NeoGAF Arcade Stick Thread

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yeah its not the same, its subtle but is a big deal to those of us who play competitively.

the cord storage is the best feature tho. i fucking hate cords.
 
ruxtpin said:
One other question concerning the Hori RAP3 for the PS3. If, in the future, I decided I wanted to mod it with better buttons and a new stick, is the RAP3 easily mod-able?
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Very. All my parts have been replaced with Seimitsu buttons and I have a Seimitsu LS-56 stick in place of the Sanwa as well. Pull the QD wiring on the stock buttons, pop or screw in the new buttons, etc., you're good to go!

Opening the case is more of a chore than the SFIV TE stick though.
 
vertopci said:
It'll be useful in the future when you do have kids :D

Plus it's not like you'll accidentally sit in one of the back seats while driving.
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the analogy's theme is excessiveness. i don't need extra buttons just like i don't need extra seats/vehicle size. sure a mini-van drives on the same streets as a car, but it's also bigger and clunkier. i prefer my 6 button custom stick i built.

but i completely understand why stick manufacturers do 8 buttons -- it's smart for them to make sticks that are attractive to as many players (with different preferences) as possible. personally i'm a strong advocate for building your own stick specifically toward your own preferences. .
 
haunts said:
yeah its not the same, its subtle but is a big deal to those of us who play competitively.

the cord storage is the best feature tho. i fucking hate cords.
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is there some finger/hand technique that is only possible or easier on a straight layout? or is it just preference?

and yeah, cord storage is the biggest thing attracting me to the TE stick.
 
I have no good reason to own one of these sticks, as I'm not that good at fighting games and what have you.

Of course, this means I want one anyways.

So here's a question for you guys: take a higher-end stick like the HRAP, assuming medium-regular usage, what does the longevity on the unit look like? When can I expect the need to replace/repair parts?

Thanks in advance.
 
i have been wailing on my hrap1 for four or so years now. it's been used for guilty gear, marvel, and mostly 3s. it's been played almost every day by multiple people for the past three years and it's taken the abuse like a champ. just looks like shit (chrome top). :lol
 
dfyb said:
is there some finger/hand technique that is only possible or easier on a straight layout? or is it just preference?

and yeah, cord storage is the biggest thing attracting me to the TE stick.
Click to expand...

I perfer the straight layout since every american arcade i've been to used that.

8 buttons are great. I'll use the extra two for punchx3 and kickx3. One button lariats~
 
MoxManiac said:
I perfer the straight layout since every american arcade i've been to used that.

8 buttons are great. I'll use the extra two for punchx3 and kickx3. One button lariats~
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macros on a stick? c'mon
 
dfyb said:
macros on a stick? c'mon
Click to expand...

Punchx3 and Kickx3 have been in like, every modern capcom fighter since the early PSX days. Hell, SNK stuffs their home ports full of stuff like A+B+C, B+C, C+D, etc etc etc. They are intended to be used.
 
MoxManiac said:
Punchx3 and Kickx3 have been in like, every modern capcom fighter since the early PSX days. Hell, SNK stuffs their home ports full of stuff like A+B+C, B+C, C+D, etc etc etc. They are intended to be used.
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they are intended for pad players. you don't see it in the arcades.
 
dfyb said:
they are intended for pad players. you don't see it in the arcades.
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I'm assuming you are downing them out of some idea that they might be cheating? I could see the arguement for some type of programmable joystick that does complex motions at a push of a button, but i hardly think a feature that binds 3 buttons to 1 is something that will give anyone any kind of advantage, especially considering the sensitivity of sanwa buttons.
 
dfyb said:
is there some finger/hand technique that is only possible or easier on a straight layout? or is it just preference?

and yeah, cord storage is the biggest thing attracting me to the TE stick.
Click to expand...

preference really, I just dont like playing at an angle.. even though a lot of arcades are set up like that..
 
If I get the 360 TE stick how easy would it be to mod it so I can use it for PS3/360? How much do you think it will cost to do it?
 
Guled said:
If I get the 360 TE stick how easy would it be to mod it so I can use it for PS3/360? How much do you think it will cost to do it?
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$40 for cthulu and it shouldn't be too hard (should be able to avoid soldering if you want to, but you'll have two cords hanging out).
 
dfyb said:
$40 for cthulu and it shouldn't be too hard (should be able to avoid soldering if you want to, but you'll have two cords hanging out).
Click to expand...
it there a link for the process on how to do it? Is the cthulu thing all I need?
 
Guled said:
it there a link for the process on how to do it? Is the cthulu thing all I need?
Click to expand...
nobody's done it yet, but someone on SRK has a tentative plan on how and plans on making guides for two different ways to do it (solderless and soldered solutions). i don't see why his plan won't work -- should be very simple.

as for other supplies, it depends on how you want to do it. you'll probably want to get some male quick disconnects so you can do the mod without making permenant changes to the stick. and wire cutter/stripper if you don't already have one. you'll also need to find a way to mount the cthulu. other than that, i don't know what else you'd need.
 
