I've watched quite a few tech vids over the years, but none quite as well narrated as ETA PRIME's. Seems to remember all the little things others leave out. Nice work :)
A fantastic pierce of kit, this. It feels quality through and through...after six months of use I really do recommend it. Not cheap, but you're getting what you pay for.
the sanwa octagon restrictor plate is easyer to learn on for new players, for games like street fighter or kof, for tekken though the square gate is better, since there's (almost) no hadouken like movements and you need to hit diagonals frequently
I bought a clear acrylic joystick and put my pi3 in it. Have a battery and a 10 inch sreen to attempt to fit this weekend. Bought some clear acrylic sheets and clear hindges to make a screen case with some 30mm x 70mm speakers.
A nice looking kit, A bit small though, would prefer something a bit wider, doesn't look like I can rest my palms with this kit easily. However they do just sell the controller board seperate, so might be able to mod my old mad catz arcade stick.
Yeah I like the compact form factor of this one. It makes for a good portable system as well. With smaller sticks, my only concern is weight. I like the stick to feel a bit heavier and sturdier.
As I commented on Retro Man Cave's video on the same, I'm a little let down that the screws on the top surface aren't countersunk screws. If they aren't flush with the surface, then you have to be mindful of where you rest your hands, if you don't want the screw heads pushing into you. The screw on the bottom left of the stick seems like it's in literally the worst place, for how I hold a joystick.
I just picked this up based on your review. The joystick is awesome, but the octagonal restrictor plate is basically a requirement. The stick is really difficult without it, especially on games with little to no give (Burger time, climbing on/off a ladder, etc). Maybe it’s the nature of Sanwa buttons, but not super impressed with those either. Not quite enough spring back for games that require button mashing (Track & Field). But +1 on that GPIO encoder. No delay whatsoever.
Hi, is it comfortable to keep it on your legs while on sofa? With large space for your tight hand palm. Is there alternative more similar to neo geo x controller dimension? Thanks
What about 2 players at once? Any kits with 2 joysticks and 2 sets of buttons? (either in the same case or 2 separate cases) Can Retropie handle 2 players at once over the GPIO?
I don't think it can handle both players on the same GPIO pins because, for example, if 2 buttons share the same pin(s) and they're being pressed at the same time, the signal would be overlapped. One solution would be to have a USB arcade joystick connected to the raspberry ports (I don't know about the input lag for that case though)
I don't know if you take suggestions from comments, but I think it would be awesome if you did a tutorial on a portable Odruid Xu4 based handheld. Great vid btw
ETA Can you use a Odroid XU4 inplace of the Raspberry Pi 3??? I wanna add some dreamcast games on it for a gift to my mate (dreamcast + arcade stick = heaven)
The JLF version you use is ment for thick arcade panels. If you look into a madcatz te stick or into a candy cab and the viewlix wich have thin metal panels, there is a u shaped mount to lower it. Long story short, you might want to try lowering the stick a bit.
Herr Bert hi, I tried lowering the stick just using 5mm nuts (like the ones it comes with) to use as standoffs. Unfortunately lowering the stick by even that small amount in this chassis, causes the stick to bash against the gpio hat. I think the stick feels too high, I'm glad you said something. I may try the shorter shaft. shaft I believe comes with this kit: Sanwa JLF STD SSH shaft shaft I believe would feel much better when used instead: Sanwa JLF LOW SSH shaft I compared the stock kit here to my RAP V Hayabusa stick and the monster stick is definitely riding too high. Very noticeable when played side by side with another stick.
To ETA Prime how did you get to the main screen, when i started retropie up for the first time it wants me to configure stick/controller device so it's impossible to add the driver you talk about. let alone turn on things like wifi etc. and cancelling this drops me out into a linux prompt (I'm Linux illiterate.)
I noticed in ETA's video that the Retropie Settings section of Retropie has a bunch of settings I have not seen listed before. I am guessing there is a newest version of Retropie I am not on but if not is it something that can be configured to be visible somewhere? i.e.- Retroarch Bezel, GPIO Shutdown Utility, Switch to Attract Mode, etc. Basically short version how do I get all those settings to be visible on my Retropie install :)
EtaPrime, how's the response time using the joystick as GPIO? do you like it? compared to 8bitdo for example. Great Video!. Oh also, you're just missing a shaft cover for the joystick, kind of weird they only offer the dust washer.
Gustavo Soto Peralta I haven't noticed any negatives of using the snesdev drivers and the gpio interface. I too would like to see a side by side comparison though.
