NeoGAF Arcade Stick Thread

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BOTEC said:
According to http://slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html the standard Japanese arcade layout has 59mm between the centers of the joystick and the closest push button, while Hori sometimes uses 63.

I was going to physically measure my own sticks the last time this argument came up, but didn't get the chance to yet, it' s also a silly argument.

Any idea on the Madcatz ones? I'm trying to decide between a Real Arcade Pro V3 SA and a Madcatz TE, and considering that I grew up playing American style streetfighter layouts in arcades, I think I'd prefer having more distance between the stick and buttons.
 
Ra1den said:
Any idea on the Madcatz ones? I'm trying to decide between a Real Arcade Pro V3 SA and a Madcatz TE, and considering that I grew up playing American style streetfighter layouts in arcades, I think I'd prefer having more distance between the stick and buttons.

The only Madcatz stick I have is the Tatsunoko VS Capcom SE, but as I said I haven't measured it yet. Just eyeballing it it looks like it follows conventions. But I also mentioned earlier in the thread that I never had a problem with the distance between stick and buttons so I wouldn't even have noticed.

I would just mention that all these are Japanese sticks, so people looking for a layout similar to American Street Fighter cabs should not be getting their hopes up too high. Slagcoin also has a template for the American Street Fighter II cab, which has 95mm between the buttons and sticks, that's a pretty significant difference. I guess you guys should be looking for stuff like X-arcade or MAS.

EDIT: Just measured my Tatsucap SE, and HORI RAP 3 SA and both have approximately 2.12in (54mm) between the center of the joystick shaft and the center of the closest button (the B and X respectively). That translates to 1.14in (29mm) of actual real estate between them for fingers to operate.
 
BOTEC said:
I tried the Tatsucap stick when the game first hit but couldn't take the stock parts. Especially the joystick itself. It was so loose that just tilting the case would cause the stick to activate the microswitches without me even touching it. I likes me a stiff stick, so I swapped in a Seimitsu LS-32, and some shiny Sanwa buttons and now it's my favorite stick.

I bought a Tatsunoko vs Capcom arcade stick for cheap recently and am using it with a Mayflash adapter on my PS3. The Madcatz buttons are decent but the joystick was not very good, so I swapped it with a Sanwa joystick. The stock joystick felt too loose, I almost hit the gate before the microswitches activated.
 
T-Matt said:
I'm really digging the Soul Calibur stick..

Glad you like it :)

Lambtron said:
Holy shit that SoulCalibur stick is awesome. Good thing I just opened a spot for another stick in my collection!

^.^ If anyone is going to Canada Cup or Northwest Majors next weekend, I'll be bringing the SOUL Edition FightStick there with me.
 
Hey MarkMan, I just received my MLG (360) FightStick. I'm trying to remove the top panel to swap out the stock buttons, but it feels like I'm breaking the stick and ripping some type of adhesive off.

Just to be cautious, I refuse to go any further.

Is there a proper way to get under the hood of this thing?
 
NeoGIF said:
Hey MarkMan, I just received my MLG (360) FightStick. I'm trying to remove the top panel to swap out the stock buttons, but it feels like I'm breaking the stick and ripping some type of adhesive off.

Just to be cautious, I refuse to go any further.

Is there a proper way to get under the hood of this thing?

Yeah there is adhesive holding it down. I'd get a sturdy flatheaded screwdriver and pry it up from the bottom/evenly.
 
BOTEC said:
The only Madcatz stick I have is the Tatsunoko VS Capcom SE, but as I said I haven't measured it yet. Just eyeballing it it looks like it follows conventions. But I also mentioned earlier in the thread that I never had a problem with the distance between stick and buttons so I wouldn't even have noticed.

I would just mention that all these are Japanese sticks, so people looking for a layout similar to American Street Fighter cabs should not be getting their hopes up too high. Slagcoin also has a template for the American Street Fighter II cab, which has 95mm between the buttons and sticks, that's a pretty significant difference. I guess you guys should be looking for stuff like X-arcade or MAS.

EDIT: Just measured my Tatsucap SE, and HORI RAP 3 SA and both have approximately 2.12in (54mm) between the center of the joystick shaft and the center of the closest button (the B and X respectively). That translates to 1.14in (29mm) of actual real estate between them for fingers to operate.

Thanks pal :)
 
notworksafe said:
Yeah but every other MadCatz stick uses a standard cab layout. I think it'd be nice to have a one off stick with a custom layout that would be built around player preference.

My custom stick has a nice layout with Viewlix style button layout, a larger space between stick and buttons, and the stick sits higher so it's a little taller than normal. It's very comfortable. I'm on a phone now but I'll post pics when I'm back at a PC.

Anyway it would just be nice to see what MarkMan and the rest of the MCZ guys could come up with if they had no restrictions. There's plenty of room to play around on the TE so I think they could come up with something interesting.

