Numskull recently released a new Quarter Arcade based on Taito's 1983 action platformer Zoo Keeper, which has started shipping to customers. But fans have already reported having some new issues with the joystick controls, which weren't present in the original arcade version.
The issues came to light on the Official Quarters Arcades Fan Group on Facebook over the weekend, where customers reported having issues with the joystick not registering movement and stopping the character dead — typically when players try to move the stick diagonally.
Ashley Day, a frequent contributor to our site, for instance, wrote on the group, "It’s really cool to have a replica of one of my favourite games, however I’m having a problem with the controls. Sometimes the input doesn’t register and stops dead. Which is really annoying, and not my experience with the original cab or emulated versions."
Following this, others in the group also began commenting to share the difficulties they were having with the controls, leading Ben Grant, the co-owner of Numskull, to state that they were investigating the issue. Shortly after, Grant then posted a new update on the group, breaking down why the issue is likely occurring and suggesting that a firmware update is on the way to fix it.
"The original arcade runs directly off a board," Grant wrote. "So the movement of the joystick directly links to the game and runs smoothly. Ours is digital. The joystick talks to the software (the emulator) and then the game ROM. We think our emulator is not handling the diagonal movements smoothly enough."
He continues, "Basically, to move diagonal, the joystick presses left and down together. Our emulator is struggling with both signals and basically is only processing Down instead of left + down. Hence the character stops. The MAME version of the game does exactly the same, according to our initial research. [We're] currently looking at a firmware update to help improve [this]. More updates to follow. Appreciate everyone’s feedback and patience so far."
If you've ordered the Zoo Keeper cabinet, that should hopefully mean that all you will have to do is download a firmware update in the near future, to bring the experience closer to the arcade. We'll keep you posted if we hear more.