PS2 Arcade Sticks

[7711]

Hi,
I've been looking for a PS2 arcade stick for almost a year and was wondering something,
is it still possible to find any of the original ones for sale ? Would it be easier to make my own ? I suck at this kind of stuff so I'd rather purchase one, but it is also pretty hard for me to buy things online.
I'm really just looking for informations about ps2 arcade sticks availability in general, thanks in advance (:

[ThEmperorIsDead]

If you are okay with a bit of modding/soldering, I recommend using Toodle's Multi Console Cthulhu pcb in conjunction with a xbox 360 arcade stick such as one of the Madcatz variations giving you compatibility with a ton of systems including Playstation 1/2.

Or you can try to find a decent Playstation stick like the Hori Real Arcade Pro 2, or I think the Namco stick was considered okay too::http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namco_Arcade_Stick

[7711]

This stick would be perfect, I just can't find it anywhere (same goes for any other ps2 compatible stick).
I own a HRAP V3 SA, was thinking of dual modding it using a ps1 controller pcb but I'm really not that confident with my soldering skills (considering if I fail now I have no stick at all).

[ThEmperorIsDead]

Ah I was in the middle of a quick edit and got distracted lol...was adding that the Hrap 2 is probably what you would want with the Namco in at 2nd place (forgot all about the hrap2).

[7711]

Any idea where this can be purchased ? Guessing I'll only be able to get them second hand, and not from any shop, right ?
I don't mind having to buy one from someone else, but my options for payment are really limited, so I'd like to find the easiest way. Also maybe I'm wrong but I don't see people selling arcade sticks that often.

[emphatic]

Get one of these and wire it up to an arcade stick of your choice to have PSX/PS2/PS3/PC all in one. No soldering needed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-ZD-USB-Enco ... 27d1713b1f

Notice: If you push button is not sanwa push button,Please let us know.We also have cable for the button which with the microswitch. The size for the microswitch push button is a bit bigger.

Attention:This product is 5 pin port for Japanese Joystick ports,Not 2 pin four direction port!The follow picture will show you the difference of these two.

^^This means that you can get a harness that fits larger microswitch spades if you're a HAPP button user. I think they might have a solution for non-SANWA/Seimitsu 5-pin joysticks as well.

[Schrodinger's cat]

Hi,
I've been looking for a PS2 arcade stick for almost a year and was wondering something,
is it still possible to find any of the original ones for sale ? Would it be easier to make my own ? I suck at this kind of stuff so I'd rather purchase one, but it is also pretty hard for me to buy things online.
I'm really just looking for informations about ps2 arcade sticks availability in general, thanks in advance (:

My stick is a Hori Tekken 5 ps2 stick which came packaged with the game- a great platform for mods. I ended up dual-modding mine to work with pc/ps2/360 (haven't tried it on ps3 bc I don't have one), and swapped out the stock parts for Seimitsu buttons and stick. It's a very mediocre stick if you're using stock stick/buttons though.

You can find a few on ebay right now, and there's one ending soon: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HORI-PS2-arcade ... 257e727615.

There's work involved but it will pay off once you're done if you choose to mod it (you definitely should). If you go this route be prepared to:

- Peel the artwork off of the metal panel that the buttons/stick are attached to/clean the leftover residue(it's glued)
- Get a generic wired 360 pad to sacrifice if you are dual modding
- slightly dremel out tabs covering holes for the T5 buttons if you are swapping buttons
- pry off the soldered metal brackets holding the stock stick to the metal panel
- drill and countersink holes on the top of the metal panel to fit in a LS-32 or whatever your stick of choice is
- solder wires to the generic pad pcb from the stock T5 ps2 pcb

Google "madcatz 360 pad hack" and "ps2 360 dual mod" and you should get a wealth of information from SRK forums among other places. Do your homework and you'll probably end up saving a ton of money.

[RoninBuddha]

I hope I can help, here's a couple of questions:
-How much are you will to pay?
-where are you located?
-how patient are you?
-What are you looking for in a stick? (parts etc)

arguably the best "out of the box" PS2 sticks out there are the Hori Real Arcade Pro. 1 or 2 series. A lot of those sticks are long discontinued and are hard to find as you've noticed. But, here's the thing, out of all the hraps out there, the most common ones (PS2) seem to be the HRAP2SA, mainly because its the only one that got a re-release (was it last year or two years ago?).
Now because of that, you will be able to find often very minty condition of those, sad thing is they usually go for a high price these days. (Scalpers/Hoarders ) Yahoo!Auctions is a very good place to look if you known your way around, using a proxy service to bid is its only flaw, that means more stuff to pay for (besides the overseas shipping fees),

doing a quick search at Y!AJ you can see that there's a lot of boxed and unused HRAP2SA's that are terribly overpriced. It's up to you if you wanna splurge that much, but you asked about availability, and here it is, suffice to say, you wont run out of "great" condition HRAP2SA's anytime soon. I actually just purchased one a week ago, after a long long time of being patient, I eventually found one on Ebay for a GREAT price and it seems to be in great condition as well. So there's also that, Ebay is still a good source, if you know how to look and are patient.