@3:50 -- 4-way vs 8-way is *NOT* a matter of preference -- it depends on the game -- some games will totally glitch out and not work (like donkey kong or pacman) with the 8-way (i.e. when you hit a diagonal, jumpman just freezes up, it's super annoying). -- And other games *require* the 8-way (i.e. mortal kombat, streetfighter, etc.) -- That's why you shouldn't be using swappable plates, but instead, you should be using a servo joystick (one that swaps the restrictor's mode via a servo).
the joystick is still made of 4 micro switches, despite being square or octagonal restrictor. It is preference, games don't behave different changing gate.
If it doesn't restrict then it's not a proper restrictor plate, obviously. That's kind of it's only job. That's why the servo based joysticks exist, is because switching between plates manually is such a pain.
It's super steep, but if you tried making your own joystick you'd see pretty similar pricing, ESPECIALLY once you start digging into buying sanwa parts.
I thought so at first too but when you look at the prices for good parts it comes in pretty close. The big thing here is the GPIO integration for the controller. Everything else I have looked at goes off USB and that induces lag and takes up a USB slot. That in turn usually means you have a plug/cable out the side or you have the RP completely enclosed making it impossible to use the USB
Got mine with the top cover torn apart. Looks like a returned kit! Awful. I took pictures! Let me remind everyone, this is out of the package.. I did not tear ANY paper yet..it came like this! imgur.com/a/hIL4A I had to go buy plastic cleaner for car scratches and redo the piece myself. Where the hell was quality control??? BE WARNED!
We have updated the panel slightly on our new kits so that it is a better fit for the Raspberry Pi 4 however the Pi 4 will still fit and operate in our old cases too its just a slightly tighter fit around the USB ports. The adapters themselves will work with the latest version of the SNESDev drivers and a Raspberry Pi 4 as I pushed an update to the main repository with a fix. You should already be Pi 4 compatible. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us, Kind Regards, Ian Thomasson Lee
Well, I'm thinking of getting a second one of these once I figure out why I get no video when the GPIO-interface is connected, because the newest interface comes with a micro USB-connector on it and a cable so you can actually plug a second one into the pie inside the first one.
Currently the SNESDev driver has only been written for the Raspberry Pi series of boards. We are looking into porting the drivers to the Odroid C1 & C2 and depending on how that goes and demand we will consider other SOC's.
i tried buying something from monster joystick and there paypal payment system wouldn`t let me pay, i hope they sort this real fast or i won`t bother buying from them.
Bad interior design. Assumes you have no cooling on Raspberry (besides the small regular radiators) otherwise it's impossible to mount. The case is simply not tall enought. Joystick rod hits the radiator and there is no space to connect the GPIO interface. The case doesn't have any ventilation holes (except the sd card space) so I woudn't let my Rpi stay there without good cooling solution. This is ment for retro pie and alike gaming, so no cooling is no go for me. So I need to make major mods to it. :( Other than that, say quality wise, seems very ok.
Your review is spot on, but you don't seem to know how to play fighting games considering you said you play a lot of them. For one, your joystick grip is off. In fact, it's not even a grip. You're mainly using your fingertips. Still luv ya tho!
Looks ok $135.00 USD For the case Pi $45.00 USD And a 200GB micro sd $80.00 for a nice amount of games That comes to what $260.00 USD before tax holy crap i wish the case was cheaper.
damarlboromans you can get class 10 SanDisk 128GB Cards for around $35. The joystick and buttons are really good quality. I prefer the buttons that came with this, to my Rap V Hayabusa fight stick buttons. A piece of duct tape helps stop the nuts from falling when putting the final top on. I'm happy with it. hope that helps. I also like the idea of putting the same hardware in a mayflash f300 though.
I've watched quite a few tech vids over the years, but none quite as well narrated as ETA PRIME's. Seems to remember all the little things others leave out. Nice work :)
A fantastic pierce of kit, this. It feels quality through and through...after six months of use I really do recommend it. Not cheap, but you're getting what you pay for.
You can also get 4 and 8 in 1 restricted plates that you just rotate. Great video!
this channel is a gift to TH-cam. thank you.
the sanwa octagon restrictor plate is easyer to learn on for new players, for games like street fighter or kof, for tekken though the square gate is better, since there's (almost) no hadouken like movements and you need to hit diagonals frequently
would this be worth it for a custom arcade cabinet or are there better and cheaper alternatives?
