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Looking for a fighting stick I can use to play KoFXIII with for my PS3. Now I've use to hear that HORI sticks are the top of the line, but I've also heard that Madcat tournament model sticks are now the best ones to get.
Can any one here please give advice on which they like more, and what issues they have had if any with their stick?
Stick choice is fairly subjective. They both have arcade quality parts in them when they're in the $130-$170 price range, so I say just get whichever one you like the design of more and/or can get a better deal on. They'll preform pretty much the same and parts are generally changeable to suit your personal preference.
Between hori and madcatz, i found the hori's to be more responsive than madcatz by quarter of seconds, I felt it in Super SFIV on PS3 and on Mame via OSX.
I would recommend a hori just for that, but it also depends on what you are looking for because if you want an arcade stick with sanwa parts and multiplatform then i recommend eightarc, or qanba.
I believe Hori was going to re-release some V3SA early this month, late Dec. so you might see them around via amazon or the hori store, so check that out, it might be a cheaper alternative than the UMVC3 since they pay a bit more for the license which means they sell it for a bit more.
I haven't tested eightarc or qanba yet, so i can't comment on that, other than what i stated before.
I think if you are going cheap (sub-$100), Hori's regular V3/VX models are the only decent choice as Madcatz doesn't make anything good in that range. The problem with cheap sticks is they will break in ~6 months of regular use and are very hard to fix. For tournament model, the problem with Hori is they put the Start button on the right which gives you an easy way to DQ yourself unless you have tiny Japanese hands (yes, I speak from experience). With Madcatz, the problem is the only truly optimized model they make is the Tournament Edition S and every model of that type is sold out at retail and being pricejacked by resellers in the know. So the company, instead of making more of the best model, is refurbishing their original TE and TE round 2 models, licensing recent games, and slapping on new art to pass the old sticks off as new.
I have no experience with Eightarc or Qanba, but I like the look of the ISO and Fusion sticks at eightarc.com. If I bought a new stick now, I'd take a chance on 1 of those 2 models.
I have been using a wrestle stick which is good...however the custom PS3 button it has only allows for the game to switch off and no gateway to reading messages.
I didnt think it was a prob before but as I have been receiving messages by someone during character select screens , I have no way of knowing what they want unless I switch off.
I ordered the fanta stick last week though so when it comes will update on if its any good.
Can't you get a quality custom stick for about $200?
^Not really, Norton. Let's say you use a Paewang PCB for 360+PS3, JLF stick, 6 OSB(F,N)30 buttons on the face, and 6 OSB(F,N)24 buttons for other 2 buttons/start/select/home/turbo (switches PS3 and 360 on the Paewang), you're looking at $24 for the stick, $3 per 30mm button, $2.50 per 24mm button (all the sanwa stuff from lizardlick.com), $40 for the PCB (from focusattack.com), not including shipping that's about $100. So <$100 for the wood, plexiglass, whatever other materials, + labor, is probably gonna fall short for most stick builders.
Anyway...
I am a longtime Hori fan, that being said however, when it came time to figure out my plan to make two "sticks to end all sticks" (aka two sticks to replace a closetful of sticks for various consoles), I went with MadCatz. MadCatz has more aftermarket support and that's a big part of why I went with them, I had an easy time multiconsole-modding my sticks, and there's a lot of options for replacement top panels so I can color-coordinate my sticks (admittedly most Hori sticks have aftermarket replacement panels too).
I don't like the newer non-enormous Hori sticks a whole lot, and the old enormous ones I like still have a problem where unless you baby the cord or make it detachable, it frays really badly. Not to mention some (not all) Hori sticks don't come with all arcade parts, and some of those aren't "easy" to swap new parts into (get a metal nibbler to remove the tabs and use any desoldering bulb and you can get it ready in 20 minutes, but I digress). Whereas with MadCatz, the TE sticks come with all Sanwa parts.
Also, if you have the money for it and you're not afraid to do it yourself, or know someone that can, I recommend getting a 360 MadCatz stick, and installing the Kitty PCB, which is a solderless dual-mod (actually it adds on multiconsole support, and not only PS3, but you have to do a bit more to use that).
One more thing, the Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Brawl (wrestling) MadCatz SE sticks use a much higher grade of parts than the older Street Fighter IV SE sticks. I've heard that the stick is such a good clone of a JLF that if you pay $1 and order a JLF spring and put it in there instead of the MadCatz spring, it feels the same. The buttons are good too, and have good microswitches. So if you don't want to spend a lot they're a good choice, with an easy upgrade path to Sanwa parts (they use compatible quick disconnects).