HRAP2's are the best imo because you can mount either seimitsu or sanwa sticks and buttons in there no problem. most of the HRAP series comes with a Sanwa joystick/lever. Buttons are inexpensive enough these days if you want something better. PS2 encoders (pcbs) are also the best because there are many very good adapters for other consoles out there.

That said, i gotta second emphatic's suggestion. Those ZD encoders are pretty good and priced very well. It's also hella easy to install (no soldering, crimping, etc needed). You can buy any modern arcade stick out there (HORI, madcatz, etc) and just install that if you soley want PS2 (and pc/ps3) connectivity.

Another way to find some is to look at forum Buy/Sell/Trading/Marketplace sections. I personally found my dear HRAP2 from someone in this forum. They are better priced too, unlike auctions/online stores. Just make sure the seller has good reputation and all that other stuff.

I also have made my own sticks in the past, out of PS2 controllers (padhacks) and emptied arcade stick shells. But that's a bit advanced i might say.

[7711]

Thanks for the replies,

Get one of these and wire it up to an arcade stick of your choice to have PSX/PS2/PS3/PC all in one. No soldering needed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-ZD-USB-Enco ... 27d1713b1f

Link won't work unless I use a proxy, can somebody tell me what its supposed to be ? RoninBuddha talks a bit about it too but I'd appreciate some links so I can have a clear idea of what it does and how it works.

My stick is a Hori Tekken 5 ps2 stick which came packaged with the game- a great platform for mods. I ended up dual-modding mine to work with pc/ps2/360 (haven't tried it on ps3 bc I don't have one), and swapped out the stock parts for Seimitsu buttons and stick. It's a very mediocre stick if you're using stock stick/buttons though.

Keeping this on the side if I happen to find one, looks interesting.

I hope I can help, here's a couple of questions:
-How much are you will to pay?
-where are you located?
-how patient are you?
-What are you looking for in a stick? (parts etc)

I wouln't mind having to spend around 80-90 €, but I wont buy something that is clearly overpriced.
I'm in France so I guess it would be easy to purchase one from someone anywhere in europe, I think I'm going to wait for one to pop up on the forum once I get familiar with the trade system.

And to answer the two last questions, I'm not very patient, I really wish I could play my ps2 shmups but I'll take my time.
And I'm just looking for something that would play shmups ok, I'm using my HRAP V3 on my pc and its good, so I don't really care whats the parts are.

edit:

Google "madcatz 360 pad hack" and "ps2 360 dual mod" and you should get a wealth of information from SRK forums among other places. Do your homework and you'll probably end up saving a ton of money.

Yeah, I was really into this a few month ago, I'm not really afraid of having to solder shit, but its really the aspect of creating of modifying a case, puching holes everywhere and that kind of stuff. If I get my hands on a cheap spare arcade stick I'll just mod it using ps1 controller pcb whithout bothering about how it looks, just having an actual working stick would be enough, but otherwise I'll just get someone to do it for me. I'm a lazy fuck.

[RoninBuddha]

I really dont suggest buying from this store though, if you can, look for it on ebay, search for "ZD USB Encoder PS2 PS3 PC"
http://www.gyarcade.com/gyjoystickboard ... -p-62.html
but here's a link I found about the ZD pcb encoder board. What it is is basically, the main electronics for the joystick/controller. You connect your joystick lever and the buttons directly to it. It supports PS2, PC and PS3. It's a DIY solution, but its very easy to install imo. You said you had a HRAPV3, and already enjoy it, you can basically replace the main PCB from that with the Zero Delay PCB. It not only gives you PS2 support, but also maintains the PS3 functionality. It's the cheapest solution I can think of.

[7711]

I really dont suggest buying from this store though, if you can, look for it on ebay, search for "ZD USB Encoder PS2 PS3 PC"
http://www.gyarcade.com/gyjoystickboard ... -p-62.html
but here's a link I found about the ZD pcb encoder board. What it is is basically, the main electronics for the joystick/controller. You connect your joystick lever and the buttons directly to it.

Thanks a lot !
I'm still not sure if I really want to mess with my HRAP, but if I see one of these for sale I'll try it out. Maybe I'll wait till I get a bit more experienced with electronics (if I ever get somewhat skilled at it I'll probably try a lot of stuff with arcade sticks anyway), and in the meantime I'll scan through the Shmups and Shmup.com forums.