Radica Space Invaders > 7800 joystick

[Atariboy]

I hear the games are decent but not accurate enough to satisfy people familiar with the originals. Plus Space Invaders and Phoenix are available on Taito Legends in emulated form for the PS2 and Xbox.

 

Hopefully Lunar Rescue, Qix, and Colony 7 are on Taito Legends 2.

[joeybastard]

You know, I've never even TRIED the games... the first one, I came home, ripped open the package, and immediately tore the guts out and started the conversion...

 

I hadn't even considered that I should maybe try the actual game. Heh. Maybe I'll do that with one of these before I convert it.

 

Same here. I had it opened up and gutted about 5 minutes after the mailman dropped it off.

[jaybird3rd]

I hadn't even considered that I should maybe try the actual game. Heh. Maybe I'll do that with one of these before I convert it.

You're really not missing much. I probably powered mine up once or twice, and although I've seen TV-game translations that are much worse, the ones in this unit (particularly Qix) are way off and will annoy anyone who's played the originals, either in the arcades or in MAME. I figure that I'm entitled to play the original games in MAME after the dozens of Radica Space Invaders sticks that I've bought, so that's what I do now; in my opinion, the ones inside the joystick are not worth wasting the joystick on.

[Paranoid]

I like the 5200 version of QIX better than the arcade version, myself. But the arcade version is fun, too. Just too damn hard.

[BrianC]

I hear the games are decent but not accurate enough to satisfy people familiar with the originals. Plus Space Invaders and Phoenix are available on Taito Legends in emulated form for the PS2 and Xbox.

 

Hopefully Lunar Rescue, Qix, and Colony 7 are on Taito Legends 2.

 

Colony 7 is in Taito Legends 1 for PS2 and Xbox. I also know for sure that Qix in one of the games in Taito Legends 2, but I'm still waiting for details of a US release. Taito Legends 2 is already available in Europe on PS2, Xbox, and PC.

Edited May 7, 2006 by BrianC

[Lord Helmet]

I need to hurry up and get a couple more of these to make backup sticks with. My original RSA/7800 stick is getting worn out. Sometimes pushing left doesn't work. It's been a while since I opened one up. Do these things use standard microswitches, or are they proprietary ones produced just for this design? I can't tell from the pics on this thread.

Edited May 8, 2006 by Lord Helmet

[Paranoid]

I've never looked that closely, but based on the form factor of the stick and what they've got crammed inside it, I'd have to say that they're not standard microswitches like a HAPPS or Wico switch.

[Prodos8]

I found another one of these at GameStop and bought it. My first conversion is going slowly, those sega controller wires are frustrating to work with. Just trying to strip the ends causes the wire to break. Very annoying. I need to get some better wire before I'll be doing another one of these things.

[jferio]

I found another one of these at GameStop and bought it. My first conversion is going slowly, those sega controller wires are frustrating to work with. Just trying to strip the ends causes the wire to break. Very annoying. I need to get some better wire before I'll be doing another one of these things.

 

I found that out with my 7800 Joypad I put together from a Sega pad. The wires are not meant to be reused.

[Paranoid]

I use a swiss army knife on a piece of flat slate to cut the insulation off with the Radica SI stick. Takes a fine and steady hand, but you cut down to the right depth and then just cut along to the end... then pull the wire out, and cut the other side of the insulation off.

[Prodos8]

Finished up my first one of these tonight. Intially I tried using it with my genny but it just kept locking it up when I plugged it in. I didn't know the genny was incompatible with the CX24s. So then I dug out my 7800 and popped in good ol' Xevious and the stick worked great. Was a little worried at first that it wouldn't work right as I was a little confused making the button circuit with the resistors and all. Definitely worth doing as the controller is very responsive and fairly comfortable especially compared to the stock CX24 sticks. I got two more units and will most likely convert a second one and just keep the third around for parts or possibly playing the original games.

[Paranoid]

I posted links at some point with rough schematics in this thread. I think they really help along with Jay's written documents, especially if you're a visual person.

 

The button circuits ARE tricky and hard to describe only in writing. I drew the schematics up for myself trying to visualize Jay's instructions before I actually did it... and I still wasn't positive until I confirmed a couple of steps with Jay directly.

[tta583]

I found another one of these at GameStop and bought it. My first conversion is going slowly, those sega controller wires are frustrating to work with. Just trying to strip the ends causes the wire to break. Very annoying. I need to get some better wire before I'll be doing another one of these things.

 

I found that out with my 7800 Joypad I put together from a Sega pad. The wires are not meant to be reused.

 

 

Same thing happened to me when I started messing with the Sega cable. You need a wire stripper similar to this:

 

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item..._STRIPPER_.html

 

Radio shack, or probably any home improvement store, has them. You set the screw that is one of the handles to act as a stop. This will keep the jaws just where you need them. A couple of quick tests on the Sega cable and you can dial it in with ease. Once I had mine set they are a breeze to strip. I am working on a 2nd controller right now. After I cut the cable out of the original pad I stripped all the wire ends in one shot, one at a time, with no problems.

[Paranoid]

Funny thing happened to me just now. I was playing Quadrun on my CC2, after reading the instructions (wow... that sure improved the game... it actually IS a fun game)... and I broke the stick on my RSI stick off at the base of the shaft.

 

Or so I thought. It seems the stick screws in with a little hex-head screw. Screwed it back on, and now it is working fine. Something to be aware of, though.

 

I assume this design would make it fairly easy to swap out whatever kind of stick you wanted in place of the standard stick that comes with the game, as well... which is kinda cool.

[+remowilliams]

Yeah, those thin little wires can be a pain to strip. I've got one of the "automatic" wire strippers and it does a great job on them though.

 

In regards to trying to visualize the circuit - I just found one of my RSI "proto" PCB button wire boards here. I'll put the pictures up in case it helps anyone else visualize how the connections go.

 

 

And one with the underside connections highlighted

 

 

Note that the left side (two) connections are where the wires (from one side) for the two button pairs from the stick are attached. The right side connections are for the joystick cord and have three connections points (left button wire, ground and right button wire).

 

Hope that helps someone, and doesn't add to the confusion.

[Paranoid]

Much more elegent than my solution, which involved either a lot of electric tape and twisted wire, or wire soldered right onto the resistors...

[Breakpack]

So are these gone now?

[jaybird3rd]

So are these gone now?

I don't think Gamestop has had any for a while, and I don't happen to know of anyone else who carried them for the same price. Unless you see one on clearance someplace, eBay might be your best bet, but you'll probably end up paying more for a used stick than you would have at Gamestop for a new one.

[Paranoid]

Saw one at Fry's and got all excited.

 

Then I saw that it was $25.

[Lord Helmet]

There are a couple on ebay for around $15+shipping

[shadow460]

I've seen 'em in thrifts.

[Almost Rice]

I've seen 'em in thrifts.

 

I am waiting to find them there too.

[Paranoid]

That'll be the place to find them now, I'm afraid.

[shadow460]

I've also got one sealed in the box, where it will probably stay for the collection's value.

I think they did an awesome job with the packaging artwork.

there are quite a few other quality sticks out there that could be hacked for 7800 use. The Arcade Shark comes to mind, and it could probably be easily switched from 7800 back to N64 use as the need arose.

Just about any ACSIIware joystick screams quality, too. There's probably a glut of those for the Saturn and PS1.

[+remowilliams]

Many of those third party sticks lack the component quality (like microswitches), that made the RSI such a good target. Well that and the RSI games sucked.