I bought a clear acrylic joystick and put my pi3 in it. Have a battery and a 10 inch sreen to attempt to fit this weekend. Bought some clear acrylic sheets and clear hindges to make a screen case with some 30mm x 70mm speakers.
the best thing about this video monster joystick uses your video in there website
A nice looking kit, A bit small though, would prefer something a bit wider, doesn't look like I can rest my palms with this kit easily. However they do just sell the controller board seperate, so might be able to mod my old mad catz arcade stick.
I agree too. This looks godd and handy, but a little wider would better.
Yeah I like the compact form factor of this one. It makes for a good portable system as well. With smaller sticks, my only concern is weight. I like the stick to feel a bit heavier and sturdier.
This video was of great help while setting up mine. Just subscribed. Thanks for sharing with us.
Awesome looking arcade stick, looks like it's really high quality. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Thats the best one i have seen you do on this sort of thing.
Nice kit overall.
Just bought one. Now I need a Pi/PSU. Can't wait to play Bomb Jack on my 65 inch screen :-)
This would make such a fun diy project!
"Sigh, another sanwa square ga-" OCTO GATE HELL YEAH
eta prime. best man out there. thanks for all these videos dude. seriously
As I commented on Retro Man Cave's video on the same, I'm a little let down that the screws on the top surface aren't countersunk screws. If they aren't flush with the surface, then you have to be mindful of where you rest your hands, if you don't want the screw heads pushing into you. The screw on the bottom left of the stick seems like it's in literally the worst place, for how I hold a joystick.
Looks good ... But i think it have a the same problem like the small bartops and arcade sticks. No space for hands!
I just picked this up based on your review. The joystick is awesome, but the octagonal restrictor plate is basically a requirement. The stick is really difficult without it, especially on games with little to no give (Burger time, climbing on/off a ladder, etc).
Maybe it’s the nature of Sanwa buttons, but not super impressed with those either. Not quite enough spring back for games that require button mashing (Track & Field).
But +1 on that GPIO encoder. No delay whatsoever.
Pretty sure you can pop the button open and stick a spring with a weight that works for you.
Hi, is it comfortable to keep it on your legs while on sofa? With large space for your tight hand palm. Is there alternative more similar to neo geo x controller dimension? Thanks
thinking maby so low strength thread locker or some thin rubber washers in between the metal and the acrylic to take some of the hard load
Can you buy two of these and use them for 2player games?
What about 2 players at once? Any kits with 2 joysticks and 2 sets of buttons? (either in the same case or 2 separate cases) Can Retropie handle 2 players at once over the GPIO?
I don't think it can handle both players on the same GPIO pins because, for example, if 2 buttons share the same pin(s) and they're being pressed at the same time, the signal would be overlapped. One solution would be to have a USB arcade joystick connected to the raspberry ports (I don't know about the input lag for that case though)
Apparently with the new V2.0 Adapter you can use the joystick as a stand alone USB PC joystick, or hook up two kits for two player.
Very clear! Mine works! thanx.
what is What version is in Raspberry and Is there a picture of it on the computer?
I don't know if you take suggestions from comments, but I think it would be awesome if you did a tutorial on a portable Odruid Xu4 based handheld. Great vid btw
I wonder if it's possible to order side plates with the holes to facilitate a hat such as RetroTink RGB and such...
ETA Can you use a Odroid XU4 inplace of the Raspberry Pi 3??? I wanna add some dreamcast games on it for a gift to my mate (dreamcast + arcade stick = heaven)
Would I be able to use this controller with Lakka?
Hey brother, question about the encoder. Does it matter what pin's it is attached to on top of the Pi? Thank you
Now if only HDMI could carry a 5v current then that would be the icing on the cake
The JLF version you use is ment for thick arcade panels.
If you look into a madcatz te stick or into a candy cab and the viewlix wich have thin metal panels, there is a u shaped mount to lower it.
Long story short, you might want to try lowering the stick a bit.
Herr Bert hi,
I tried lowering the stick just using 5mm nuts (like the ones it comes with) to use as standoffs.
Unfortunately lowering the stick by even that small amount in this chassis, causes the stick to bash against the gpio hat.
I think the stick feels too high, I'm glad you said something. I may try the shorter shaft.
shaft I believe comes with this kit: Sanwa JLF STD SSH shaft
shaft I believe would feel much better when used instead: Sanwa JLF LOW SSH shaft
I compared the stock kit here to my RAP V Hayabusa stick and the monster stick is definitely riding too high. Very noticeable when played side by side with another stick.
