Buying a good arcade stick

Are you talking about the 4-way setting in the top, in this picture?

That's the one I use for Tetris and I don't see why that would give me any problems? I've done plenty of zangies with it, though mostly for practice - my skill is nowhere near a level where I'd get any genuine use for that kind of move (but it's fun to do), so feel free to enlighen me.
The only issue I've had with Seimitsu is that it's so sensitive, that some times I lose control of the stick and it registers an opposite direction as the stick "swings back" XD But that's entirely my own fault.

I have Sanwas in my cabinet though, so soon now.. I'll have to play it with Sanwa.

 

Just following up on this, since I got my TAP board for my cabinet I've been playing with Sanwas.
My immediate reaction is that the game feels a little bit better with this, most notably I have to admit that zangie moves are definitely easier to pull off, even though I still cannot understand why that would be.
However, I'm still experiencing the "springback" effect if I'm being careless and letting go of the stick (once again, this is purely my own fault, but I bet I could replace or loosen the spring a little if I really care), and more importantly, the 4-way setting on a Sanwa is pretty crappy compared to the "clover shape" of the Seimitsu shown above. It's not as bad as the 8-way setting, but there's still quite a bit of room for diagonals, which has screwed me a bit in sub-20G play. To me I guess, the Sanwa is a winner by a tiny margin, but I don't see why you'd necessarily prefer it over Seimitsu.

 

Because the clover shape nubbins just get in the way of the joystick movement until you essentially wear them down. The same movement in the Sanwa gate is easier and more fluid because there's nothing in the way.

This tends to get better as the stick gets older - newer JLFs are far worse for bounceback than ones that have seen a fair bit of gameplay.

Sanwas are better because the problems with the Sanwas (possibility of diagonals, bounceback) go away if you have better and more precise inputs on the joystick. Meanwhile the clover gate on the Seimitsu makes zangi moves more awkward and there's nothing you can really do as a player to compensate for it besides filing down the restrictor plate.

 

Heh, my Sanwas aren't exactly new. Of course they haven't seen nearly as much use as they would have on location. I don't think they're gonna be worn out any time soon.

So I guess my issues with Sanwa's restrictor is in fact also the advantage Sanwa has. Nothing to do about it then. I considered looking for a clover shaped restrictor for Sanwa, but if that's what causes issues with zangies, that's pretty much moot...

 

I think you can kind of play around the weird clover gate and still do Zangis, but it is something you'd probably not encounter in a Japanese arcade anyway since it'd see enough use from various people to grind down the restrictor naturally without having to resort to filing.

It's worth noting that some of the cabs in Japan have a Seimitsu LS-32 in 1P side and Sanwa JLF in 2P side (or vice versa).

 

Considered doing the same for my cab, since I got a lot of shooters, but figured it would be pretty unfair in case of vs fighters (or vs Tetris even, if I ever get the chance)

 

Quick advice, NEVER EVER buy the HORI HAYABUSHA joystick. The plate is different, the switch connector also located on the right handside instead of bottom, which makes it very tricky to install on existing cabinet. And the shaft is a bit longer than Sanwa JLF

 

PSA: Don't forget to grease up!!

So after a year or so of playing TAP on my arcade cab, my Sanwas felt more and more "off". Some times directions would hang just a little, and the stick in general just didn't feel as smooth as you'd expect. I usually had to do a few rotations with it before a game just to "warm it up".
I realised of course, that this was not normal behavior, and it continually got worse to the point where sub-20G was nearly unplayable. So I finally decided to take both sticks apart and clean every part. There was a lot of plastic dirt hanging around, and I replaced all microswitches just to be sure. Long story short, after a fine job at fixing up the stick, it finally played well again.

That said, something still felt a little off. The stick still didn't feel completely like new, and I couldn't shake the feeling that some times it would behave a bit irratically. Of course, with things like this it's really difficult to judge whether it's an actual physical issue, or just mental. Blaming the controller, basically.
So yesterday as I was streaming a short session and someone who joined my chat (I didn't notice who it was - someone from in here?) pointed out how horribly squeeky my joystick was, and recommended that I'd grease it up.

I actually feel like a bit of an idiot. As anyone who's bought joysticks like this would know, they come greased up from the factory, and as I was cleaning the plastics I didn't even consider that I'd be removing what little was left, actually making my joystick worse in the process, despite having fixed the stuck microswitches. So today I went to a local store to pick up some silicone based grease and gave the P1 stick a go, and now it's suddenly playing like a dream! I immediately played a new game where I got my second 999 game of Master mode, and it felt way easier this time around, eliminating probably half the misdrops I'd have made before. In fact, it feels like it's playing better than it ever did before. From now on I'll make it a habit to grease up my sticks () every other year, just to make sure they're kept in a winning condition <3

I'm sure this might be common knowledge to some people, but considering how many arcade gaming and gear nerds I know, it's surprising I've never really heard anyone talk about this stuff.


tl;dr Buy grease. Apply grease. Improve your game.

Bonus info: No reason to go for importing the "official" Japanese Shin-etsu brand that is recommended for arcade sticks. Any silicone based greased should do - just make sure it's actually intended for use on plastic parts.