Recommendations for first arcade stick

[RuySan]

Hello everyone. Aftr looking at my old Amiga joysticks, i felt the urge to buy an Arcade Stick. I saw some amazing looking ones at Play-Asia, specially the Qanba Real Arcade Fightingstick Q3 which is a beauty. But, being from Europe (Portugal), the shipping costs are prohibitive, so i've been looking at Amazon, which as higher prices and not enough options:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arcade-Fighting ... cade+stick

This one looks cool, but for it's price i suspect it won't last long. There's also the mayflash in black but that looks boring.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Datel-Arcade-Pr ... cade+stick

This is also cheap but looks very ugly. Yes, i give a lot of importance to the looks of it.

Then there's some Hori sticks that while looking ok, are expensive and i'm not sure how well they work on pc, since they're either for ps3 or xbox:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hori-Arcade-Fig ... words=hori

This is the only decent priced one that's available.

Are there any good european shops for arcade sticks? Ebay is not an option since many sellers either don't ship to portugal or have ridiculous shipping costs.

[emphatic]

Hi, the best thing you can get as a starter stick IMHO is a MadKatz Brawlstick as it's:

* often not too expensive
* easy to modify (change artwork, buttons, joystick)
* works on 360 or PS3 (depending on your model choice) as well as PC (with the correct drivers)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-WWE-S ... B004M25NNQ
eBay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=S ... ck&_sop=15

If you just want a nice case and plan on fixing it up with a PCB such as the PS360+ from Akishop, you can get the often cheaper MadCatz Tatsunoko vs Capcom arcade fightstick for the Wii:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wii-Tatsunoko-Cap ... B0032ISZL8
eBay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=ta ... k&_sacat=0

Just don't get a cheap HORI stick, as they are a massive ball-ache to modify and the stock parts are... unsatisfying.

[shmuppyLove]

Go for the BrawlStick, SO MANLY

[RuySan]

Thanks for the replies, but that stick is more than twice that price in the UK amazon store. The american one doesn't ship here. Besides that, it looks horrendous. I know it might seem a stupid complain to many, but like i said, i value the looks of it a lot. But really, there aren't many choices in Europe.

[chempop]

Are you capable of swapping buttons or doing a stick mod if needed? If so, maybe you can skimp and get a cheapo stick, otherwise I'd suggest to save up a little and get something decent.

The reason Emphatic suggested that WWE stick is because it's built well, easy to mod, and replace the artwork doesn't take much more than printing a new sticker at a copyshop.

[shmuppyLove]

Are you capable of swapping buttons or doing a stick mod if needed? If so, maybe you can skimp and get a cheapo stick, otherwise I'd suggest to save up a little and get something decent.

The reason Emphatic suggested that WWE stick is because it's built well, easy to mod, and replace the artwork doesn't take much more than printing a new sticker at a copyshop.

^ this, it's what I did on mine, and look how awesome it can turn out:



Still have to replace those blue buttons though lol

[RuySan]

I see, that one looks good. Still, that stick is quite expensive in the UK Amazon Store. For that price isn't better to get a Qanba or something? They usually look pretty good out of the box. Are they easy to mod.

[shmuppyLove]

From the options you've got, I'd probably grab the Datel one.

PS3/360/PC compatible, and you can replace the parts, although it's not a simple process.

http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/ ... l-pictures

[RuySan]

The datel one is better than the Mayflash?

There's also this UK store which has the Qanba Q1 for 100€ and the Q4 for 129€,:

http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/categories ... Joysticks/

[emphatic]

The datel one is better than the Mayflash?

There's also this UK store which has the Qanba Q1 for 100€ and the Q4 for 129€,:

http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/categories ... Joysticks/

The Qanbas are supposed to be really great sticks, and you won't need to do nothing to like them. The Q4 is fucking hot.

I suggested the brawlstick as it's really easy to artwork/hardware-mod it. My Wii stick turned out like this:

[chempop]

As much as I dislike Ketsui art, that is still quite jerkworthy.

I have 4 sticks I've been meaning to mod, a mayflash, tekken5 HRAP, hss-0136, and DC agetech...
but now that I have cabs no motivation.

[trap15]

Q4 is godlike. I've got one, love it to death.

[22point8]

I got a Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 from CEX for £45, and a Tatsunoko vs Capcom from ebay for £30. Don't know if CEX sell to Portugal, but they operate in Spain.

[RuySan]

Unfortunately there's no CEX in Portugal and they don't deliver abroad. The shipping costs for the Qanba sticks at arcadeworld.uk are prohibitive (around 40-50€) so i'll probably have only Amazon.uk and in some cases Ebay.uk as options.

[gray117]

The thing is, the stick is probably only going to be worthwhile imho if its one of the best - i.e. seimtsu or sanwa.

Afraid your only affordable route is likely going to be modding unless you can score a 2nd hand one on euro ebay or similar. Depending on platform of choice (pc?) you may be able to snag a ps2 hrap/custom stick and a controller converter for less than the more usual suspects...?

But yeah for bulky, niche objects like these the euro zone tends to get a raw deal price wise.