SANWA DENSHI Co., Ltd. has been and is still the most widely recognized company when it comes to supplying arcade stick parts and accessories for both the arcade and consumer market.  Sanwa Denshi's JLF series joystick, being over 30 years in production, is the widely most used joystick in the same period of time and continues to do so. 

30+ Years of Excellence

True to SANWA DENSHI standards, they rarely release new products unless they feel there is a true benefit to the consumer.   Given there hasn't been any upgrades to their JLF series joysticks in the past 30 years, developing a successor must be thoroughly planned, refined, tested and retested to ensure it retains the main characteristics of the original as well as improve on them.  For the past few years, Sanwa Denshi has been doing just that and have released a product that is a noticeable and welcomed improvement over the JLF series.

The JLX Difference

•  Larger and denser material used for the base (POM).  What this does is more stability (less vibration) when executing inputs.  This is immediately noticeable if you're familiar with the feel of the current JLF
  
• New Polished Pivot (less friction) for smoother motion and longer lasting performance
  
• Improved heavier and thicker metal washer
• Upgraded actuator that is used in the Silent JLF is now used in the JLX.  This is slightly larger for faster activation and consistent inputs in all directions
  
• New GT-8X Gate.  This was sold separately in the JLF Pro Modding kit as an upgrade.  For the JLX, this is the stock gate, which allows further modding capabilities such as swapping out other gates to match your game play preference

A True Successor

Like any product, material upgrades don't mean a thing if there isn't a noticeable improvement in performance.  When we first laid hands on the JLX at JAEPO 2023 (Japanese Amusement Expo) we immediately noticed how rigid and stable the movement was.  For some users, the stock JLF in itself feels a bit loose, which can cause some erroneous inputs, such as performing a fireball motion (QCF) but ending up with a dragon punch (DP) output.  Essentially, making the JLX more stable would eliminate or minimize these errors.  

Contents

• JLX joystick as seen in pic (no mounting plate)