purple il eurostick joystick (aka happ competition)
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. 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 manucturing 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. Eurosticks have a fairly quick engage and short throw.