NeoGAF Arcade Stick Thread
- Thread starter MarkMan
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NameGenerated
Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
I didn'tGuled said:
Regret Truth
Member
When did you place your order? I was just about to cancel the order tonight. Don't tease me with hope :-/Guled said:
I was able to pick up my 360 TE stick a couple of days ago. That thing is smooth, I am so surprised at how big the thing is. Got a few games in on HDRemix and then put in some good times on SF4 at my friend's place. I love the cord compartment and that the button layout was default for SF4. I don't know how many times my friends and I messed up in the VS menu because we were so used to Hori's 360 layout. :lol Anyway, I'm still waiting on my PS3 TE to come in and complete the family. My Gamestop's being really weird in how they fill their preorders. They only got 2 of their sticks in and they were 360 only. Nothing on the PS3 sticks. I can't be greedy about it since I already got 1 stick. Hopefully things start working out for others too. I typically just call in the morning to see if the stick's on the list of shipments for the day and that's about it. If that helps anybody..
Alright, I got my TE stick and picked up the last remaining standard stick at the GS as well. I've been messing around with the regular fight stick and... the stick sticks. As in, sometimes when I push the stick left, it doesn't bounce right back into neutral position. Anyone else experience this?
TE stick is like sex for my hands, by the way.
edit: ugh, unrelated, but i'm 100 points short of getting SF2 HDR on 360. anyone want to help a brother out? <3
TE stick is like sex for my hands, by the way.
edit: ugh, unrelated, but i'm 100 points short of getting SF2 HDR on 360. anyone want to help a brother out? <3
Regret Truth
Member
Cool. So your stick has actually been shipped? Tracking # and everything?Guled said:
*sigh* Madcatz's/Gameshark's website is getting hammered, apparently they just put the sticks up for order on the site earlier this evening. Both TE's are sold out (backordered) but it looks like the SE's are still in stock. I've been trying for the last 30 minutes to buy one..... like everyone else I'm really worried about my amazon.com ps3 TE & 360 SE orders, I would at least like to be able to get a 360 SE that I can mod, I have a VSHG that I will continue to use on the ps3.
NameGenerated
Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
At least mine says order in process and not backordered. Gives me some hope.
Regret Truth
Member
Thanks. I guess I wont cancel the order tonight.Guled said:
fuck it, I just ordered and HRAP EX from amazon with 2 day shipping so I should have it by SFIV launch. Also picked up some sanwa pushbuttons and new gate/top from Lizardlick. I'm still going to leave my money on my TE, but I'm unsure of what I'll actually do with it if it ever comes in. This whole situation is beyond stupid right now.
LevityNYC said:
Yup. I'd say this has gotta be MadCatz' fault, specifically poor communication to retailers on their allocations. They should have told them exactly how many they would be getting at launch so people who actually pre-ordered as recommended would not be getting screwed.
Guled said:
but you know, people did preorder asap months ago and they still don't have a stick. Many that preordered at b&m gamestops and everyone that preordered at amazon.com still don't have a stick
I'm just saying, preordering early in this case doesn't mean a whole lot. I preordered 12/3 at amazon.com btwRyder said:
Quoting my own post because it's getting lost in the flurry of shipping problems.
Is anyone else having issues with the standard FightStick stick getting physically stuck in certain directions? I know this stick isn't supposed to be amazing, but this is kinda absurd, there must be something wrong with my stick right?
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
So my friendly neighborhood gamestop employee calls me at lunch and says my stick can be picked up. So I go after work to pick it up and low and behold, some manager person I assume says they can't sell it to me till Tuesday. He says an email from corporate says so. I go, you guys just told me in the morning to pick it up. He goes, I can't go against the email. I go OOOOKhhh-K. I guess I will come back on Tuesday.
Man, I hate everybody :lol
Man, I hate everybody :lol
bumpkin
Member
Better than the message I got from my friend that's an assistant manager... Told me that the email from corporate said to inform customers that preordered a stick in-store that they wouldn't be getting them until the first week of March. Needless to say, I was pissed. That magazine rack was lucky I was at work (safely 20 miles away)!ThatCrazyGuy said:
As an aside, I did find out that they had a few fightpads; a Ken PS3 one and a Chun-Li 360 one. Did any of you happen to snag an extra Xbox 360 TE Stick this week? Would you consider striking some sort of deal? I could go first thing in the morning to buy either fightpad and I can pay you the difference in price plus shipping and a finder's fee. That's how bad I want one for the game next week!
