Best PS2 arcade stick for shmupping?

[greg]

I can usualy get a No Miss on the first level of Mushihime, but I think I'd do better with a great arcade stick built for twitchy shmupping. Any recommendations?

[Ghegs]

Moved to Hardware.

Don't go buying an arcade stick and expect your performance to magically increase, odds are you'll do a lot worse at first if you haven't used sticks much before.

That said, I have a Namco Arcade Stick and though I don't use it much (I prefer pads) it has served me well.

[greg]

I thought that I should've put this topic in the hardware forum. My bad.

Anyhow, I usually do better with arcade sticks. Is the Namco one you have the one that comes bundled with Tekken?

[mannerbot]

No, the Namco Arcade Stick is a PS1 stick, actually. It's also made by Hori and is a bit smaller. The Tekken 5 LE stick is modeled after the Real Arcade Pro, but has only Hori parts. The Namco Arcade Stick might be rather difficult to find and the eBay hounds really go crazy over it.

For the best stick possible, your best shot is going over to shoryuken.com's hardware forum and getting a custom built from finkle, Tha Darkside, nasci, or Dreaded Fist. finkle is probably the best choice overall, but the best sticks are probably Darkside's. Though, his sticks have something of a name brand price nowadays.

[bigbadboaz]

Greg, I think he's referring to the classic yellow/grey Namco from the PS1 days.

Personally, I'll recommend the Hori Real Arcade Pro all the way to the grave. It's expensive but worth every penny. When I finally laid out the cash to find out what the hype about Sanwa sticks was all about, I very quickly wished I had done so much sooner. The Namco stick and every other consumer-grade Japanese-style stick are pale imitations. All respect to the Namco - it was a classic and I have two - but when you play with the Sanwa you can tell all the others are just budget imitations. Anyway, I'd say track down an HRAP. If you don't like it you can easily recoup your cash.

Oh, and if you decide you want something a bit cheaper, I'll probably be selling some Namcos fairly soon.

[mannerbot]

Although, if you want a Tekken 5 LE stick I have one I'm willing to let go of.

[mannerbot]

Oh, and if you decide to get a Hori Real Arcade Pro you should probably send Mr. Wizard over at Shoryuken.com a PM ASAP to save on shipping.

[SAM]

No, the Namco Arcade Stick is a PS1 stick, actually. It's also made by Hori and is a bit smaller. The Tekken 5 LE stick is modeled after the Real Arcade Pro, but has only Hori parts. The Namco Arcade Stick might be rather difficult to find and the eBay hounds really go crazy over it.

The Tekken 5 RAP stick actually got Sanwa stick w/ Hori's buttons. I have opened mine and replace it with Seimitsu LS-32. (and then desolder the Hori button and snap in Sanwa's one...)

The Tekken 5 RAP stick & the coming SC III RAP one are the sitck to go if you don't want to build/mod it yourself w/ Sanwa/Seimitsu parts. The Hori RAP series actually is not that costly if you are not buying those LE version only offered at the website. The majority of the cost actually goes to the shipping. I can get the Tekken 5 / SC III version here for around US$55.

If you are going to replace the stick and buttons, it would be better to build it yourself. The cheapest joystick case that can host a Sanwa in the States was said to be the AceTac DC stick.

For the Sanwa parts, the cheapest supply I can found are from Wai Lee.

They cost only :

Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y (APA-00066) @US$9.62
Sanwa OBSF-30 (APA-00074) @US$1.15
Sanwa OBSF-24 (APA-00082) @US$1.03

http://www.wailee.com/

Yes, they offer the parts cheap , but they only stock parts in Pink and Green colour...

[mannerbot]

Hey SAM, that's true for the Japanese version but not the American. Also, if one wanted a Japanese HRAP he should just get the original, since it actually takes work to switch out the buttons on the Japanese Tekken 5 stick.

[superhitachi4]

I have a Namco Arcade Stick and though I don't use it much (I prefer pads) it has served me well.

Yeah, it's hard to go wrong with the Namco Arcade Stick for PS1/PS2 if you can find one. Mine's treated me well too. A lot of people like to use modified DC sticks on their PS1/PS2 systems. That's a nice solution if you don't mind a little work.

[Neon]

I can also recommend the hori RAP...I have the Capcom Fighting Jam version.

I also have a Saturn Virtua Stick (not the Sega one) modded with Sanwa parts. Good stuff. The buttons are better than the HRAP but the ones on the HRAP aren't completely terrible or anything.

[SAM]

Hey SAM, that's true for the Japanese version but not the American. Also, if one wanted a Japanese HRAP he should just get the original, since it actually takes work to switch out the buttons on the Japanese Tekken 5 stick.

Yes, it was said that the buttons of the original HRAP is not soldered on the PBC, and are much more easy to replace. But I cannot find any of them being sold in the local store, all that I can found are the Tekken 5... Even they are all gone by now.

I can also recommend the hori RAP...I have the Capcom Fighting Jam version.

The Fighting Jam Version is nice, it even got the auto fire like the original. I should have bought that instead.

I also have a Saturn Virtua Stick (not the Sega one) modded with Sanwa parts. Good stuff. The buttons are better than the HRAP but the ones on the HRAP aren't completely terrible or anything.

Well the Saturn Virtual Stick for PS2 is the way to go if you cannot found a HRAP. It actually installed with a Seimitsu LS-33. If you are picky, you can changed all the buttons to Sanwa, and you got a pretty good joystick. The only draw back is stick of the Saturn Virtua Stick cannot be removed, so you cannot mount another joystick within.

Don't worry, if the joystick of the Saturn Virtual Stick is broken, you can just buy new Seimitsu LS-33 and swop in the spring & micro-switchs.