Some very awesome feedback/in depth impressions from Toodles, father of the Cthulhu board.

He talks about the FightStick Standard Edition (FSSE) and FightStick Tournament Edition. (FSTE)

Here are pictures for reference:

FightStick Standard Edition
3210768236_2662019c51_b.jpg


FightStick Tournament Edition
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.media/ars_stick2.jpg << huge pic

---

Toodles said:
MarkMan asked, so here's my opinion so far. You're free to use this any place you like.

Overall, I absolutely love what I see. The pictures of the sticks I've seen so far show me a level of care and attention to detail that I would never have thought to come from a MadCatz product. We all know their rep, have experienced their products first hand, and have heard that they are serious about changing their image. Based on these pictures, I actually believe them. But, if you're here reading this, you probably know this, so I'll try to skip over the generalities.

The TE case looks wonderful. Top and bottom access is great; I am one of those that truly believes that if you can't open it, you don't own it. This one is made to be opened up, warranty be damned. Sticks and buttons look like a snooze to replace, but that's obvious. The quick disconnects have insulating sleeves on them. I mean, really, what the hell kind of anal retentive perfectionist puts sleeves on QD's, when the only possible way for the prongs to get smooshed together involve either voiding the warranty or a trash compactor? I don't know, but I'm glad they worked on this stick. Is it gonna affect anything? Nope, chances are it will never matter to anyone who owns them. But it is an attention to detail trying to do things 'The Right Way'. Silly sentiment, I know, but MadCatz decided to spend the extra 5 cents per stick to do it The Right Way instead of pocketing it. That says a lot.

The construction seems to be all based on the bottom black plastic frame. Most sticks made of plastic use supporting plastic columns to keep the flex down, while the TE looks to be based on the black plastic frame. I think that's a great choice, as long as that black frame is solid plastic. Based on weight, I think it is.

I'm a little worried about how well the hinged door in the back will hold up to the abuse I give my sticks. Structurally, from the little I've seen of it, I expect it to be the first point of failure in these sticks. There is a good chance that we'll see a number of these at tournaments a couple of years from now with the back door busted. There is still every chance that I'll change my opinion once I see how the door and hinge are constructed myself, but from a physical perspective, it's the first place I'd start scrutinizing.

Electrically, the 360 version. The layout on the 360 TE stick, and the SE stick, is very compartmentalized. The button all go to a distribution block and are connected with QD's that are similar or identical to the ones connecting the buttons. That's kinda cool. I really wonder why the same thing wasn't done with the stick. If the stick is replaced with one that uses still uses a 5 pin connector, but either rotates the microswitch board for some reason, or uses a different pinout 5 pin connector like some Seimitsu's, either soldering will have to be involved, or someone will have to take a lot of care to remove the pins from the 5 pin and replace in the right order. It know its minor bitching about what isn't there versus what is there, but it just seems weird seeing all of the buttons going to a sweet distribution block and connected to the main pcb with removable connectors, then see the stick wires soldered in place.

The wires themselves look to be 22 gauge wires, and judging by the fact that actually move, stranded at that. That just kind of struck me, because its WAY overkill for these. Those wires are going to last for freaking ever. Chalk up another 'The Right Way' with a side of 'Going for Epic'.

The lock switch was a great idea. It should disable anyone from activating the Home/Guide button and turbo. I wont know more until I see that little board myself, but I expect that it cuts off the ground from the turbo and guide buttons so they'll never be activated. That's pretty cool, but I was really expecting it to also disable the start and/or select buttons. I know those buttons are on the back out of the way, but I still kind of thought the lock would disable those as well. (in fact, I think it could be setup to do exactly that) But, if it works like I think, this means the Turbo and Guide buttons are more than likely available to be hacked with; it should be VERY possible to use those with a dualed pcb that can handle them. Having the Guide button available to be 'Home' on a Cthulhu is very very likely, if if the board supported it, Turbo as well. If the LEDs work as I expect them to, then messing with the LEDs becomes very possible as well, including installing light up buttons that flash the same as the LEDs, or in different patterns. Because they are accessible via that ribbon cable, the sky's the limit.

Oh, did I mention it looks like EVERYTHING is labelled? I mean, seriously, the connections on the small pcb with the LEDs have silkscreen labels describing what they do, and so do the ones on the main pcb. Hot damn, that my friends is a dream.