Psychotext
Member
This might explain something about why Mad Catz weren't willing to risk throwing a ton of money at production before they knew the sticks were going to sell:
http://www.vg247.com/2009/02/14/peripheral-manufacturer-mad-catz-reports-269-million-loss
http://www.vg247.com/2009/02/14/peripheral-manufacturer-mad-catz-reports-269-million-loss
Got a FightStick at a local Lamestop this morning. The only one they had left (for 360).
Also picked up a Chun-Li fightpad. Gonna try out the FightStick in a bit.
I'll take pics, and look into the "sticking" issue other users have reported.
I may also swap in some Seimitsu parts I have laying around, just for kicks... lol.
I'll be back in a bit!
Also picked up a Chun-Li fightpad. Gonna try out the FightStick in a bit.
I'll take pics, and look into the "sticking" issue other users have reported.
I may also swap in some Seimitsu parts I have laying around, just for kicks... lol.
I'll be back in a bit!
sixteen-bit
Member
Honestly, I think this is the most gorgeous HRAP Hori has ever made.DoDonGouki said:
sixteen-bit
Member
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
hey guys, post interesting pics of your hardware!
sixteen-bit
Member
"the" Hori stick?Linkhero1 said:
Be more specific.
Hori Real Arcade Pro. EX is great
Hori Fighting Stick EX2 is horrible
The HRAP already has a Sanwa lever out of the box and buttons are easily swapped via quick disconnects.
Hori Fighting Stick EX2 is a bit of a pain to mod, especially if you're new to the process. The stock Hori buttons are soldered directly to the circuit board and the case isn't deep enough to house a real Sanwa or Seimitsu lever without some physical modification. Also the PCB has a reputation for randomly failing. Buttons will eventually stop working in pairs.
I know all about the infamous Hori EX2, which I don't think I'll ever touch. :lol _dementia said:
Seconded. Till this point the HRAP 2 SA has been my favorite but the EX-SE trumps it.
_dementia, did you pull the trigger on an EX-SE? Seems it will be a tough one to find in the coming months.
Still haven't gotten the SF TE stick yet as Amazon is still quiet on my preorders but my Gamecrazy (Orange County) called to say my SF IV TE is in and waiting for me. Gonna pick it up tomorrow morning.
NameGenerated
Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
Holy shit. My B&N order has SHIPPED! Oh please be true!!! 2 day delivery should put at Tuesday perhaps, or maybe Wednesday. PLEEAAAASEEEE LET THIS WORK!!!
Edit: Yay, tracking and everything. Scheduled to arrive the 17th. Thank You!
Edit: Yay, tracking and everything. Scheduled to arrive the 17th. Thank You!
I'm back!
So I decided to rip open (lol) my Street Fighter IV FightStick tonight. Here we go...
56k users might want to go make a sandwich.
or just kill yourself, cause you're still on dial-up.
I also would like to apologize in advance for the excessive flash and the general crappiness of the pictures--my place has really shitty lighting, and if I didn't use the flash, everything would look yellow.
So, deal.
This is a box. It contains a lesser form of awesome.
Apparently, MadCatz REALLY wanted to keep me from getting to the awesome inside. I was yanking on the two little tabs that I saw on the bottom of the box, and it just wouldn't open. Then, the box started to tear. So I just gave up and ripped it open.
Then, I noticed the larger tab on the "other" bottom of the box.
Fuck. lol.
I'm going to buy another stick at Worst Buy so I can swap the boxes. hahahaha. -_-
Hi!
As you can see, the packaging and presentation is top-notch. Comes with stylish styrofoam protection, a movesheet (identical to the arcade sheet, save for the size) and the headphone jack adapter for the 360 wired headsets.
I HAVE FREED YOU FROM YOUR CARDBOARD PRISON.
