Arcade joysticks that you twist to turn...

[rbudrick]

Remember Ikari Warriors and Guerilla War, and Heavy Barrel (I think, but that was Data East, so I'm not sure)? They had a joystick that you twisted to determine your firing direction, but you pushed the joystick in any direction as you normally would to move.

I think only SNK made games that used this, but I still think it is one of the most innovative controller ideas that was never implemented again outside a select few arcade cabs.

Anyone else think it's a cool feature that the home market could have used a long time ago? Little things like analog sticks, rumble, motion sensing, etc. have changed the game market and pushed it in entirely new directions. If this were implemented years ago, I think developers could probably have come up with some pretty creaive uses for it.

It's one of those simple creative features that when I first saw it, it was so simple, I thought "Duh! Why didn't I think of that?" Even though I was 9 years old and it wouldn't have mattered, heh heh.

-Rob

[CosmicMonkey]

Xybots used the same type of rotating joystick too.

[Pente]

Time Soldiers also had an 8-way rotary controller.

Another variation is the rotating fire knob. Nintendo used it in the game Sheriff where you rotate where you want to shoot, and push fire! Also Taito used it in Wild Western

[davidbrit2]

Xybots used the same type of rotating joystick too.

Xybots wasn't a freely rotating stick, though. It would only go a little bit left or right of center, and trigger a leaf switch like the kind that are used for the normal 8-way motion. Incidentally, the Channel F sticks do the same thing.

[Flack]

Remember Ikari Warriors and Guerilla War, and Heavy Barrel (I think, but that was Data East, so I'm not sure)? They had a joystick that you twisted to determine your firing direction, but you pushed the joystick in any direction as you normally would to move.

I have a Heavy Barrel cabinet, so I keep my eye out for JAMMA games that use these sticks. Gondomania, Victory Road and Ikari Warriors III are more games that support these controllers. I have a few of these PCBs that I swap in and out from time to time.