One thing I am scratching my head over is the ribbon cables connecting the main pcb to the upper left pcb with the LEDs and guide button. There's a ferrite ring around two of them. I'm still an early EE student, but I honestly don't see any reason or benefit for those to be there. Maybe the designing engineer knows something I don't, but to eliminate the extra weight and reduce the possibility of rattling, I expect to remove those from my stick.

For the regular fightstick, all off the stuff I mentioned above applies. It seriously looks like the exact same pcbs just installed into a different case. That's a good thing. I expect the start and select buttons to be a little hinky, but I don't really care; it should be only a minor annoyance to remove them, drill in 24mm holes, and replace them with 'proper' parts, if anyone gets that's anal about the least used buttons.

Someone earlier was comparing the SE FightStick versus the closest competitors, like the EX2 and HFS3. Based on what I see in the FightStick photos, the difference is WELL worth the $20 or so difference in price. You can't really hack either of those without a dremel, so the long term life span is MUCH higher with the FightStick. Take a close peek at the buttons used on all three sticks. Those Hori buttons are crap, and it's even obvious just looking at a pictures; the plungers of the buttons are loose inside the button housing, while the FightStick buttons are in extremely close. The MadCatz buttons in the pictures I've seen, I'll admit, look like a Sanwa knock off, like they took apart a Sanwa button and made a mold out of it for their buttons. I don't care if they did; the construction of the MadCatz buttons looks GOOD, and I expect they'll be close to the performance of Sanwa's. If not, 5 minutes with a screwdriver and the new buttons are in.

I'm kind of torn on the SE FightStick case. See, on one hand, the supporting circular columns you see all of the time in plastic cases (smaller Hori sticks, Agetec stick, Namco stick, etc) isn't there. That means no dremeling to make room for other stuff, but it also means that there might be give in the top making the overall stick feel hollow. I'll have to see it in person to get a feel for it.

As for modding, damn. Damn. I've been jogging through my head thinking about various sticks and I can't really think of anything that comes close; everything in the same 'weight division' doesn't compare. The really weird thing? You don't have to. You don't have to mod either stick; it looks like it will be good out of the box. But if you do, oh boy. We are easy to identify place to tap into anything we might want; installing a Cthulhu into either stick looks not only possible, but pretty simple, even solderlessly. Even better, the directions for any kind of mod on one stick look like they will apply exactly the same on the other edition. 360 TE instructions could be followed on an SE without missing a step. Light up mods? Easy. Dual pcb mods? Easy. Want to add PSX support (outside of a Cthulhu; I'm not trying to make a sales pitch here.)? Get the pcb from an HRAP. Grab a collection of wire splices, about 20 cents each. Splice the wires together in the proper order, and you're done.

Comparing the TE to the HRAP3, the case construction is close, but the TE has the better layout with the Start and Select out of the way, plus much brighter future for modding especially with the removable arwork.

Comparing the TE to the HRAP EX, the TE wins handily just by being a common ground stick, with the very simple headset jack in the front instead of the monstrous thingy right over your stick, plus every reason given above against the HRAP3.

Comparing the SE to the EX2 or HFS3, SE wins easily. Similar case construction, but better original parts on the SE and the easy ability of replacing them down the road with a screwdriver instead of a dremel and soldering iron.

I cannot think of a Japanese style stick that is more welcome for modding than two editions of Hori's. It reminds me quite a bit of the SFAC stick and to a degree the Pelican Universal Arcade sticks, which were also begging to be modded. The big difference is though that you don't HAVE to mod the TE or SE to get good sticks because parts already are quality.

One last minor thing I'm worried about; I havent seen the business side of the pcb's yet. Most MadCatz products buy the 'wafer' of the chip they use and cover it in a blob of black epoxy because it's cheaper than buying the actual chip. I know its just a pet peeve, but I hate that. The chip should be exposed and soldered like any other. Even if they do go with the wafer+epoxy method, the pcb from the 360 version of either stick will end up being the 'dream' pcb for the Xbox360, much like the Agetec stick pcb is still the dream pcb for the Dreamcast.

We're gonna have a lot of fun with this. MadCatz and all involved did real good from everything I see.
Click to expand...
 
The FightSticks are available for preorder in Sweden now, all four SKUs. I just ordered me a TE for the 360.

The price is a little hefty, but what do you do..
 
Between this thread and the SFIV thread, I couldn't hold off any longer and just pre-ordered the 360 SE stick off amazon. Can't wait for the stick and the game. Haven't been anticipating a game this much since maybe Killer Instinct or SFII Turbo on the SNES.
 
Has anyone on here modded an X-arcade stick to be compatible with the 360??? Also, if I get either of the SF4 sticks, I can basically switch out the stick with any other stick??? I want to get a bat top, i really just cannot get into the ball top.
 
chriskun said:
Has anyone on here modded an X-arcade stick to be compatible with the 360??? Also, if I get either of the SF4 sticks, I can basically switch out the stick with any other stick??? I want to get a bat top, i really just cannot get into the ball top.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure why anyone would bother. X-Arcades are horrible.

