Hello! I need some help. For a casual Fighting Game Fanatic, is the HORI Stick worth it? I intend to mod/replace parts as it breaks. The reason why is that I’m on a budget & on top of that the Xbox 360 has limited Fighting games. I plan to use it for BlazBlue/CS, MvC2, & SSF4. Any feedback would be great.
Thanks.
No! The Fighting Stick series is a huge pain to mod, tons of dremelling and soldering. Even post mod, the form factor is so crappy and light that they are a pain to play on.
Get a MadCatz SE if you’re on a budget
I tried to do the pineconeattack mod on my old ex2 and ended up breaking it. Mostly from my inexperience but that thing is a real bitch to get back together because there is pretty much ZERO wiggle room inside the case.
Go for the SE if your on a budget its a solid stick on its own and in the future you can always upgrade it.
I’ve modded two… and it’s a pain in the ass. After doing all the research and going through the motions the first time (this was back when SFIV came out, so it was impossible to even get a Mad Catz SE), I had so much fun soldering and wiring that I modded the second one as a fun side project. But if all you want to do is easily replace buttons/stick as it wears out, then you need to save yourself the hassle and spend the extra twenty dollars for an SE. You won’t need a dremel or a soldering iron, just buy the buttons and pop them in.
Oh, Thanks a lot, I came across this Fight Stick Joytron Paewang Revolution Does anyone have any experience w/ this Stick?
That still requires quite a bit of dremeling to fit arcade parts into. Honestly, as others have mentioned, a Madcatz SE is your best bet, and the 360 one is pretty cheap here: http://www.buy.com/prod/official-street-fighter-iv-arcade-fightstick-joystick-for-xbox-360/q/loc/108/210674146.html
i think the hori is everybodys first attempt at modding or fucking it up for that matter haha(it was mine). theyre shit to work with and disassemble, some of the buttons are soldered straight to the pcb!!! the only thing worth shit might be the pcb for some frankenstein stick…i used it to resurect an old pelican to play mvc2 on xbox live …sanwa feels so wrong on that game almost sacreligious…
If you can get one cheap and used GO FOR IT. Better to screw up a mod on something that’s cheap and nearly disposable to get your feet wet.
HORI EX2’s and their brethren (DOA4, SC4) are wretched things - I cannot stress this enough. Aside from the poor quality of the shell, stock parts, and design, the PCB is also a disgrace - it’s not common ground, contact points will break at the slightest button stress or applied heat, and it’s huge.
If all you want to do is swap buttons & joystick around, then the easiest solution, as already stated, is the Mad Catz SF4 SE stick (coincidentally, in the UK they’ve just been selling these for 20 on PS3 and 25 on 360).
The Datel 360 & PS3 stick is very cheap and easy to modify with Sanwa/Seimitsu parts (even more so with Korean Crown buttons), and only takes a small amount of effort.
But Christ, even for $30, EX2’s are not worth the short term & long term hassle.
if you do happen to go with the hori ex2 option, i would suggest getting some seimitsu ps-14 buttons (i think akihabarashop is the only place that sells them, at least in a nice selection of colors). they are very short buttons and you can put quick connects on them and it doesnt make them long enough to touch the base. they are for sure the best buttons for the mod.
You mean Seimitsu PS-15.
Laugh.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I didn’t know EX2 is such a pain to replace parts. All I wanted to do is replace buttons & Joystick, nothing more. Since I’m new to everything here. what website you guys use to order quality parts for the SF4 SE stick?
The stick on the Hori EX2 is really solid. Hori makes much better stock joysticks than Mad Catz. You won’t need to replace it.
Don’t bother replacing the stock buttons with Sanwas. That’s way too much work. Instead, take the microswitches out of the Sanwa buttons and put them inside of the stock buttons. They fit perfectly and it gives you the Sanwa feel. You’ll have to bend the ‘prongs’ so they’ll fit in the case, though.
The worst part is desoldering the circuit board from the buttons. I’d recommend both a desoldering tool and desoldering (copper) wire.
The biggest downside is the lack of room inside the case. I ended up putting small washers and nuts around the screws so I could fit everything in there. It might not be an issue if you use the stock circuit board, but it will be a problem if you end up having to scrap the old circuit board and replace it with something from a regular controller like I did.