Apparently I guess it is a quasi 4/8 way joystick. Man that really sucks.
I had no idea that there were 8 way joysticks pretending to be 4 way joysticks. So you can't just go by feel with all 8 ways. Learn something new every day. It just sucks that Robbie had to learn the hard way.
I swear Robbie's quest for a top 12 spot is turning into a Steve Wiebe moment. First he gets in with a 1.07 million game, and then he finds out that MAME doesn't count. Then he gets a Funspot score of 1.015 million that Richie says gets him a dedicated machine. Of course Richie spoke too soon, and he didn't get that dedicated machine. And now he plays an 8 way joystick that has the functionality of a 4 way joystick, and his score gets disqualified after he finds out it's an 8 way after the fact.
If Robbie does not get into the top 12, everyone here has to admit he deserves the "Hard Luck Player of the Year Award".