For the most part, the way arcade levers work hasn’t really changed since the last century. While efforts have been made with optical and magnetic sensors, most still rely on physical microswitches, and for good reason: most alternatives don’t really add any sort of functionality that regular physical switches don’t already have. However, we now have a new challenger that aims to go beyond that — Paradise Arcade Shop’s Project Magenta.
We’ve already covered Project Magenta before. Long story short, Project Magenta leverages its sensors by allowing the player to customize a lot of things in software. The lever’s deadzones, actuation, and even how wide the actuation points for cardinals can all be customized without having to do any hardware mods (as would be the case with more traditional levers).
Now, for those curious about how this all goes down, Mark “BornFree” Sheridan got a chance to shoot some video of Project Magenta in action at Paradise Arcade Shop’s booth at Combo Breaker 2018. Here, Paradise Arcade Shop’s Dr. Bryan Armitage talks a bit more about his innovative lever. This includes a live view of one Magenta lever actually connected to a computer, showing off how it just how much it can be customized.
Source: BornFree