First Arcade Stick?

[ShamefurDispray]

Hey all, I'm new to this board and shmups in general. I'm loving the genre and play primarily on my laptop and Xbox 360. I'll looking to take my game to the next level and I think getting a decent stick could help with that. That being said, I was looking at this: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox360-Fighting- ... cade+stick

It seems pretty decent and I like the price range. If I want to get more serious down the road I think I could probably manage to mod it too.

General thoughts on this stick/a decent stick for a beginner?

[shmuppyLove]

I picked up a used one for $40 for my 360, and for that price it's a decent stick. Good compact size, good button layout, and the turbo settings are very handy. Works perfectly on my PC, though because the stick is only usable as a 'POV hat' in Windows, there are some software compatibility issues (especially doujins). Joy2key can remedy this, however.

The stock buttons are horrifically bad if you're used to proper Japanese parts. The stick is decent.

Modding is not easy, unfortunately. As with all cheaper Hori sticks, the buttons are attached directly to the PCB so must all be desoldered if you want to salvage the PCB, then you'd need to enlarge the button holes slightly, relocate the PCB and solder new wiring to it with QDs to attach to the buttons. If you're replacing it with a PS360 or whatever, then who cares you can trash it. Replacing the joystick is also quite difficult, because there is no metal mounting plate and the box is quite shallow.

For $70 + taxes it's hard to recommend as the stock parts aren't very good considering the price, and for me $70 is a lot to pay to rip out 90% of the components and pay another $50 for a new joystick and buttons.

If you can find one used like I did for a good price, I'd nab it. Otherwise, find one of the Mad Catz ones either new or used. I think the WWE Brawl Sticks are still available around the same price. It has better stock parts than the Hori and is waaaaaaaaay easier to mod.

dat artwork tho ...

[blizzz]

You can get a used Qanba Q4 RAF for around $100 on eBay if you're lucky. I got one that was basically brand new for 90€ (~$120) on eBay last year. It works perfectly on 360, PS3 and PC.
As already pointed out, there are also the super ugly (what were they even thinking!?) MadCatz sticks that are relatively cheap. For a bit more you can get one that actually looks good.

What I would recommend, is borrowing a stick from a friend for a few weeks to find out how much it is actually worth to you. But the chance of knowing someone that owns a decent stick is close to 0, unless they are hardcore into fighting games.

[ShamefurDispray]

What I would recommend, is borrowing a stick from a friend for a few weeks to find out how much it is actually worth to you. But the chance of knowing someone that owns a decent stick is close to 0, unless they are hardcore into fighting games.

Yep, you nailed it. I don't know anyone with a stick. I might not bother. It's a lot of money for something I've never tried. I've been improving with my xbox controller d-pad so maybe I should just keep at it. I hate the xbox 360 analogue stick though. They are so imprecise. I just figured out how to use JoyToKey so that I can use the d-pad with Toho and BWR+ and it's a pretty dramatic difference.

I don't know. I don't play Street Fighter but I am really into MK9 so I wonder if it would be worth it for that. I'm ranked in the top 100 in tag mode and have roughly a 4:1 win/loss ratio in single mode. The MK9 "community" is full of douchebags though.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

I think you should buy it. If it turns out you don't like using a stick you haven't invested loads of money into it. My first stick was a Hori EX2 which is inferior to the one you listed yet I got some fun out of it before I gave it away. If you get a better one later you will have two sticks so you can play.. with a friend.

I go all out on this sort of stuff these days, if I were starting again I might get this:
http://www.amazon.com/HORI-Xbox-360-Rea ... cade+stick
This defies the logic of my reply

[chempop]

Superior to the one you are considering, you can get lucky sometimes and find a used one for a decent price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hori-Real-Arcad ... 258c134fcf

[TransatlanticFoe]

My approach has been to get a standard cheaper stick and if it's really horrible, I can mod it. It looks cheaper (and is going to be more fun) to get a PS360+ and buy your own parts than to buy a fancy all-Sanwa or whatever limited edition stick.

