So ive been a (poor) fight pad player so far and I think its time to get an arcade stick. Iv looked into gettin an SE stick and modifying it with better buttons and stick, however iv struggled to find the SE at a reasonable price (£20 at game and gamestation, they must of sold out in hours >.> ) Im travelling to Tokyo on Friday and I wonder if anybody knows if it would be worthwile for me to purchase a stick while out there, or maybe just purchasing some Sanwa buttons and stick then bringing them home and putting into an SE? Anybody know about buying sticks in Tokyo? Price? Locations etc? Will it be worth it or should I just do it all from the UK?
I do plan on going to Akihabara at some point, which I imagine is where I will find this kind of thing.
Also as a side not any major arcades I may want to go while im there?
P.S. iv never played stick before at all, but feel I wont be able to improve too much more with a pad.
Thanks
Look around for a Namco/Tekken stick
http://arkadesticks.com/mcl/namco-stick_small.jpg
or Soulcalibur 2 stick
http://arkadesticks.com/mcl/ps2_sc2_stick_small.jpg
in the second-hand stores.
Will be lighter for the journey home.
I’ve been looking round Tokyo, Akihabara to name a few places and all sticks have sold out. Due to the influx of fighting games it seems like people have been snapping them up and the makers are not producing enough. From what I can tell some of the more popular sticks like the HRAPV3SA or TE sticks are sooo hard to find. In the end I just ordered a new stick from the net. If you’re to have any luck finding a stick in a shop here you’ll be better off going to the smaller independent shops sprinkled about Tokyo.
Good luck finding one!
You can easily go to Mak Japan and G-Front to buy Sanwa or Seimitsu parts. I think there’s even a video on youtube showing how to get there. As for buying a complete stick, you can forget about picking up a TE. It’s really hard to get Madcatz stuff here. If you go to big stores like Yodobashi or Bic Camera, there are sticks for sale but right now they’re mostly Mayflash/Paewang variants. I do know that Qanba is planning to sell their Empire Arcadia line of arcade sticks here, and those look to be some of the best sticks on the market right now. I haven’t seen any for sale anywhere yet, but if you can get here and see them I would suggest getting one. It is also possible to pick up Hori V3 SA sticks here. A couple of weeks ago there were a bunch of V3 SAs for sale at the big stores. Depending on when you can make it out here they may be all out though.
So basically I think these are your best options:
- Pick up a Qanba Empire Arcadia stick if they’re out by then
- Pick up a Hori V3 SA stick if you can find them (I am using one of these right now and I like it)
- Buy a mayflash variant (they’re branded “Elecom” here) plus Sanwa parts from Mak Japan/G-Front and do some modding.
- Explore Akihabara and look for some oldie but goodie sticks
I feel your pain! I was able to get a V3 SA at Yodobashi when I first came here and it’s great but I wanted to get a TE too so I could compare. I am hoping there are sticks for sale at Tokyo Gameshow. I mean, SBO finals is there so maybe. Then there’s also Evo Japan a bit later on.
I was just curious, but if you wanted someone around here to help out, shipping from the states via USPS Priority is around $80USD (could be less depending on the size of the box). Just a heads up if you wanted to order from here.
Hmm I think the Qanba and Hori sticks will be out of my league, being a beginner and a student =P. I beleive i will look for a mayflash/elecom stick , or possibly SC/namco/tekken stick as suggested (i.e. cheapest box and board possible) , and simply pick up a stick and 8 buttons while im in Tokyo so i dont have to pay import prices, are these just as easy to mod? WIll i need some kind of clip I remember reading about, so I dont have to solder? I could even simply order the stick to my address in the uk, they are very cheap.
Thanks for the help guys.
Just a few days ago I checked every big store, Bic camera, Yodabashi, Yamada Denki, Kojima, Sofmap etc, and none of them had the HRAPV3 SA. It looks like the next load of stock comes in October. Who knows, you may get lucky in one of the stores. Even Amazon Japan doesn’t have any in stock.
That sucks, dude. Yodobashi had piles of them when Blazblue came out three weeks ago so I was thinking maybe there were some left.
It’s not a mod that I would suggest for beginners. You need to widen the holes to fit the buttons, trim the insides to fit the stick, and do some light soldering to connect to the PCB. If you can get your hands on korean buttons then you will not need to widen the button holes.
On second thought I think the easiest/cheapest route will be for me to buy either a madcatz se or a hori fighting stick 3 or HRAP3, then modify them if neccesary.
Iv seen the HRAP 3 comes with a sanwa stick, and the buttons are easily swappable like the madcatz SE, is the same for the fighting stick 3? and is the stick easily swappable in the FS3 too? Has anyone used the fighting stick 3, would modding even be neccesary? bear in mind im a stick virgin 
Cheers
Both the SE and HRAP3 are fine sticks after modding (a bit sub-par before modding, IMO). They are hard to find in Japan so if you can buy from your home country and then get Sanwa parts from Akihabara you’re golden.
I have Fighting Stick 3. I think to mod it you need to solder. Not sure though. I wouldn’t recommend it though if you could find the other sticks mentioned first.
Update.
Home now from Tokyo (it rocked!). Managed to find an Elecom USB in some store in Akihabara for about £33 gbp, so not bad. Got home to find my brother has broken my ps3 tho, serious ssf4 withdrawals.
Has any1 modded the elecom/mayflash? i hear conflicting reports that the buttons needs dremeling from 28mm to 30mm, other people say obsf-30 pops right in.
PS how easy is SF4 in the arcades in Tokyo? first go on a stick straight to seth =S.
Edit: The store i was in had a good few SAs and other sticks too, only 1 Elecom though, it was hidden behind all the expensive sticks lol.
prepl1,pm sent.
I’m going back to Japan in Sept. Looking forward to finding some deals in Tokyo <3
Markman, I’m so envious of your stick collection! Maybe you should try get your name down in the Guinness book of records for most arcade sticks?
LOL You probably have more TEs in your house than all the stores in Akihabara, MarkMan. You can find HRAP V3 SA or VLX sticks here if you look hard enough, though. Plus the used stores sometimes have treasures hidden inside. And then there’s always Mak Japan and G-Front.
Waitaminute… September? Are you coming for TGS? I might see you there!
Any1 know if the Mayflash/ Elecom USB Arcade stick will work with ps2?
That says so but I can’t seem to get it to work.
I have a Mayflash and can confirm that it does indeed work with both PS2 and PS3.