My favourite joystick is the "SUZO -- Arcade", which you can use on 8/16 bit computers. It looks like an arcade stick, the stick is microswitched (click click click click!) and the button is not (I think microswitched fire buttons, which I saw in a review of a modern day joystick, are not a good idea in an action game?), and it is virtually indestructable. Anyway, a friend of mine used to own some kind of converter or game card so that he could attach these '8 bit joysticks' to his PC. (Edit: cbmeeks gave some links on this I see now.)
Here's a link about the Arcade joystick and how to connect it to a PC:
http://www.c64games.com/adv-emu.html
This is about connecting a PC joystick to an Atari 5200, which is the opposite of what you want:
http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/06_04.html
And this is the kind of joystick you don't want to use:
http://www.joystickreview.com/spectravideo/pcphantom2.asp
Wait, that's a flight stick.
Here's a link about the Arcade joystick and how to connect it to a PC:
http://www.c64games.com/adv-emu.html
This is about connecting a PC joystick to an Atari 5200, which is the opposite of what you want:
http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/06_04.html
And this is the kind of joystick you don't want to use:
http://www.joystickreview.com/spectravideo/pcphantom2.asp
Wait, that's a flight stick.