The Fightstick enjoys his newfound freedom. As you can see, the footprint of the stick is roughly the same as the box.
The headphone jack (on the front of the stick facing you), the turbo lights/function switches and the back/start buttons, respectively.
One switch controls whether the joystick acts as the left analog stick, right analog stick or the d-pad, and the other switch disables the Guide/Back/Start buttons.
Using the headphones might be kind of janky due to the location of the jack, we'll see...
Admire its beauty. It is actually quite a nice stick; looks MUCH better in person.
...huh.
Well, seeing as I already destroyed the box because I'm a knucklehead, perhaps I am not "qualified" for the fun part? I decided to use my sister's hair dryer to carefully remove the warranty sticker, just in case...
...and then, the lights went out.
See, I live in an 80 year-old apartment building. The wiring here is ancient and it SUCKS. Whenever someone wants to use the hair dryer, we have to turn all the lights off to ensure the circuit breaker doesn't get tripped. So, to be safe, I decide to use the low setting... but low equals slow, so I switched it to fast and then... POP! Lights go out.
Really sucked, cause TiVO was busy recording Battlestar. Now I have to record the replay and watch it really late.
Anyway, back to business.. the fun part!
LOL, Fuck you, Madcatz.
Then again, it IS Madcatz, so maybe that warranty would have been useful...
Pics of the innards. The complete stick exposed by removing the lower metal panel (six screws, none of which are hidden), a picture of the buttons themselves, with the quick disconnects visible, and the stick's gate.
Not sure what type of gate that is, I'm not an expert on sticks and gates yet. I didn't see any way to verify whether or not the stick is a Sanwa part, though I am not even sure if the Fightstick has a Sanwa stick or not. It may all be clone parts.
The liberated buttons and balltop. Here are some tips to help make other people's experience doing this smoother than my own:
1) Wear nice-fitting work gloves so you don't kill your skin pulling on those quick disconnects. They're on there pretty good, and it is VERY easy to bend the pins on the microswitches. I was fine the first few times, then they started leaving indentations in my skin, so I just gave up and put on my mechanic's gloves and yanked them all off with no issues. No need to use a flat head screwdriver on them.
2) Remove the buttons ONE AT A TIME. I did two at a time for the first two, then I totally lost track of which wires went where. Luckily, I remembered, so I didn't have to re-wire anything after the fact. But for the sake of making things easy, swap the buttons one at a time.
3) It doesn't seem to matter which wire goes where on the microswitches as long as the circuit is completed. I did, however, notice some markings on the microswitches next to the pins, and I just used the markings as a reference for which wire went where. One of the markings was a diamond, so I hooked up the "bottom" wire for each button to the diamonds, just to keep things somewhat uniform. But I am 99% sure it doesn't really matter.
4) If you're having trouble using your fingers to pop out the buttons (there are two small tabs on the side of each button that need to be depressed for you to remove the buttons), you can CAREFULLY use a flat-head screwdriver to push the tabs in, then carefully jiggle the buttons out. You may have to twist the buttons side to side ("rock" them) a bit in order to get them all the way out using this method. I had a bit of trouble on a couple of the buttons since there was not sufficient room to get my fingers in there.
5) Your replacement buttons may not fit into the stick smoothly. If so, time for BRUTE FORCE. Just push as hard as you can in order to get them in. I am guessing this is due to slight variations in the size of each hole. Some of them went in super easy, others not so much.
They're kind of like girls. You have to break them in a little bit.
6) Don't screw in the bottom cover until you're absolutely sure everything works. I was going to screw it in as soon as I had finished swapping parts, then I opted to hold off and test it first. Good thing I did, since I totally forgot to hook up the wires to the LB button.
And now, the finished product!
The buttons are from the Seimitsu KN line, and the balltop is also by Seimitsu (the infamous "bubbletop"). I purchased all of the parts from http://akihabarashop.jp/ and I HIGHLY recommend them. Great service and all-around swell guys.