To ETA Prime how did you get to the main screen, when i started retropie up for the first time it wants me to configure stick/controller device so it's impossible to add the driver you talk about. let alone turn on things like wifi etc. and cancelling this drops me out into a linux prompt (I'm Linux illiterate.)
You used the SNES coloring layout, correctly placed in. ;-)
Hey quick question - I looks like you cant put any kind of fan on this because of the GPIO connector. Is that correct?
That thing is sweet man!
great video! what are the dimensions of the unit?
Great video! Keep em’ coming!
I know its been a while but is there room for a fan cooler on the RP when that GPIO board is on?
Thanks!
Is there a way you could point me in the direction of some roms or share them theough drop box?
Great video, thank you!
I have little experience building something like this, but isn't a rasperry pi overkill for the requirements of an arcade controller?
its not just for the stick, it is the arcade. lol.
Hey can you do a video with something like this but using the larkbox pro ,pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I noticed in ETA's video that the Retropie Settings section of Retropie has a bunch of settings I have not seen listed before. I am guessing there is a newest version of Retropie I am not on but if not is it something that can be configured to be visible somewhere? i.e.- Retroarch Bezel, GPIO Shutdown Utility, Switch to Attract Mode, etc.
Basically short version how do I get all those settings to be visible on my Retropie install :)
Thank you so much for this review. I’ve been looking for a kit like this since I got my raspberry pi last year. Love your videos.
Can this work using a pandora box?
is the SNES DEV DRIVER also downloadable for recalbox? Because i run Recalbox,not Retropie
could you make a tutorial RGB/Scart video for us Sony PVM/CRT users? 240p
Issue I have is my start button doesn't insert a coin, neither does the select. Any ideas?
Nice joystick !
What are the temps like when overclocked?
EtaPrime, how's the response time using the joystick as GPIO? do you like it? compared to 8bitdo for example. Great Video!.
Oh also, you're just missing a shaft cover for the joystick, kind of weird they only offer the dust washer.
Gustavo Soto Peralta I haven't noticed any negatives of using the snesdev drivers and the gpio interface. I too would like to see a side by side comparison though.
Needs a way to daisy chain to the gpio on the pie so you can buy more and do 2+players.
@3:50 -- 4-way vs 8-way is *NOT* a matter of preference -- it depends on the game -- some games will totally glitch out and not work (like donkey kong or pacman) with the 8-way (i.e. when you hit a diagonal, jumpman just freezes up, it's super annoying). -- And other games *require* the 8-way (i.e. mortal kombat, streetfighter, etc.) -- That's why you shouldn't be using swappable plates, but instead, you should be using a servo joystick (one that swaps the restrictor's mode via a servo).
You realize a 4-way gate doesn't restrict the joystick from going diagonal, right? It's purely for feedback.
the joystick is still made of 4 micro switches, despite being square or octagonal restrictor. It is preference, games don't behave different changing gate.
If it doesn't restrict then it's not a proper restrictor plate, obviously. That's kind of it's only job. That's why the servo based joysticks exist, is because switching between plates manually is such a pain.
Seems price $135 is a little steep, or am I just out of touch on price of parts?
It's super steep, but if you tried making your own joystick you'd see pretty similar pricing, ESPECIALLY once you start digging into buying sanwa parts.
I thought so at first too but when you look at the prices for good parts it comes in pretty close. The big thing here is the GPIO integration for the controller. Everything else I have looked at goes off USB and that induces lag and takes up a USB slot. That in turn usually means you have a plug/cable out the side or you have the RP completely enclosed making it impossible to use the USB
lol welcome to the year 2018 my man that's actually pretty cheap
can you do 2 player mode with this kit?
Does this setup need a fan?
I think that depends on the game you play, some of them (like the 3D ones) are more CPU/GPU intensive, therefore there's more heat.
Disregarding the legal grey area, could you link the ROMpacks you used for your 700+ games per system?
It's will work with RPI 4 ???
Ordered one.
Got mine with the top cover torn apart. Looks like a returned kit! Awful. I took pictures! Let me remind everyone, this is out of the package.. I did not tear ANY paper yet..it came like this!
imgur.com/a/hIL4A
I had to go buy plastic cleaner for car scratches and redo the piece myself. Where the hell was quality control??? BE WARNED!
Dang! Lets play some Streetfighter sometime. I need a good challenge
We have updated the panel slightly on our new kits so that it is a better fit for the Raspberry Pi 4 however the Pi 4 will still fit and operate in our old cases too its just a slightly tighter fit around the USB ports. The adapters themselves will work with the latest version of the SNESDev drivers and a Raspberry Pi 4 as I pushed an update to the main repository with a fix.