EDIT: Pic of my stick with the larger space between stick and buttons...

LYvo5l.jpg


Nice stick. (see what I did there)
Honestly Poison is a favorite character of mine as I have met and made many a homosexual friend over the years from working in italian restaurants, being in art classes, and from just in general digging how most of the homosexual and transgendered friends I've met just don't give a shit what people think and are as such a freaking blast to hangout with and joke with. I support a transgendered fighter whole heartedly and have been wanting this character as playable for a long time.

Glad to see swag supporting this now too. Rock on and bring the salt to people's eyes (see what I did there too).

Also shoutouts to notworksafe for coming through with that link. I'll be ordering a top for my TE stick now. Thanks man.
 
Thanks mang. Did the art myself but the stick was made by a local dude (he used to sell sticks on SRK as ecksnine but now has a family and just does stuff for locals when he has time). I finally got it wired up (was waiting for a PS360+ but got impatient and just did a MC Cthulu and 360 pad) and I'm using it for its first tourney on Saturday.

Glad you liked Art's site. Like I said, he does art cutting as well and I can vouch for that too so send him your PSD if you have one.
 
MarkMan, I noticed that Street Fighter IV FightSticks were recently restocked in the MadCatz store. Doe these use updated parts as the BrawlStick and TvC FightStick?
 
Jagernaut said:
I bought a Tatsunoko vs Capcom arcade stick for cheap recently and am using it with a Mayflash adapter on my PS3. The Madcatz buttons are decent but the joystick was not very good, so I swapped it with a Sanwa joystick. The stock joystick felt too loose, I almost hit the gate before the microswitches activated.
Same here. I use the same Mayflash adapter with mine. Since we're on the subject, Mayflash has a USB-to-360 adapter for mice and keyboards. They claim it's "fully programmable." Would it be possible to daisy chain the two of them to get the Wii stick working on a 360?
 
BOTEC said:
Same here. I use the same Mayflash adapter with mine. Since we're on the subject, Mayflash has a USB-to-360 adapter for mice and keyboards. They claim it's "fully programmable." Would it be possible to daisy chain the two of them to get the Wii stick working on a 360?
That's pretty iffy. Unless you have confirmation that it works with generic USB controllers, which is what the first adapter turns your TvC stick into, I wouldn't take any chances.
EDIT: Also, the Mayflash adapter requires you to have a wired 360 controller hooked up, at which point you might as well learn to solder and convert your TvC stick to 360 with that controller's PCB.
 
Orayn said:
That's pretty iffy. Unless you have confirmation that it works with generic USB controllers, which is what the first adapter turns your TvC stick into, I wouldn't take any chances.
That's exactly what I hope someone in this thread can provide. :)

I'd test it myself, but $40 for a potentially useless adapter doesn't sound too appealing.
 
Orayn said:
Check out the reviews. One of them says it works with USB gamepads, including PS3 controllers. I can only assume this means it would play nice with your now-USB TvC stick, though you should be wary of lag at this point.
Hmm, that sounds interesting. Might just bite the bullet. It's only for personal curiosity, I wouldn't really expect this crazy setup to perform flawlessly.
 
Orayn said:
Hawt. Setting it up natively? Using PSX/PS2 with an adapter? Spill the beans!
I got the upgrade module to turn my PS3 Cthulhu to a Multiconsole one. Then it's just a matter of hacking a Saturn extension cord into a detachable RJ45 cable.

If I make the proper cables, I can get it to work with every console I own, I think. It's already 360/PS3/PC capable.
 
Orayn said:
Snazzy! Did you have those replacements lying around, or did you just hate the original color scheme?

Both, to be honest. I ordered the parts to compliment the stick. And not much a fan of the stock buttons.
 
hey markman will the soul calibur stick be widely available in the uk or will it be another american/gameshark exclusive?
 
NeoGIF said:
Both, to be honest. I ordered the parts to compliment the stick. And not much a fan of the stock buttons.
...But you replaced Sanwa 30mm buttons with other Sanwa 30mm buttons? Sorry, I just don't get that part.
 
i need someone to post the inside of a SF4 arcade stick PRO i wanted to mod my stick some time ago and opened it but forgot where which cable belongs…

so please post me a pic where i can see the cables contacted to the buttons! THx
 
_dementia said:
I got the upgrade module to turn my PS3 Cthulhu to a Multiconsole one. Then it's just a matter of hacking a Saturn extension cord into a detachable RJ45 cable.

If I make the proper cables, I can get it to work with every console I own, I think. It's already 360/PS3/PC capable.

I have a MC Cthulhu modded TE-s stick that works on pretty much all of my consoles. It's served me well =D
 
_dementia said:
Yeah it's hideous.

The classy Tekken Hybrid stick by comparison is like night and day.