I wasn't actually planning to swap parts on the stick immediately--I just happened to have some Seimitsu parts laying around since I am lazy and I have yet to install them on one of my arcade cabinets. I also have a green bubbletop and KN buttons by Seimitsu, but I figured the pink would be flashier and a bit more ridiculous, so I went that route. I will probably remove the buttons once I stop being a lazy ass and decide to throw them in my cab, but I haven't decided what buttons/colors I will use permanently on this stick. I am thinking of keeping the pink color scheme and just getting another set of Seimitsu parts, but I'm still on the fence about it. I may just go for a white or black color scheme using Seimitsu KN buttons and a bubbletop.
The stick feels sturdy and solid, and seems decent enough. The buttons that come with it are spectacularly terrible, however, and swapping them out is a MUST. The stick seems okay, but I most definitely experienced the "sticking" forward issue that other users have reported--on several occasions, after performing a QCF or DP motion, the character would just move forward until I tapped the stick again--not good. I am guessing this isn't a Sanwa stick, so I guess it is just the Madcatz of old rearing its ugly head. No matter, since I can always swap in a LS-32 or something.
I was also thinking of perhaps plugging the "X" and "A" buttons instead of the "LB" and "LT" buttons--I found myself hitting "LB" and "LT" even though I left them unassigned, and I was completely ignoring the "X" and "A" buttons due to their proximity to the stick. It seems to me to be a bit more natural to have the button layout setup in the aforementioned way.
I didn't do extensive testing, since I am lazy and hungry and I want to go watch Battlestar, but so far I can't complain for $80. It is way better than that sorry excuse for a d-pad on the standard 360 controller, and it is a solidly-built stick regardless of how cheap the parts are. Pretty good looking as well.
Recommended.
So I decided to rip open (lol) my Street Fighter IV FightStick tonight. Here we go...
56k users might want to go make a sandwich.
or just kill yourself, cause you're still on dial-up.
I also would like to apologize in advance for the excessive flash and the general crappiness of the pictures--my place has really shitty lighting, and if I didn't use the flash, everything would look yellow.
So, deal.
This is a box. It contains a lesser form of awesome.
Apparently, MadCatz REALLY wanted to keep me from getting to the awesome inside. I was yanking on the two little tabs that I saw on the bottom of the box, and it just wouldn't open. Then, the box started to tear. So I just gave up and ripped it open.
Then, I noticed the larger tab on the "other" bottom of the box.
Fuck. lol.
I'm going to buy another stick at Worst Buy so I can swap the boxes. hahahaha. -_-
Hi!
As you can see, the packaging and presentation is top-notch. Comes with stylish styrofoam protection, a movesheet (identical to the arcade sheet, save for the size) and the headphone jack adapter for the 360 wired headsets.
I HAVE FREED YOU FROM YOUR CARDBOARD PRISON.
The Fightstick enjoys his newfound freedom. As you can see, the footprint of the stick is roughly the same as the box.
The headphone jack (on the front of the stick facing you), the turbo lights/function switches and the back/start buttons, respectively.
One switch controls whether the joystick acts as the left analog stick, right analog stick or the d-pad, and the other switch disables the Guide/Back/Start buttons.
Using the headphones might be kind of janky due to the location of the jack, we'll see...
Admire its beauty. It is actually quite a nice stick; looks MUCH better in person.
...huh.
Well, seeing as I already destroyed the box because I'm a knucklehead, perhaps I am not "qualified" for the fun part? I decided to use my sister's hair dryer to carefully remove the warranty sticker, just in case...
...and then, the lights went out.
See, I live in an 80 year-old apartment building. The wiring here is ancient and it SUCKS. Whenever someone wants to use the hair dryer, we have to turn all the lights off to ensure the circuit breaker doesn't get tripped. So, to be safe, I decide to use the low setting... but low equals slow, so I switched it to fast and then... POP! Lights go out.
Really sucked, cause TiVO was busy recording Battlestar. Now I have to record the replay and watch it really late.
Anyway, back to business.. the fun part!
LOL, Fuck you, Madcatz.
Then again, it IS Madcatz, so maybe that warranty would have been useful...
Pics of the innards. The complete stick exposed by removing the lower metal panel (six screws, none of which are hidden), a picture of the buttons themselves, with the quick disconnects visible, and the stick's gate.