No harm in getting something that's relatively cheap but solid enough, see how you get on with the general feel and then go about modding in the future if the mood takes you. I have a Hori EX2 for my 360 because it was only about £25 - worst case scenario was I got a cheap shell for modding. It's decent enough though and I don't feel the need to put custom parts in just yet.

You might not even get along with a stick, so best not to spend too much first time out.

[chempop]

Consider the better shell of the HRAP EX because it will be more stable on a surface and isn't a light piece of crap. It's almost like playing on a mini sega cab, where those other sticks are like using a little toy.

[bradtemple87]

I have a couple sticks that I use for fighting games and shooters. I have found that anything with a shorter throw in the stick helps response time. I have a tournament edition 2 stick from Madcatz and the diamond edition viewlix stick from Taito. Modding the japanese sticks is very straight forward with little experience needed. All of the sticks I have tried under the $80 pricepoint have needed some swapouts for my comfort tastes.

[chempop]

Welcome to the forum dude!

[dayo]

i use this one .

i only use custom made sticks there are on of a kind and made with the best parts.
not cheap, but works super

[chempop]

lol showoff. Did you even read the thread?

[trap15]

Personally, I'd recommend a Qanba Q4 RAF. Really well made, works on PS3/360/PC, not really that expensive, etc. It's the stick I recommend to anyone looking for a new stick

[dayo]

i read it and its nothing to showoff there are in different size and different price range
thats all

[gray117]

vx is fine, but I'd still go qanba q4 (covers all your bases), or the sf4 tournement edition stick for your platform of choice (+pc).

Curiosity if nothing else will have you modding the vx and after parts/tools or simply even time you may have well have gotten it all pre-packaged. If you're a fighting fan you'd be best served getting familiar with sanwa (just due to popularity, if not also functionality) should you ever play with others or go arcades.

Just 2 extra cents:
You'll likely not get along with sticks immediately but perseverance will be worth it... furthermore, in my opinion, sticks are far more satisfying inputs than pads and it likely will help you just to get more enjoyment out all your game experiences - yes it can seem a bit of a price hurdle, but it's just worth it, especially if there's a replay/practicing element to any of your gaming which can otherwise become a chore unless you are really just enjoying all parts of the experience.

[bradtemple87]

Thanks Josh

I figured I should actually register after years of thinking about it

[Lord of Pirates]

vx is fine, but I'd still go qanba q4 (covers all your bases), or the sf4 tournement edition stick for your platform of choice (+pc).

That would be my choice, they're obtainable for $90 or less shipped, if you've got a little patience, and they hold value if you decide you dislike it.

[Bonus!]

It seems pretty decent and I like the price range. If I want to get more serious down the road I think I could probably manage to mod it too.

General thoughts on this stick/a decent stick for a beginner?

That's actually a decent stick. It was also my first one, and I noticed a significant improvement when playing. That being said, I find the stick to be a bit too loose, which is why I got a new one and proper parts to mod it. But, as you said, it's tough recommending plunking down a lot of money on something you don't know you'll like.

[cham0mile]

I started out by modding a WWE All Stars Brawl Stick, incredibly easy. Since it's higher in demand the price has risen. 360 and PS3 are about the same price now but I'm sure you could find a used one for $40 or under. Both work well with PC, joy2key if you have problems.

A friend of mine is perfectly happy with the stock, which are Sanwa clones. See if you like the stock before you invest. If you want to improve it like I did, there are tons of mod threads out there. I personally like a Semitsu LS32 with 30mm Semitsu pushbuttons for my shooters. That would be say an extra $20-25 if you swapped just the stick, + $60 if you did a full mod.

[ddsfan2]

If your experience ends up being anything like mine, you will probably go through a lot of sticks before you find the right one.. For me, it involved a lot of trial and error before I ended up going with Sanwa and Seimitsu parts on an old PS1 stick.

