Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE on PC

[Bixler]

I created a thread in "Shmups Chat" earlier about being a total beginner. I'm currently using a Retina Macbook Pro 15" dual booted with Windows 7 to play shmups as my main machine (in college, it's all I have besides a Sega Genesis and a very tiny monitor to play it on). After some deliberation I decided to go with an arcade stick to play games like Jamestown and Crimzon Clover, the only two shmups that I own right now (will be looking into others as time goes on, of course).

I have a couple of questions about the Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE stick. I found a used one in "Very Good" condition on Amazon for $100. Here's a link. Would this be an appropriate price to pay considering the condition? Furthermore, will this work on Windows 7 without any hitches, and with virtually any shmup game? I would hate to pick it up and spend so much money only to find that it has a ton of compatibility issues with many shmup games on Windows 7. Does anyone have any experience with using this stick on the PC?

Thank you!

[beatsgo]

Because it's a xbox 360 stick and a hori you will have some issues with the official xbox 360 driver not working with some shmup games on Win7. I had issues with my EX stick and differed to this driver because (A)I don't want to pay for a driver (B)I like my sticks to use digital input instead of analog input. You can give joy2key, but I prefer not to have keyboard inputs from my stick if you know what I mean. ;3

[Bixler]

Thank you very much for the info. Would you still recommend picking this up and using those drivers, or Xpadder? Why is Joy2Key not as desirable? It seems to be really popular for this sort of thing.

[beatsgo]

It all comes down to preference. IMO, I would rather have a specific stable driver then utilizing an "all-in-one" driver or workaround program on my PC. I plug my x360 stick so often that I rather not deal with the misc.

[Bixler]

Thanks for the help. I'm still debating whether to drop $100 on a used one (I hear Seimitsu parts are the best for shmups rather than Sanwa parts, so this is tempting), but drivers are definitely something to consider in my purchase.

[shmuppyLove]

Because it's a xbox 360 stick and a hori you will have some issues with the official xbox 360 driver not working with some shmup games on Win7. I had issues with my EX stick and differed to this driver because (A)I don't want to pay for a driver (B)I like my sticks to use digital input instead of analog input. You can give joy2key, but I prefer not to have keyboard inputs from my stick if you know what I mean. ;3

I had no idea these alternative drivers existed.

beatsgo you are my new hero.

[bobrocks95]

Protip: Check ebay sold listings to determine an average price. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?clk_rvr_ ... ld=1&rt=nc

Also the non-SE looks a good bit cheaper, but I won't pretend to know the difference between the two. EDIT: Regular doesn't have the Seimitsu parts, they're Hori-made.

Also found out the original list price for this stick was $140, so as a fellow college student I'd it'd better be in really good condition. Entirely up to your judgement there though.

[beatsgo]

If you're not planning to play on an xbox 360, I would definitely give the HRAP 3 a look since it's basically the same as the EX, but for the PS3. Also here's a nice wiki page detailing which Hori sticks are easier to mod.

Also if you're planning to use a PS1/PS2 Hori stick, I would avoid getting the T5 Anniversary stick if you don't want to spend a full day dremeling out holes on the control panel.