Not sure what type of gate that is, I'm not an expert on sticks and gates yet. I didn't see any way to verify whether or not the stick is a Sanwa part, though I am not even sure if the Fightstick has a Sanwa stick or not. It may all be clone parts.
The liberated buttons and balltop. Here are some tips to help make other people's experience doing this smoother than my own:
1) Wear nice-fitting work gloves so you don't kill your skin pulling on those quick disconnects. They're on there pretty good, and it is VERY easy to bend the pins on the microswitches. I was fine the first few times, then they started leaving indentations in my skin, so I just gave up and put on my mechanic's gloves and yanked them all off with no issues. No need to use a flat head screwdriver on them.
2) Remove the buttons ONE AT A TIME. I did two at a time for the first two, then I totally lost track of which wires went where. Luckily, I remembered, so I didn't have to re-wire anything after the fact. But for the sake of making things easy, swap the buttons one at a time.
3) It doesn't seem to matter which wire goes where on the microswitches as long as the circuit is completed. I did, however, notice some markings on the microswitches next to the pins, and I just used the markings as a reference for which wire went where. One of the markings was a diamond, so I hooked up the "bottom" wire for each button to the diamonds, just to keep things somewhat uniform. But I am 99% sure it doesn't really matter.
4) If you're having trouble using your fingers to pop out the buttons (there are two small tabs on the side of each button that need to be depressed for you to remove the buttons), you can CAREFULLY use a flat-head screwdriver to push the tabs in, then carefully jiggle the buttons out. You may have to twist the buttons side to side ("rock" them) a bit in order to get them all the way out using this method. I had a bit of trouble on a couple of the buttons since there was not sufficient room to get my fingers in there.
5) Your replacement buttons may not fit into the stick smoothly. If so, time for BRUTE FORCE. Just push as hard as you can in order to get them in. I am guessing this is due to slight variations in the size of each hole. Some of them went in super easy, others not so much.
They're kind of like girls. You have to break them in a little bit.
6) Don't screw in the bottom cover until you're absolutely sure everything works. I was going to screw it in as soon as I had finished swapping parts, then I opted to hold off and test it first. Good thing I did, since I totally forgot to hook up the wires to the LB button.
And now, the finished product!
The buttons are from the Seimitsu KN line, and the balltop is also by Seimitsu (the infamous "bubbletop"). I purchased all of the parts from http://akihabarashop.jp/ and I HIGHLY recommend them. Great service and all-around swell guys.
I wasn't actually planning to swap parts on the stick immediately--I just happened to have some Seimitsu parts laying around since I am lazy and I have yet to install them on one of my arcade cabinets. I also have a green bubbletop and KN buttons by Seimitsu, but I figured the pink would be flashier and a bit more ridiculous, so I went that route. I will probably remove the buttons once I stop being a lazy ass and decide to throw them in my cab, but I haven't decided what buttons/colors I will use permanently on this stick. I am thinking of keeping the pink color scheme and just getting another set of Seimitsu parts, but I'm still on the fence about it. I may just go for a white or black color scheme using Seimitsu KN buttons and a bubbletop.
The stick feels sturdy and solid, and seems decent enough. The buttons that come with it are spectacularly terrible, however, and swapping them out is a MUST. The stick seems okay, but I most definitely experienced the "sticking" forward issue that other users have reported--on several occasions, after performing a QCF or DP motion, the character would just move forward until I tapped the stick again--not good. I am guessing this isn't a Sanwa stick, so I guess it is just the Madcatz of old rearing its ugly head. No matter, since I can always swap in a LS-32 or something.
I was also thinking of perhaps plugging the "X" and "A" buttons instead of the "LB" and "LT" buttons--I found myself hitting "LB" and "LT" even though I left them unassigned, and I was completely ignoring the "X" and "A" buttons due to their proximity to the stick. It seems to me to be a bit more natural to have the button layout setup in the aforementioned way.
I didn't do extensive testing, since I am lazy and hungry and I want to go watch Battlestar, but so far I can't complain for $80. It is way better than that sorry excuse for a d-pad on the standard 360 controller, and it is a solidly-built stick regardless of how cheap the parts are. Pretty good looking as well.
Recommended.
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