Why do you think it's hideous?

Toge said:
hey markman will the soul calibur stick be widely available in the uk or will it be another american/gameshark exclusive?

It will be available in the UK as well.
 
Obviously it isn't an arcade stick, but the Saturn pad is universally beloved by fighting game players. Sadly, the PC versions you can find new these days on Amazon are cheap knockoffs. I picked one of those up, as well as an authentic Saturn pad at a retro game store. I swapped the internals last night, and it seems to work pretty damn well. I was curious to know if anyone else had done this.
 
MarkMan said:
Why do you think it's hideous?

I'm aware you weren't asking me, and _dementia is well known around these parts, but if I may...

The most offensive part of the stick is the artwork. It's garish, overwhelming, and lazy.

The color contrast is way too strong. It's a very gaudy red-blue. It's as if someone wore a bright blue shirt and bright red pants; too much. Strong colors used in such a fashion need to be used sparingly.

And then there's the artwork. It fills up almost the entire panel. Unless done carefully, it looks busy and detracts from whatever individual merits the artwork may have. The swords of SC are iconic; there's no need to zoom in so much to emphasize that it is a new iteration of the swords. Simply having different silhouettes are enough to differentiate them from previous entries, so there's no need to focus in on the faces now present in the swords.

Finally, it's lazy. It's not even 2D artwork; it's the CG render of the swords. While CG work can be artistic, this is simply not good-looking. I realize that previously existing assets are used because it's a) cost-effective and b) the audience is used to it. Why mess with a good thing? In this case, however, it is poorly used. The 2D artwork for the SC series is highly regarded, even when the individual outfits of the characters are questionable. Surely there must have been highly detailed drawings of the swords and the characters which would have represented the spirit of the re-birth of the franchise.

I could go deeper into detail, but that's my take. I love sticks for the aesthetics, and a lot of the sticks I've seen in here are good stuff that I'd display... but there are also very ostentatious sticks which would be embarrassing to be seen holding.

Other nitpicks, briefly:

Translucent plastic only works on electronics if they obscure the inner workings of the electronic device. Exception: if the inner workings are organized in an aesthetically appealing manner (see: Steampunk Arcade stick & Mario Arcade stick posted earlier in the thread).

The bezel looks cheap. The actual shape of it looks nice, but soft grey on translucent black, blue, and red? Not a good color choice.

Mr. Markman, you're a cool guy. I suspect that Mad Catz newfound competitiveness is largely thanks to you and your passion for hardware. You've made products that gamers are not only happy but proud to own. My first arcade stick is a TE, which I love very much. However, I feel that the cordiality in this thread and the respect they have towards you are working against you in this instance.

The SCV stick is ugly.
 
Orayn said:
...But you replaced Sanwa 30mm buttons with other Sanwa 30mm buttons? Sorry, I just don't get that part.

I was trying to make a point so they wouldn't be mistaken for another brand, like Seimitsu, for example.
 
I don't think it looks that bad.

But art design, as you guys should know. Isn't something that is decided by us purely. Licensed products are a two way street, often times we are at wills with what the ip brand owner wants from us.

But I feel you. Some people like clean. Some people like crazy. If you've seen any of my personal sticks, you can see what I'm into. Different strokes for different folks. Have you guys seen how crazy (and awesome) the SOULCALIBUR V producers are?

lolol.

But yeah, I can't talk about all the fine details of the business, but I appreciate a good clean/balanced design just as much as you guys do. My top 3 arcade sticks are all non-game licensed and are just simple/clean designs haha
 
A suggestion for the casing then:

Make the bezel solid black.

Since you don't have much input on the art, and I'm pretty sure that stick is starting production, that'd probably the best thing you could do.

I like the shapes, cuts, and angles of the stick, though.
 
SouthernDragon said:
A suggestion for the casing then:

Make the bezel solid black.

Since you don't have much input on the art, and I'm pretty sure that stick is starting production, that'd probably the best thing you could do.

I like the shapes, cuts, and angles of the stick, though.

We're not making any changes to it. But the good news; as you may know and others know. We also sell replacement bezels and I will try to get the Edge bezel available in due time.

Thanks for your feedback (I love constructive feedback) !
 
I wired this up with two PS1 PCBs last night. Does anyone know where I can find replacement movelist inserts? Right now I have one for Virtua Fighter 2, but rather get one for Alpha 2 or CvS2.
4yNWR.jpg
 
The cable is shorter too.

I find the V3-SA more comfortable to play with for extended periods thanks to that slanted rest design, and its lightness makes it less of a strain to carry around everywhere.
 
I think this is obvious from pictures but I thought I'd emphasize it, the amount of space your hands have to rest below the buttons/stick is much smaller on the V3 than a TE. I had to use one recently and it was really hard for me to get used to.
 
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