For what it's worth, I own the PS3 counterpart to the stick that you were investigating. It's not a bad stick, but not worth more than $40-50. It is a good entry level stick, but only at a low price (the buttons are decent, but don't compare to Sanwa, the stick is decent, although very loose). From what I've seen of case diagrams (haven't opened mine up yet), the buttons are hardwired.

The truth is that while I enjoy arcade games (or really, ANY 2d games) vastly more with a stick, and find fighting games in particular unplayable without one, I play SHMUPs just as competitively with the PS d-pad or keyboard. Arcade sticks aren't for everyone, and take some time getting used to, but I find that they make SHMUPS incredibly fun and addicting. It makes the experience much more immersive, much like TATE on vertical screen games.

My advice would be to look into a number of factors:

- What platforms do you want to play it on? Any platforms older than Xbox 360? I eventually ended up going with a modded PS1 era stick in order to properly support all of the platforms that I use (PS3, X360, PS2, PS1, DC, MAME, etc...) via converters.

- What button layout do you like? Some popular ones include Sega Astro City and Taito Vewlix. I personally got used to the Hori transitional layout (somewhat similar to the Vewlix layout, but not as good), which while questionable in ergonomics, I actually prefer. If I made my own case, I'd probably try one of the two aforementioned layouts, though.

- What style of stick do you prefer? Western (Happ), moderate throw distance (Seimitsu), long throw distance (Sanwa)? One thing that I've found is that until you use either top tier parts or absolute garbage, you won't notice, but once you try better quality stuff, it will be hard to go back. I personally love the JLF and the LS-58, but those are the only two high end sticks that I own.

- What style of buttons do you prefer? Incredibly sensitive (Sanwa), moderate (Seimitsu)?

- How many buttons do you prefer? Some prefer a lot, some want fewer than 6.

- What case size, and what construction do you prefer? Metal is generally better, especially if you prefer more weight.

As for a good but affordable stick that you won't need to mod, I've heard that the Namco PS1 joystick has excellent quality parts, and is typically quite affordable on ebay. I haven't used it, but I'd wager that it has far better stock parts than the Hori Fighting Stick of the same generation that I modded (worst... buttons... ever).

Do you have any arcades in your local area where you can try out sticks, or have you done so in the past? Growing up, most of the arcades that I went to used either Seimitsu or Happ parts, so I have a basic idea of how they work. I knew from the get-go that I didn't care for Happ parts or even clones (my first stick was an X-Arcade which I never cared for, nor did I like Capcom's US cabinets). I've noticed that most arcades these days have Frankenstein parts, many times of which are barely working, so it may just be nostalgia talking.

For moddability are a few factors to keep in mind:

- Are you good at soldering, crimping, using a drill, or even wood working? If not, you'll probably spend a very long time modding it, and you might even break some parts. I can't tell you how long I spent building mine, but the result was very good for my needs.

- Depth of the case. Old sticks especially are too shallow for professional grade sticks, as I personally found out. I had to work with a family member on building a case extension to fit a JLF and LS-58 into the two Fighting Stick PSs that I own.

- Are the buttons hardwired to the case? Many modern sticks are problematic in that regard, like the Hori Fighting Stick V3 stick (so I believe that the same would apply to the VX)

- How are you planning to mount the stick? Some sticks it is dead easy, others you'll have to come up with creative tricks to get the regulation height correct.

- Is the PCB documented, or easy to figure out? That's one thing going for my stick, as its Sega Saturn counterpart was well documented on forums, and as it turned out, it was trivial to determine the wiring for the PS1 stick as well

Hope this helps.

[ShamefurDispray]

Hope this helps.

Holy crap, man. Yes, this definitely helps 0_0 Lot of info. Yes, I did get a Hori stick for a reasonable price since shmuppylove was kind enough to make me an offer. I haven't even tried it yet since I'm not opening it till I finish my final exams on Tuesday haha. I haven't been to an arcade since I was a kid and even then I was just playing beat-em ups like The Simpsons in a shitty little Caesar Land. I have a lot to learn.