The iL Eurojoystick may be better known as the original HAPP Competition. Many people who grew up playing at arcades in the USA in the 80's and 90's will remember these parts. These days, iL's name is synonymous with high quality Western parts over HAPP, when once HAPP was synonymous with American parts.

This model is red.

A little history:

iL was the original manufacturer for HAPP arcade parts. Once HAPP and SUZO merged into SUZO-HAPP, HAPP moved production of their arcade parts to SUZO's Chinese manufacturing plants. This left iL to manufacture these parts with decades of history under their own brand. Today, it may be said that iL is the better known of the two Western parts manufacturers. This is mostly in part because cabinet builders seek iL parts out to maintain vintage standards and the higher quality over HAPP products.

There are two common iL manufactured levers on the market. The iL Compact and the iL Eurojoystick. iL made the Compact for HAPP under the Super name, and the Eurojoystick under the Competition name. iL Compacts were common, but players wanted something more accurate. The precision of the iL Eurojoystick is greatly improved over the iL Compact and the Eurojoystick became the new standard for Western arcade controls.

So, how does it feel?

The iL Eurojoystick differs greatly from Japanese sticks, which are considered the modern standard for arcade and fight sticks. Eurojoysticks come stock with a much higher tension spring giving a tighter feel to the stick and a snappier return to neutral. Eurojoysticks are prized by Marvel players for this reason, allowing for faster super jumps and directional changes than their Japanese counterparts. The travel feels fast and your hands will feel furious as you play. Speed is the key here, and not many levers will feel faster.

Eurojoysticks have a fairly quick engage and short throw. The actuators are square which is different than most other sticks that come stock with circular actuators. This creates a different feel, they tend to hit cardinal and diagonal directions evenly even though the levers are not restricted by a gate. The actuators are high quality, durable and solid plastic. Compared to the competition (pun intended) the Eurojoystick will last longer thanks to this design in comparison to the modern Competition by HAPP which is now using rubber actuators instead. When the actuator engages the switch, it creates a solid feeling upon impact, different from the feeling of an actuator hitting a gate in a Japanese stick. If you're the kind of player who feels a Japanese stick is a bit too hollow sounding and feeling during actuator impact, then you will want to check out the Eurojoystick.

The bottom of the body has square walls in place to stop the actuator from traveling too far, but most of the movement of the stick never extends far enough to bump into them. This creates the illusion that the stick will have a square feeling, but it doesn't. It's mostly circular in feeling, you will not feel corners like you would in a Japanese stick. If you're the type of player who chooses grappler characters who rely on 360 motions or looking for something a lit

All levers on the market have potential for deflection. During normal play, Eurojoysticks do not deflect and remain precise. Superfluous movements can cause it to happen, just like anything else in life when too much is applied when only a moderate amount is needed. Execution and practice will help if this is a common error during play when starting. On the other hand, masters of the craft will use deflection during execution to do things you couldn't do as fast the normal way, such as 720 motions by master grappler players.

These levers are excellent for people looking for a snappy and precise stick.

What application is the Eurojoystick good for?

I'm so glad you decided to ask! There are many reasons to get a Eurojoystick. If you're a cabinet builder then you need a lever that is easily mounted in a wood panel. Japanese levers take a lot more work to mount into a wood panel, requiring a lot of routing and wood working normally not required by iL Eurojoysticks. If you are replacing a lever in an old American arcade cabinet during maintenance for your arcade machines or a customer's, the Eurojoystick is a drop in replacement. If you are restoring an old American arcade cabinet, and the controls need replaced, then these are the original parts. Easy, drop in replacements for what was originally installed in cabinets across the nation. iL Eurojoysticks are also drop in replacements for modern day MK9 and MK fight sticks by PDP.

There is also the way the lever feels in comparison to other levers to consider for the application required. If you are looking for something like this, or if you are a modder and have a customer looking for this particular play, it's easy to make a recommendation of an iL Eurojoystick.

Pros:

• Snappy action and short movements

• Quick return to neutral

• Long lasting and highly durable build quality

• Easy wood panel mounting

• Durable Nylon6 shaft cover, dust washer, and bat top

• Cherry microswitches that last up to 50 million inputs

Cons:

• Higher deflection than Japanese sticks

• No restrictor gates

• Can't be mounted in most mass produced arcade and fight stick panels

The harness has .187 quick connects that attach to the two connection on each microswitch. To install, please see an explanation of which tabs to use in our solution database here.

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IL_Eurostick_Joystick_A03441.pdf