The following is a pictorial account of the creation of The Greatest Joystick Ever ®. Very big thanks to Hitogoroshi for providing the art from his treasured poster, and Matt Razak for allowing me to borrow his laptop for an ungodly amount of time in order to scan the monstrosity.


Started off following some templates found on slagcoin. This gave me the basic pattern needed for button and joystick hole placement. I wound up moving the joystick hole for more comfort. The button holes were drilled with a 1 3/16" hole saw, and the joystick was drilled with a 15/16" hole saw.


Gizmo looks on as I fit my old Hori buttons in the brand new panel.


I am saddened by the fact that Street Fighter Mania has swept the country, and caused ridiculous back orders at Lizard Lick.


Comparing the different versions of the art I had come up with.


OMG! What's this?! Two packages from Raleigh, North Carolina?!


I'm so happy! [Notice the size of the goatee compared to the sad picture. Gives a nice reference of how long I waited (2 months)]


Buttons! Technically, Seimitsu PS-14-GN 30mm and PS-14-DN 24mm pushbuttons with clear plungers, in white and black.


Routed some space around the panel button holes, in order to be able to screw on the button nut.


Routed a hole for the joystick to be mounted in.


Toodles Cthulhu PC/PS3 Board unassembled kit. It basically works the same as a controller, without all that pesky space that an actual controller PCB takes up.


Same as the last picture, but assembled! I wound up not putting it in at this point, since I likely killed the PIC because I'm an idiot and forgot to remove it when I soldered the IC socket to the board. I'll probably get a new chip in the future and add PS3 support to it.


The joystick is mounted in the panel. Model is Seimitsu LS-32-01 ball handle, with a 5-pin wiring harness.


Final art, printed with some holes cut in it for everything to come through.


Buttons and joystick are mounted on the panel. Now we're getting somewhere.


Ooooh. Pretty.


Madcatz 360 controller PCB, with a mess of wires soldered and glued in place.


Same as before, but now with more wires!


Cutting the frame down to size, with 45 degree mitre joints.


Back panel, with three button holes, and one switch hole, sunk and routed to round the edges.


Koko sleeping, for some reason, on a pack of 000 steel wool and a can of black satin stain + polyurethane.


Gluing the frame together. Bottom panel keeping it in a square shape.


Yay! The frame is all together!


First coat of stain is on and drying. Still not very glossy.


Second coat is on. Now there's the glossy look I was trying to get.


Staining the bottom and gluing the panel supports in place.


Buttons, switch, and wire are all mounted and in place!


Look how clean and organized it is! [Take note, because it didn't stay that way for long]


And here comes the tentacle rape.


Bottom panel and rubber feet are mounted. We're almost done!




The finished product. It plays beautifully. And now if/when it breaks, I know how to fix it, unlike stupid Hori sticks that break randomly.