You should already be Pi 4 compatible.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us,
Kind Regards,
Ian Thomasson Lee
Would this work with Recalbox?
Please send the link for heatsink of cooper
Copper Shims: amzn.to/2FrmYd0 Aluminium Heatsink: amzn.to/2G6Omhp
ETA PRIME tks
how would one do a 2-player game on this Joystick? Since the controller is GPIO to Pi, it doesn't seem like you can do 2-player.
Well, I'm thinking of getting a second one of these once I figure out why I get no video when the GPIO-interface is connected, because the newest interface comes with a micro USB-connector on it and a cable so you can actually plug a second one into the pie inside the first one.
I wish they had a 2 player version, but still this is nice indeed. Now I have a question has anyone tried this on a Orange Pi or Odroid?
This is bad ass for real!
Does this work in a two player config?
Sabbina Mayer if you put a pi in it. The second player could connect with a Bluetooth controller.
You can add on any controller, Bluetooth or USB. You can even add more and play 3 and 4 player! :D
nice, but how do you run mario kart N64 wo analog stick? i have a smal retropie arcade w sanwa joysticks
Plug in your controller of choice into the USB and use that instead.
And now @ETAPRIME explain how to install CPS 1 to 3 games on RetroPie. Thank you.
They have a usb zero delay encoder
I've used GPIOneer on my builds, which works well for me (instead of SNESDEV)
what resolution it support??
135 bucks,,,geeze maybe with the pie and the hdmi and the sd card
Works with any SBC with standard GPIO ?
Currently the SNESDev driver has only been written for the Raspberry Pi series of boards. We are looking into porting the drivers to the Odroid C1 & C2 and depending on how that goes and demand we will consider other SOC's.
Everything looks so great so good let me question I have for you can connect two players
Yes you can. Just connect another controller or a usb joystick to the Pi and our good to go.
only looking the response time it is a very arcade joystick
oh noooo you pressed the ABXY button all inverted
i tried buying something from monster joystick and there paypal payment system wouldn`t let me pay, i hope they sort this real fast or i won`t bother buying from them.
Hi Philip, we have checked our paypal system and everything seems to be working fine, we have also replied to your email.
Way to small, unless you plan on leaving it on a desk. Most competition sticks are meant to be held on your lap.
On peut l avoir en France
Nifty... GPIO shutdown button?
Not yet but I’m sure it could be programmed. Possibly with a button combo. I’ll talk to the creator and see if it’s something he can implement.
Bad interior design. Assumes you have no cooling on Raspberry (besides the small regular radiators) otherwise it's impossible to mount. The case is simply not tall enought. Joystick rod hits the radiator and there is no space to connect the GPIO interface. The case doesn't have any ventilation holes (except the sd card space) so I woudn't let my Rpi stay there without good cooling solution. This is ment for retro pie and alike gaming, so no cooling is no go for me. So I need to make major mods to it. :( Other than that, say quality wise, seems very ok.
It's a shame they don't have a USB version for PC. I'm guessing Raspberry Pi = tearing or Vsync/input lag/stutter.
Now the deluxe version comes with USB too on the GPIO V2 board.
Your review is spot on, but you don't seem to know how to play fighting games considering you said you play a lot of them. For one, your joystick grip is off. In fact, it's not even a grip. You're mainly using your fingertips. Still luv ya tho!
If they have one that is a little bigger with an american joystick i would buy one.
works with recalbox ? thx
heathenwarwolf I was wondering that too
Raspberry pi can run recalbox. I had it on mine but have since changed back to emulation Station.
We will be downloading, testing and if successful adding a tutorial to our website.
Looks ok
$135.00 USD For the case Pi $45.00 USD And a 200GB micro sd $80.00 for a nice amount of games That comes to what $260.00 USD before tax holy crap i wish the case was cheaper.
damarlboromans you can get class 10 SanDisk 128GB Cards for around $35. The joystick and buttons are really good quality. I prefer the buttons that came with this, to my Rap V Hayabusa fight stick buttons. A piece of duct tape helps stop the nuts from falling when putting the final top on. I'm happy with it. hope that helps. I also like the idea of putting the same hardware in a mayflash f300 though.
Cool
Hey my friend can you add psp rom game on at game portable
Giant bolts for my palm to rest on.. yikes
Your nuts $130 for sanwa buttons and cheap plastic
loud af