Original Competition Pro Joystick remade!

[Harrison]

I do happen to be left-handed as it goes.

I do also have a lot of other Amiga joysticks, some of which I hate, so I may see if any of those could donate a switch to a good cause.

[Oz2]

Used the Konix Speedking a lot too. Anyone remember that one?

[Puni/Void]

Cicobuff wrote:

I remember reading about the re-release of these joysticks, great for us retro gamers with failing old skool joysticks saving our fingers getting burned with solder being able to buy new, now if only they would re-release the classic zipstik instead, personal preference I know but I for one preferred the Zipstik's slightly smaller size and fire button design.

Ahh, the Zipstik is excellent. Still got one or two of those, and they are actually working properly. They are worth their weight in gold. Have used the Zipstik for a lot of different games, and I'm not really a big fan of joypads either. On some games you'll have to have a joypad though, like the Mario Kart games for example. Still, nothing beats using the Zipstik on Sensible Soccer, Kick Off 2 or all those awesome platforms available for the Amiga.

[cicobuff]

Used the Konix Speedking a lot too. Anyone remember that one?

Yep I remember the Speedking back in the old C64 days, never owned one, but tried one don't know if it took some getting used to, liked the responsive joystick but could not get used to the quirky handle/throttle design of it.

[Demon Cleaner]

Used the Konix Speedking a lot too. Anyone remember that one?

Yep I remember the Speedking back in the old C64 days, never owned one, but tried one don't know if it took some getting used to, liked the responsive joystick but could not get used to the quirky handle/throttle design of it.

I still have one, but at C64 times I never used it, I always had Quickshot 2 sticks and one competition pro.

[J T]

Another Zipstik user here. They were great sounding in use. Incredibly tough too.

[Teho]

The Zipstik was great, no doubt about that. I've gotten hold of a couple together with some systems lately, but back in the day I used the red/black Competition Pros. They were great, and so easy to fix if one switch didn't respond properly. Usually it was just a stuck spring inside the switch that needed to be loosened. Those Competition Pros did have one drawback though, they didn't have proper switches for the firebuttons, but had some metal thingies that connected when the buttons were pressed instead. Worked fine, but weren't easily replaced. And any fix like bending them a bit to make them connect properly again only worked for a short while. The Zipstik was better that way by having the same microswitches for the firebuttons as well.

I'm happy to say that the new USB version of the Competition Pro also has them though, that solution of the old sticks are gone. I don't have this new edition with the Atari connector, but it's a safe bet that the stick itself is the same as the USB one only with a different connector, so it probably has proper switches for the firebuttons too.

Does anyone remember the Tac-2 sticks? Man, I hated those! Thought they were awful, but several of my friends thought they were great and didn't like the Competition Pros I had. I could never understand them, those Tac-2s were so loose and uncomfortable compared to the Competition Pro.

[J T]

I had a crappy cheetah quikshot 125 and it sucked. It had a massive dead-zone and really spongy feel. Nice grip and positioning of the firebuttons though, but useless for anything other than a flight sim because it felt how a young boy would imagine the control stick to a real fighter plane would be like (apart from being shit, obv)

[Harrison]

I still have two of those cheetah sticks (along with a load of others in a big box in the loft). I friend bought a Cheetah for his spectrum (as they had the extra Speccy connector built in) and he bought it round for me to try out on my CPC464 and it convinced me to get one to replace the old joystick I had at the time.

[Puni/Void]

Does anyone remember the Tac-2 sticks? Man, I hated those! Thought they were awful, but several of my friends thought they were great and didn't like the Competition Pros I had. I could never understand them, those Tac-2s were so loose and uncomfortable compared to the Competition Pro.

My first joysticks were actually Tac-2's, and I must admit I liked them as well. Remember those games that was based around wagging the stick from one side to the other? Like sports games where you had to do sprinting? The Tac-2's were unbeatable at that.