First Joystick

[CoolgyFurlough]

I've been interested in Shmups and other arcade games for years, and with the release of Mushi on Steam, I'm finally thinking about getting a joystick for my PC.
The problem is, I have no idea what constitutes a good joystick / buttons, and I don't want to drop a lot of money on something that might end up being terrible.
So I was wondering if you guys have any particular suggestions. The only feature that I think of that I absolutely need is a way to change it into a 4-way stick for Tetris: The Grand Master.
It would also be nice if it could connect to a 360 for my copy of SDOJ, but I don't mind if it doesn't. My price range is around $100, but I'd be willing to pay quite a bit more if the stick is good enough to warrant it.

Also sorry if this has been asked in various ways a thousand times.

[hanasu]

Anything with:

joystick: Sanwa/Seimitsu
buttons: Sanwa

is the gold standard. At your price point you'll probably have to buy used - check Amazon/ebay or shoryuken.com forums for a start. Both of those sticks will have an option to change the restrictor to 4way operation. It's a pretty annoying process to have to do frequently though.

[Immryr]

I would suggest just getting a madcatz street fighter SE or the wwe brawl stick. you can pick them up used on ebay for peanuts and swapping the stock parts for seimitsu or sanwa is very easy - you just need a screwdriver.

[donluca]

Personal opinion: stay away from Sanwa JLF.

I have a Madcatz TE2 stick with it and I've hated it since the day I've bought it. I got only because I found a nice deal from a local shop and people in the FGC have been praising it but I absolutely hate it.

Now I've made two custom sticks for my NeoGeo MVS with Seimitsu LS-40 and it's a huge leap ahead for me: hella tighter and precise.

I'll probably put a LS-40 in my TE2 stick as well one day.

Anyway, always try a stick first before buying if you can and see what feels best in your hands.

[CoolgyFurlough]

I ended up getting a WWE Brawl Stick on Amazon for like $70, but I have no idea which Seimitsu to mod it with.
It seems like they're all around $20, so getting it wrong isn't the largest deal, but I'm just not sure.
I was thinking about an LS-32 because of the very small travel, but I've heard nice things about the newer sticks as well.
Is there any Seimitsu which is considered "standard" by the shmup community?

[Immryr]

LS-32 is not a very stiff stick, and there is one thing which really annoys me about that stick - when you hold in any direction first you hit the gate, which is where you expect the stick to stop, but on the ls-32 the stick kind of pops up a little bit then goes out further in which ever direction you're holding. you can get used to this but it's annoying and you shouldn't have to.

there is no real standard stick for shmups but the ls-56 might be close to it.

you will also want to swap the buttons out on your wwe stick as the stock madcatz ones are awful. it's worth looking on https://www.akishop.jp/ and checking prices there with the current weak yen. when I bought a bunch of parts earlier this year it was cheaper getting them from there even after shipping than buying it from a uk shop.

[CoolgyFurlough]

...

The buttons and stick on this thing are absolutely terrible. The stick doesn't like to register sometimes and the buttons are hair-triggered. I'm going to see how the LS-56 works out. Do I need to buy a diamond restrictor for the stick, or is the one that it comes with changeable?

Also thanks so much for the help so far, I have tried searching all of this stuff but it's scattered everywhere and not very novice-friendly.

[emphatic]

I'm going to see how the LS-56 works out. Do I need to buy a diamond restrictor for the stick, or is the one that it comes with changeable?
.

Get the octo-gate too. It's a really cheap piece, and won't add to the shipping cost. If you don't like it, just change back to the square gate. The LS-56 with octo-gate is a very good stick for shmups, especially if you, like me, like to ride the gate, even though that's frowned upon by some people.

My journey with arcade sticks began in my teens, and now I'm 42. I can't stand the Seimitsu sticks, even though they are like bread and butter in the shumps community, because they just feel cheap. IMHO, the SANWA JLF is clearly of higher quality, but suffers from longer throw and slower engage, but that can be fixed by using a custom actuator.

[Immryr]

hmm there used to be a good guide on pineconeattack for modding these madcatz sticks, but it's gone now.

[emphatic]

hmm there used to be a good guide on pineconeattack for modding these madcatz sticks, but it's gone now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Ha2uphm38