XE-1 ST2 Stick

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rolins
Posts: 575
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:28 pm
Location: Nevada

Post by rolins »

I have one in front of me right now. It's hooked up to my supergun because I was playing Outzone today. I have a few joysticks in my closet including a HRAP2 w/ seimitsu LS-32 and none them gets the attention compared to my XE-1ST2. I bought mine a few years ago thinking I might need a FM-Towns joystick if I ever bought a Marty console, but I lost interest in the system so it never happed. I ended up using it to replace my broken XE-1PRO (another awesome joystick btw) for my MSX, and it was great for playing Zanac, Aleste 2, and Salamander.

When I first received mine I was very surpised by its small form. I thought this was going to be huge, but it's small as a NES Advantage and less heavier because it doesn't have a metal base. The joystick is a unknown seimitsu model but it has good feel to it. The movement is very smooth and it has short throw. Mine has a very soft spring but it probably due to the heavy use it gotten over the years. Still performs like a champ. I also replaced the 30mm ball top with a 35mm one by Seimitsu, but you can use Sanwa too. The 3x convex buttons are 20mm in diameter which is small if you don't realize that by now. Kinda grouped together a little too close but they're very sensitive to touch like Sanwa. There have been a few times where I accidently dropped a bomb while hovering my hands over them. :P The rotatable plane is a nice feature and does help situate the buttons in a angle for better comfortability.

I mentioned earlier that mines connected to my supergun. Well I modified mine to be Neo Geo compatible with a DB-15 connector because I wanted to play any shmup with my XE-1ST2, no matter what system I was using. After that it's just a matter of building NeoGeo joystick adaptors which did for my PS2 and Saturn.

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