Saturn and 360 Arcade Sticks

[promking]

Hey guys, new to the site just found it looking up Arcade Sticks.
I'm looking for advice, and hopefully some help. I'm looking at picking up an Arcade stick I plan to use it with my American 360 and American Saturn. I play quite a lot of shmups, mostly with my Saturn. I'm looking for a stick I can use on both systems. I've been told they make a converter, but I haven't had any luck finding a place to buy one. Could anyone steer me in the direction of where I could pick one up?

Next, I was looking at a HRAP, but many people say that I'm just spending too much on a case, and if I was serious, I'd swap the buttons and stick out anyway... So my next question is what do you guys recc on doing? Buying a case, changing internals etc? Also, besides ebay... I don't know where to go, thank you for any help you can give. I'd also like to hear what you guys use

[gray117]

hmm ... Clearly you need a sanwa or seimitsu stick...

My favoured answer is to simply have a case + custom stick which is wired to a vga connector and connect that to a project box [console specific pad connected to console and wired to a vga connector] you then simply plug your stick into whichever console you want to use.

That being said it is a hassle... but worth it for a lot of consoles/superguns...


Converter route maybe fine for just 360/saturn however ... and on instinct I would probably suggest using a ps2 based stick since there's more than a couple ps2/saturn converters out there. Then use an xconverter for ps2 use on 360.

... plus you can always then play ps2/ps1 games too...

Not sure where you'd find a ps2 to saturn converter new - but I'm sure you'll find some second hand though.

[StarCreator]

If you're going the external PCB route, I'd go with DB-25 with the Neo-Geo pinout, rather than HD-25 (VGA). It's the same number of pins, and you get Neo-Geo compatibility for free since no PCB is required for it.

In any case, you're solidly in custom stick territory if you want native support for both consoles. If you were dead-set on having one stick work on both... I'd probably start with a 360 retail stick since those are the hardest to hack together, then hack together a solution to add a Saturn cable to it. Googling found this thread which seemed to be relevant...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For promking,

Here's a brand new XBox 360 Hori Real Arcade Pro joystick -- the EX-SE variant with all Japanese Seimitsu arcarde parts (joystick and push buttons): http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Real-Arc ... 456&sr=8-1

And another XBox 360 HRAP joystick -- the EX variant with Sanwa JLF joystick but with stock Hori push buttons: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Real-Arc ... 831&sr=8-1 Best to swap the stock Hori buttons out and replace them with either Sanwa or Seimitsu push buttons if you prefer.

Most shmuppers will say that using a Seimitsu joystick is good for shmup titles whereas using Japanese Sanwa joysticks are better for fighting games. Why not get both Sanwa and Seimitsu joysticks and both makes of push buttons to decide for yourself what would be the best way to play shmups properly.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[5tranger]

Not sure where you'd find a ps2 to saturn converter new

http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php? ... ucts_id=52

[mesh control]

The HRAP SE is excellent

I have a modded (button swapped for Sanwa - LB&RB buttons)HRAP EX-SE for the 360 that I'm willing to get rid for cheap if you're interested.

[mannerbot]

You'll find more information on shoryuken.com Tech Talk boards. But for what you want, I'd go with a 360 stick with a common-ground PCB (such as the Mad Catz SE and TE sticks) and then dual-mod it with Toodles' Imp + MC Cthulhu boards (and install an RJ-45 jack). This gives you native support for 360, Saturn, PC, PS3, PS2, Saturn, GameCube, SNES, NES, and Turbo-Grafx. Alternatively, you could of course go the custom route with the same PCB setup.

Not sure how great converters are from 360 to Saturn, but I'm guessing not very.

[mannerbot]

If you're going the external PCB route, I'd go with DB-25 with the Neo-Geo pinout, rather than HD-25 (VGA). It's the same number of pins, and you get Neo-Geo compatibility for free since no PCB is required for it.

In any case, you're solidly in custom stick territory if you want native support for both consoles. If you were dead-set on having one stick work on both... I'd probably start with a 360 retail stick since those are the hardest to hack together, then hack together a solution to add a Saturn cable to it. Googling found this thread which seemed to be relevant...

That SRK thread has old information, the MC Cthulhu has native Saturn support now. But yes, to start you will need a 360 stick with a common ground PCB (which means no Hori).

[promking]

Some great information guys!!

Where could I pickup parts from? What's a decent website, that's fair, and reasonable with shipping? Thanks for all the information this site, and everyone here is great.

[mannerbot]

LizardLick.com is hands-down the best site for parts if you're in the US. They offer all of Toodles' boards as well. As for the Mad Catz TE stick I mentioned (AKA the best retail stick on the market), it's on sale today at Amazon for $99.99.

[Rock Man]

Personally I prefer the Virtua Stick for the Japanese Sega Saturn, for a 360 I use both Hori DOA4 Stick and Madcatz MvC2 Fightstick.

Can't go wrong with either of those. Plus I believe Hori's DOA4/SC4/Tekken Stick is less expensive than the Hori EX2 so if your looking for something cheaper, go that route.