joysticks and they just are different with different games some work better for different models(did that make any sense)

yep,i also have other joysticks,that for some reason get a hate rating,that i actually like using

a joystick is a personal thing,just like the machines and games selection

 

[moijk]

I NEVER understood the attraction of zipsticks/competition pros. My only guess is that their popularity comes down to lack of knowledge of alternatives.

I got probably somewhere between 20-30 sticks of misc types of atari style sticks, not the bug though.

but hands down my favorites are the zip sticks. Nothing comes close.

---------- Post added at 18:33 ---------- Previous post was at 18:32 ----------

Send me the Zip Stick and I'll kill a Quick Shot II to fix it. Now that stick really does deserve to die

I had two quick shot ii's back in the day. They weren't made for summer and winter games....

 

[Trapshot]

Bug was a wicked joystick, had a few of them, and still got one somewhere I think!

Only downside for me was that I used to wreck them playing Kick Off 2.. the microswitches inside always seemed to give up the ghost after several "overhead kick" back/forth movements.

Still up there as one of my all time favourites though, only beaten by the Wico Ergostick.. what an amazing joystick that was!!!!

 

[amigean]

hehehe it is fascinating to see how strongly opinions differ on this one. I guess moijk proves that I was wrong to suggest that lack of knowledge of alternatives is a valid reason - I take it back!

I concede that even I preferred the zipstick to some of the alternatives - especially all the faux-flight-simulator-type ones that looked cool but were only useful for, well, flight simulators. I still think that my experience of steel-encased arcade-type joysticks had a strong influence on the formation of my opinion - though granted this is probably not the case for everyone.

Now to look for a modern arcade type joystick that doesn't cost the earth! Any suggestions anyone?

 

[RMK]

shoving my stick repeatedly in to every port I can find over the years has taken it's toll...

I have nothing intelligent to add to this thread.

 

[Trapshot]

Now to look for a modern arcade type joystick that doesn't cost the earth! Any suggestions anyone?

I use one of those X-Arcade single player ones... that's pretty good, but depends what you mean by cost the earth! I think it was about £80 new, but would have thought you could pick it up cheaper second hand somewhere.

Following on from this thread also....

Cruiser Pro joystick (with the tightner around the stick neck) was ok too, and obviously the Konix Speedking... especially the two button one... wish I still had that! Was awesome for Turrican II!

 

[moijk]

hehehe it is fascinating to see how strongly opinions differ on this one. I guess moijk proves that I was wrong to suggest that lack of knowledge of alternatives is a valid reason - I take it back!

The reason why it is a number of different designs is that people doesn't like the same. I've bought everything I was curious about back then but nothing felt better than the zipstick. however there are games where some others are better, but generally i go for the zipsticks.

maybe i need to test out the bug too

 

[Charlie]

I have nothing intelligent to add to this thread.

That's quite ok - I wasn't expecting many high-brow responses. Apart from wanting to share a small personal triumph it occurred to me that I haven't seen a good joystick debate in ages. (also the opportunity to engage in the odd double entendre was too much for my childish sense of humor to miss)

Mischief aside it's always interesting to see others opinions on something a personal as joystick/pad preference.

 

[Snoozy]

For me the bug was always the second rate joystick i would give for player 2 (or player 3 or 4 in dynablasters) Much to their horror and complaints

Thus, I fall within the zipstik alliance, all other joysticks pale in comparison

(none of my friends wanted to use the bug either, so i replaced it with another zipstik and a quickshot)

 

[Firthy2002]

People actually LIKED The Bug?!?!?!!?!?!:wooha::wooha::nuts::nuts:

We first got one to replace another joystick that died. It lasted about 2 weeks before the stick broke off.
We took it back and got a replacement Bug.
It literally came apart during a session of Lotus 2!
We went back to ZipStiks.

Guess we were extremely unlucky and got 2 from a bad production batch or something.
Or Bug owners are wimps that don't get their waggle on!

 

[Chinners]

Joysticks?

"UP" for jump?

No no no no no.

Keyboards rule!

 

[velikani]

People actually LIKED The Bug?!?!?!!?!?!:wooha::wooha::nuts::nuts:

i was as surprised to see this as well

as a person who collects competition pro joysticks, I don't understand this at all I've fallen in love with them and how they feel and look. it must be an arcade thing. the feel is mucho the same as playing with arcade grade stuff.

but someone here was right, it requires holding it down with another hand or simply pressing it down when you use it. suction cups would be good. i loved the cruizer sticks i had as a kid.

 

[RMK]

Ok, I'll jump into this one.

I never saw the appeal of the Bug myself and opted for the Cruiser an Zipstock bak in the day. I tended to go through a fair number of joysticks - not sure it was just weaknesses in the design of if I was too rough with them. These days I use the Competition Pro's from the most recent production runs sold by Amiga Kit.