Hori makes a 6 button stick, the V3 (VX on 360), which actually uses some decent Hori parts, and I think it sells for around what a SE goes for, so that's another choice. It like the form factor a lot more than the SE's, the V3 is wider. Only thing is it's less straighforward to upgrade to Sanwa parts, with the buttons soldered in (but no tabs), you'll have to do some solder work to attach the stick (meh), but mainly you can't mount a JLF with its mounting plate on the inside without grinding out a lot of material under the stick (bottom of the stick sits too low) or if you forgo the mounting plate, the top of the JLF stick is too high (increased throw, you could try substituting the Hori shaft to see if that works well enough).
Ukee, you will want to figure out your budget, and secondarily you will want to figure out if you want any mods (dual console is really nice, one stick for both 360 and PS3, but any modder will tell you it's a LOT better to go from 360 to both than to go from PS3 to both).
If any of y'all have questions or whatever, I mod sticks for locals as a hobby so I have a lot of experience with them these days, feel free to hit me up.
Thanks for all the input every one, it has been really helpful. Since all I have is a PS3 I don't think I will need to mod for mulituse any time soon, but I know that is something I will like to learn to know how to do when I have more time so I may hit you up sometime Dan for advice in the future. But since this is going to be my first stick I am rally looking for something I can take out of the box and play with.
My price range is around $200, I didn't want to be cheap and get something that I would have to replace for a long time. It's a pain that Madcat won't keep making their top grade tourny sticks but I guess that is marketing, sell the cheaper ones that break easier and come back for more sooner.
I am interested is those eightarc sticks though, never heard of them till you pointed them out Jeff. I love being the guinea pig so I might go for that and see how well it feels. Sadly I won't really be able to review my thoughts to others since I won't have a comparison with it being my first.
not a problem.
eightarc works closely with qanba, they say they are pretty much qanba just under a different name here in the states, but i think they have their style too.
eightarc is on my list to get sticks from, but for right now im waiting for the color i want.
also i think their ebony model for ps3 only is like 110 or something like that, i dont remember which one but one of the 3 models for ps3 was around that price. just something to consider.
I haven't had a console in nearly 10 years now, but back in the day Hori always made high quality sticks & Mad Katz specialized in cheapie crap. So i'd go with Hori.
Madcatz is still the same with the exception of their higher end fight sticks. I still prefer hori myself for overall feel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zardoz
I have an SE stick with Hori parts, love it for its compact size which makes it MUCH easier to transport
No offense man, but don't say stuff like this based on your experiences ten years ago. I can't speak for Mad Catz's other products but their arcade sticks are well made. I still prefer Hori stuff but I've owned a TE stick in the past and it was nice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zardoz
I'm thinking about getting a Qanba stick though, they come out of the box dual modded and that would be useful for me.
HORI gets my vote. From their base models all the way up to the high grades I've had nothing but good experiences. I can't speak for Mad Catz.. haven't purchased anything from them in about 15 years.
One thing I wanna mention, the only difference between the TE-S and TE is that the lock switch on the S locks out the start and select buttons along with the turbo and home buttons that the TE locks out (I may be mixed up but the TE-S does lock out more), and the TE-S has a flat top instead of the raised bezel on top, other than the the construction and parts used is the exact same for both. Either are just as durable and all that.
I get what NeoJedi is saying but other than the lock switch doing more, a Tournament Edition is a Tournament Edition. And if the extra lock functionality is something you want in a non-S TE stick, that would be an easy mod to add on.
There are a few threads on EightArc and Qanba on the SRK Tech Talk forums: http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php...s/tech-talk.6/ so you'll find some impressions there, and probably some comparisons between some stick brands if you look enough.
Anyone ever use an x-arcade tankstick? Have seen them advertised on the internet, but I don't know anyone who has one.
X-arcade doesn't even use HAPP parts, just some lookalike clones. So it looks and feels kinda arcade grade, but it's not as good as the real thing, you basically would have a stick that looks like an "arcade" stick but isn't really arcade-grade. Maybe things have changed but it's my understanding that's how it's been since way back, please correct me if I'm wrong.
The layout isn't very great either, that button layout sucks and two players on one stick gets old.
If you want an American stick, MAS is still in business, or there are plenty of older ones you can mod HAPP parts into (and IIRC a variant of the SF Anniversary stick even comes with actual HAPP parts in it, good luck finding it though).
I like hori stuff, but was impressed with the Madcatz TE and got one for my 360. Feels great with KOF!
I would recomend not fucking with any happ parts nowdays, they are a shadow of their former quality, my beloved super joystick is now a peice of shit :( a friend bought a couple brand new ones for his cab, from the very first test both sticks felt like shit and one wouldn't hit corners properly. If you like the happ competition joystick (I hate them even when they are good quality) you can get the IL euro joystick from lizard lick which will be the former high quality happ competition joystick.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF
I now play on japanese joysticks exclusively, not because I don't like american parts, but because of reliability and confidence that I am going to get the part I ordered.
