JAMMA RotaStick

Description

Allows you to use your JAMMA joystick setup to control games that use LS-30 rotary joysticks.

JAMMA RotaStick, is a JAMMA passthrough card with a built-in LS-30 joystick emulator for games that require rotary joystick controls. The adapter comes with two 13 pin rotary joystick cables that connect to your PCBs rotary joystick connector headers. JAMMA boards with rotary joystick support will work out of the box, while non JAMMA games will require an adapter in addition to this card.

Four modes of operation are provided to generate the additional rotational info for the game. The direction of the rotational component can be changed using either the existing JAMMA joystick or control panel buttons.

Images

Features

• Full Compatibility – The card faithfully emulates industry standard LS-30 rotary joystick, generating the required rotational position information and feeding it to the standard rotary joystick 13 pin connector.
• Passthrough Card – All JAMMA functions are passed through with no additional controls needed. Rotation data is generated from the position of a regular joystick and/or buttons.
• Can be left connected as passthrough for games that don’t use an LS-30 stick.
• Buttons used to control rotation can be can be selected from any of the available 4 JAMMA buttons via jumper selection.

Modes

The following modes of operation are available via jumper selection:

• LEAD – The player faces (rotates towards) the direction of travel. Buttons can be used to offset the rotation with respect to joystick direction.
• LOCK HOLD – Rotation can be changed by the joystick direction, but is locked by holding the HOLD.
• LOCK TOGGLE – Same as LOCK HOLD but the locking is toggled by pressing the HOLD button.
• ROTATE – Two control buttons can be used to rotate right or left by one step.

Compatibility

Games that should be compatible with the card. Non-JAMMA games will require the use of a JAMMA adapter. SNK pre-JAMMA games will require a SNK Type B adapter in addition to this card.

• Ikari Warriors
• Time Soldiers
• Guerrilla War / Guevara
• Victory Road / Dogosoken
• Ikari III
• SAR (Search and Rescue)
• TNK III
• Bermuda Triangle / World Wars
• Heavy Barrel
• Gondomania / Makyou Senshi
• Midnight Resistance
• Jackal (some versions)
• Downtown / Mokugeki

Controls

Games that require rotary LS-30 joysticks are pretty much unplayable without the proper controls. This card attempts to remedy the problem by simulating rotary controls just from the standard 8 way joystick and buttons. There are some limitations to this however. This is mainly due to the fact that the LS-30 joysticks do not report absolute , but rather relative rotation events to the game. The game expects a left click to mean one rotation step left, and a right click to mean one rotation step right. That’s it!

Understanding this concept will help you master the controls using this adapter. This is also the reason why multiple control modes are provided. Some may take a while to get used to and can be frustrating in the heat of battle. More detailed info on the control behavior for each mode, can be found below:

LEAD – Rotation is always determined by the direction of player movement. Changing the movement direction to the right by 90 degrees, will rotate the player right by 90 degrees. This mode was made to force the player to always face (and shoot) in the direction of their travel, but it can also be made to be offset by a set amount.

The rotation can be offset / or reset by using the ROTATION buttions. For example, the player can be made to move forward while shooting 45 degrees to their left.

After death, the game resets the player’s absolute rotation and forces the player to be facing forward. This is where this mode can get confusing as the adapter has no way of knowing that a player death has occured and therefore isn’t able to reset its internal position settings, which may lead to a rotational offset.

To avoid this, push the joystick UP (or the direction the player is facing) while player respawns to sync up player movement and rotation. Failing to reset rotation at this point can be corrected later, by using the ROTATION buttons after the player spawns.

LOCK HOLD – Similar to LEAD. Rotation is normally determined by the movement direction of the player, but holding the HOLD button will lock the player rotation in a fixed position, now independent of his movement.

Reset the rotation by releasing the HOLD button when moving the player in the direction he is facing. Releasing the HOLD button when the player moves in a different direction, will retain the rotational offset.

This one can be a bit difficult to master, but allowes for the trickiest of moves, such as backing up while shooting in the opposite direction, and it’s the fastest to execute.

LOCK TOGGLE – Similar to LOCK HOLD, but the HOLD and LEAD modes are toggled by hitting the HOLD button once. Slightly easier to master than LOCK HOLD and can be just as effective.

ROTATE – Player rotation is completely independent of their movement. Rotation is controlled by the left and right ROTATION buttons. One press of the left button rotates the player one step left, and one press of the right button rotates the player one step right. This is the easiest mode to use at first as it most resemles the default behavior of the LS-30 joysticks.

Revision History:

Rev 1.0: Initial Release.

Specifications

Board Size: 50mm x 112mm
Current Carrying Capacity: 5V – 12A, 12V – 3A, -5V – 3A