You can swap for a bat top. The part is Sanwa LB-30-N but I think you'll need an adapter because they're meant for the thicker-shafted JLW sticks.
 
chriskun said:
Has anyone on here modded an X-arcade stick to be compatible with the 360??? Also, if I get either of the SF4 sticks, I can basically switch out the stick with any other stick??? I want to get a bat top, i really just cannot get into the ball top.
Click to expand...

Some of the more infromed fellows here should be able to give you a better answer, but simply screwing off the ball top and adding a bat top wouldn't be a problem at all. Just order the bat top and the little $.50 adapter piece and you're set. http://www.lizardlickamusements.com/pages/joysticks.shtml

That being said, bat tops are generally associated with HAPP/american style sticks which won't fit in the new SF sticks.

That's what I gather at least. I may be wrong.
 
Ok, I'm a total stick novice. If I want to mod the madcatz SE stick what buttons/ball should I get? All this pushbutton/microsystem xenomicronanoflab is confusing me.
 
Akim said:
Ok, I'm a total stick novice. If I want to mod the madcatz SE stick what buttons/ball should I get? All this pushbutton/microsystem xenomicronanoflab is confusing me.
Click to expand...
The buttons you want are either
Sanwa OBSF-30
Sanwa OBSN-30
Seimitsu PS-14-GN
or Seimitsu PS-15

basic rundown: Sanwa buttons activate easier than Seimitu buttons. Anything with "N" suffix screws in, otherwise they snap in.
 
Akim said:
What about for the stick+ball portion?
Click to expand...
depends on what you want:

for a copy of the TE, get a sanwa jlf. it has a square gate by default, but can be changed to an octagon.
if you want something tighter with a smaller dead zone, get a seimetsu ls-32

both can be changed to a bat top if you prefer that (or you're like me and grew up on american arcade machines)

if you want to know what all those terms mean, read this:
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=132452
 
MarkMan, can you please confirm if the JLF-TP-8YT will fit straight into the standard Fightstick?
It looks like it should but I would just like to be sure:D
 
So totally dumb question:

I just got a Hori EX2 stick for the 360 to hold me over until I get my SFIV Fightstick, but the thing has some S-Video looking connector, and I can't find anything on the 360 that resembles an input either on the controllers or the 360 itself.

What am I missing here?
 
RubxQub said:
So totally dumb question:

I just got a Hori EX2 stick for the 360 to hold me over until I get my SFIV Fightstick, but the thing has some S-Video looking connector, and I can't find anything on the 360 that resembles an input either on the controllers or the 360 itself.

What am I missing here?
Click to expand...

The cord should end with a USB plug. Based on your description, it sounds like you're missing the last 6 or so inches of the cord. At about the 6 inch point the cord separates in order to prevent young children from pulling the 360 onto themselves, I think. Check your box for the rest of the cord or return it.
 
AZ Greg said:
The cord should end with a USB plug. Based on your description, it sounds like you're missing the last 6 or so inches of the cord. At about the 6 inch point the cord separates in order to prevent young children from pulling the 360 onto themselves, I think. Check your box for the rest of the cord or return it.
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MOTHER FUCKER!

Definitely don't have the piece. What a pain in the ass :/

Thanks man.

Edit: So they have the piece at the store, going back to get it now. Thanks again AZ.
 
RubxQub said:
MOTHER FUCKER!

Definitely don't have the piece. What a pain in the ass :/

Thanks man.

Edit: So they have the piece at the store, going back to get it now. Thanks again AZ.
Click to expand...
local video game store?
 
MThanded said:
local video game store?
Click to expand...
Yeah, oddly enough a Gamestop at the mall had it there.

Got the piece and will check me out some SF2HDR after LOSTOMGLOSTLOSTLOST!!!!

Edit: So I pre-ordered the SFIV FightStick, does that have a square gate or what? This EX2 has a square gate so I guess there's really no need to swap in an octagonal one if I get used to this square one (or is there tactical advantage to having distinct gaps for every direction?)
 
Maybe someone can help me, I want to use my HRAP3 to play some MAME games on my girlfriend's Mac when she is watching her bullshit TV shows. I think she is using Mac OS X 10.4. Is there anything special I need to do?
 
Thanks goes to Drohne for the link to the cheap 7mm nutdriver and to Dementia_ for the inspiration on the color scheme. Not quite a VSHG but close enough:D

IMG_0216.jpg
 
How hard would it be to swap out the buttons in my DOA4 stick for Sanwas? Just soldering & filing the edges of the button holes? Would the shorter Seimetsu snap-ins be better because of how shallow the case is?
 
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