Yeah I didn't really wanna get into that either but that's 100% true. Bad habit of mine, saying "HAPP" when I mean "American-style controls (that were made by HAPP back in the day but nowadays they make inferior quality parts to the ones we remember from our youths spent in arcades)".Quote:
Originally Posted by XcomplexzX
Just as an aside... note that not all Qanbas are dual compatible with both ps3 & 360. I've got a dual compatible one. Haven't spent too much time on it, but it seemed quite nice.
Overall I'm a Hori guy though.
.
I agree, madcatz te sticks are great. You can't really go wrong with hrap sticks either. Ukee, I have a ecksnine stick I don't use any more if your interested.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sexual Instinct
If i recall correctly the X arcade had a happ clone, i replaced it with a happ, but the quality was still shitty (this was right when happ was sold out to suzo or whatever happened).
X arcade isn't really a bad choice, its easily modable its a plus in that aspect, at least its easier to work with than the SFAC. the SFAC was a bitch to work on to switch the stick.
And yeah if you want American style stick go with IL, and for a store, i highly recommend paradisearcadeshop > lizardlick, i dont know what happened to the great rep lizardlick had, but they have a lot of shit backordered...
I bought a HRAP3 years ago and fitted Sanwa buttons to replace the cheap crappy ones. Already had a Sanwa stick. I've never had an issue with it. Honestly though does it even fucking matter what stick you get as long as you can fit aftermarket sanwa/seimitsu parts? when you're talking about lag in the matter of frames it's a bit absurd unless you're a pro IMO.
MAS is in business still !? Hmm odd last time i try there old web adress it took me to page saying domain for sale :scratch:Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF
When it comes to HRAP and MCTE I always find them both about the same construction wise. PCB wise Hori makes a better product, always cleaner setups inside and just an overall better technology that has proven the test of time in plnety of other hardware. Madcatz sometimes can fail and is not an issue with the arcade hardware but more like their internal hardware. I have a MCSE PCB that's failing and a MCTvC (Wii) that's fgailing as well. Hori has always been great, my only problem with Hori involves a DOA4 stick with a faulty mic input, other than that no problems with PCBs, hardware is another story, all propietary hardware MC or Hori sucks, it might work great the first coiuple months but if you play a lot like I do you'll start noticing that wear and tear is not firendly to this parts. I don't play like a washer machine on spin cycle and even then these parts turn to crap, so definitely consider having good parts like Sanwa or Seimitsu if you want to stick with Japanese style joysticks.
Both joystick cases arfe fine, they really don't affect the gameplay whatsoever. The HRAP case is flawless and slick in design, I really like it 'cause I like things simple and clean, top start and select button is great for me, I don't have small hands and I'm fine with it but that's just me. The MC case is a bit more complex, it has more parts and depending on your taste it could look more appealing, my only problem with this type of case is the start and select are on the top side of the stick case, not a big deal but it's a trend joystick builders at SRK started well before MC decided to produce these sticks.
If you want to go cheap and surpass anything that's out there on the market then this might just be the way to go; Get a Tekken 5 stick (HRAP1 Type of case), gut it, install new parts, get a six axis adaptor, get a six axis controller, match the wires to the buttons and done! Instant cheap greatness.
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...AxisMod010.jpghttp://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...AxisMod001.jpg
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...AxisMod008.jpghttp://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...AxisMod007.jpg
The good thing about doing this is that you are probably going to spend a bit under the cost of an HRAP or MCTE and you get not only a blue tooth (wireless) joystick with a rechargeable battery but you also get a 100% backwards compatible joystick. Keep in mind that this can be done with any given joystick case, I just chose the Tekken 5 sticks 'cause they're so innexpensive and easy to find. IF you don't mind doing a little bit of work this could turn out into something great, plus you an get art printed for it for about 20 bucks and I mean a top quality CPO that's even better than the original Hori Tekken CPO.
To end this I like to add that nothing, absolutely nothing beats a custom stick, specially if you build it exactly to your specifications wether is parts or design but it's always goinna be more money than anything else for the most part.
http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php...siness.151477/Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron
So I went to my local Game Stop and there in the back they just happened to have the Tekken 6 HORI fightstick for $20, so I picked that up thinking that it will be a good first fight stick.
Now the only problem I have come across with it is how do you sync the darn thing to the PS3? I have looked for hours on the net looking for the sync button location but I can ever find is "to sync press the sync button on the ps3 and stick at the same time" but no where can I find where the sync button is. HELP! Does any one know where the sync button is or what buttons you press to sync the stick to the PS3 are?
I have the 360 stick and the synch button is right at top, I really don't know where the PS3 one is but a wild guess since you can't find it would be inside the battery compartment? Tale some detailed photos and post them, we'll help you out.
