A few years back, I was sitting in my game room and had a strange epiphany. 'Hey, the ball tops on several of my joysticks for old consoles look pretty similar to the ones on my Arcade1Up Galaga machine. Are they interchangeable?'
Short answer to that question is Yes. Long answer is that they are interchangeable with each other and the bat tops from other Arcade1Up machines, specifically my Mortal Kombat cabinet. Pics below.
First up, the control deck of the Galaga machine with the joystick ball it came with...
Next, the control deck of the Galaga machine with the joystick ball from a Super NES Super Advantage...
Third, the control deck of the Galaga machine with the joystick ball from the NES Advantage...
Fourth, the control deck of the Galaga machine with the joystick ball from the 3-button joystick that Asciiware made for the SEGA Genesis. You can tell them apart because the screw in the ball from that joystick is recessed much further inward than the NES Advantage, resulting in a joystick that seems shorter by comparison.
Last, the the control deck of the Galaga machine with the 'bat top' style of joystick that I temporarily pilfered from my Mortal Kombat machine...
Interesting, huh? No? Wondering why it matters? Well, because every machine will eventually need replacement parts. While writing this, I checked to see if these ball tops were still available from Arcade1Up's website. They aren't... Unless you buy the entire joystick assembly for the Galaga cabinet... which is also currently unavailable. The bat tops are listed on the site in both red and black, but they are also not available. Good thing there are 3rd party companies making a few replacement/upgrade parts for these machines.
In fact, I am looking to get into 3D printing as a hobby/alternate revenue stream/mad science experiment. Maybe creating a few replacement joystick toppers for these machines and the console joysticks could become a profitable enterprise? As long as it covers the cost of the printers and material used, it ought to be worthwhile. All kinds of crazy designs could be created in the 3D Modeling software for these printers and then printed out.
Anyway, enough of my ranting on that tangent. I did mention earlier that the joystick ball from the Galaga cabinet was interchangeable with 3 old console joysticks from my childhood. And I have pictures of what that bright red joystick ball would look like on all of them...
First, the NES Advantage...
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| Not a half bad look... |
Next, the SNES Super Advantage...
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| Not terrible, but it is a bit bright... And too close in color to the X button... |
And finally, the joystick for the SEGA Genesis...
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| Now this one just looks ridiculous to me... |
And since this is going to be posted in the official Arcade1Up fan group on a certain social media site whose name I refuse to type or say aloud, here's 2 pics of my 3 cabinets...
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| Sometimes, these machines look a little crowded to me in that particular spot. Unfortunately, I don't have any other options. Space is limited... |
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| This Atari 12-in-1 was modified with the upgraded spinner from GRS Tech. It made Major Havoc and Tempest actually playable. 🙂 |
- Lord Publius