The Tekken 6 HORI needs an (included) USB wireless receiver plugged into the PS3, it's not bluetooth. It's got typical low-end HORI Sanwa-ish parts, but for a $20 first stick it oughta work fine as long as your expectations are low.
So I see, and here is was thinking Game Stop wasn't such a bad place after all. They did not give me the dongle when they sold it to me, and here I thought I scored a good deal to start on. Thanks guys for the help.
Oh that is seriously lame.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukee
Indeed. Go take that one back and get yourself a Tekken 5, I'll help you all the way with the sources for everything. Trust me man, you're going to end up with a winah if you follow what I did.
The guy has made it clear that he wants his PS3 stick (I guess his eventual stick after buying a cheap starter like he's doing) to be something he just plugs and plays. I don't think he wants to mod a Tekken 5 PS2 stick into an arcade-grade PS3 stick (as fun as that may be :)).Quote:
Originally Posted by ElectricGrave
Side-note, but ElectricGrave you must have taken that pic of your Tekken 5 stick without it having had much play on it, I don't see many of them with top panels that look that nice that people actually play on. My first thought was "Wow there's not a worn-away ring of whiteness around his dust cover."
Hori versus Madcatz?
Hori.
Madcatz could be making products ten hundred thousand times better than what they used to, and they still wouldn't measure up to Hori.
That explains it a few times i wanted to buy from mas just for few of my retro consoles.Still i never i did,these days i just see people make joysticks just for the current gen.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF
The cool kids use "multiconsole" capable modboards. My TE sticks can each play (natively) on the Genesis, NES, SNES, TG16, Saturn, PSX/2, Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast, PS3 and 360, and I know I'm forgetting some others. As much I like the idea of owning a stick or two per console, this way is a lot nicer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron
Well I got my fanta stick today and its awesome, the buttons feel so light when you push them but its one huge heavy mother, judging by the foot holdings on the bottom, it seems suitable to be placed on a table.
will post pics.
As far as the side note you're wrong about how much I used the stick, even after a year of modding 2 of those sticks, the CPO still in good shape. Keep in mind both of these sticks were modded previously for PS2 before they were PS3 so they've been used quite a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF
I want to know more about this multiconsole. So you can play it on all these consoles, please tell me about how you hook them to each console, educate me 'cause i wouldn't mind doing this, however if it's the newtronik phone jack (or Ethernet jack?) how does it work? Keep in mind I have done multiconsole sticks via Sub DB connections, just like the NEO pins except with external PCB hacks. I've seen some people do the newtronik but have no idea how it works.
I'm busy at work right now, but look into Toodles' MC Cthulhu PCB (generic multiconsole PCB) or the Kitty PCB (specialized PCB for easy install into specific 360 sticks, only TE and VLX right now, but looks like VX soon). The method of using a RJ45 jack for switching between console cords is most common, but you can use any connector that has enough pins, or hard-wire a cable (or even a few) to the PCB.Quote:
Originally Posted by ElectricGrave
Here's a tutorial on how the RJ45 aspect works: link
The Kitty is a great way to go if you have a supported stick. Ever since they came out, I basically use them whenever possible when customers want a dual-mod (or MC mod), since the cost of parts+labor ends up being a bit less than with a Cthulhu dual-mod, and the Kitty has nice features tailored to its supported sticks.
And nice work on the T5's CP, yours is the only one I've seen that looks that good while still getting played :)
Heres some photos of the fanta stick and the free calender.......see how big the stick is compared to the wrestle stick
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...27013229_n.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...81269226_n.jpg
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...32372600_n.jpg
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...74369788_n.jpg
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...94340865_n.jpg
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...87086624_n.jpg
The Fanta's not bad (especially for being dual console out of the box, hooray for grey-market goods!), but it doesn't use authentic arcade parts. I hear they're decent though, and I think I remember seeing they're not hard to change over to Sanwa parts.
the name always threw me off, i always thought it used korean parts that one and the saulabi, but neither one of them do, correct?
I haven't looked into them heavily, but not all of them use authentic parts from what I recall, that much I can tell you.
Calendar is dope! Nice score, Lee. As heavy as you've been playing XIII, I'm sure you'll mod that stick soon enough. Fun project!
It did come with another part but I have no clue on these things..... the calender was a nice surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by wataru330
Thanks so much Adam, that's all the info I need. I'll be looking into modding a couple of sticks this way.
@ Lee, that stick looks great! The calendar is awesome, you should scan that Mai pic for me...fap fap fap! lol
Fantas are great for Tekken, but I moddedmy hori and te and I love both but by HRAP3 feels better. But TE's are ready out the box to be re arranged. Go to SRK they love sticks but DanAdamKOF knows what he is talking about. :)
How? Seriously, how on earth can a single stick be made to be compatible with that many pieces of hardware? Does it take the understanding of an electronics engineer to construct one of these?Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF
Here you go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sixth
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanAdamKOF