I’m a frugal gamer, and really enjoy using my BrawlStick. The performance is pretty good, though certainly not the same level as Sanwa/Seimitsu parts. While swapping out the stick and buttons with authentic parts is the universal answer, I’d rather try some different (and inexpensive) fixes after finding a couple things with my gear.
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The Joystick switches that sit on the PCB seem to have some play/wiggle room, which affect the actuation a bit over time. Is it safe to assume this PCB could be swapped out for the Sanwa TP-MA? I’d doubt trying to secure the switches would be productive.
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The buttons on the original SE sticks weren’t able to take Sanwa SW-68 switches, though these newer parts appear to take them. Has anyone ever tried replacing the switches?
Thank you!
The Mad Catz parts are knock-off clones of real sanwa parts, some of the Mad Catz buttons (the brawl stick) have the sanwa sw-68 microswitches.
The newer WWE Brawl stick accepts sanwa switches.
You dont even need the TP-MA PCB for the joystick, you can just put in 4 microswitches and re-do the joystick wiring harness.
If you going though the hassle of replacing switches, (in my option) just replace the whole buttons and joysticks
Its about (approx) $20 for a joystick, $20 for a new set of buttons.
The switches in the joystick are already Omron, changing it out to a TP-MA isn’t really going to do you any good from a quality perspective. Once you have the gate locked onto the joystick, the switches won’t wiggle. If they do, there may be a slight defect from the manufacturing process of the gate, which you could probably correct by adding a thin layer of felt or something between the switches and gate to add extra tensions for extra security. In my SE stick, the gate had a defect that stopped me from fully engaging down-back which I had to correct, so maybe the gate in your brawl stick isn’t quite correctly keeping the switches in place.
From what I can tell the switches in the buttons are Sanwa clones, you should be fine getting some. But honestly, they’re not that different, maybe a bit less tension on the Sanwa (for that extra mushy feeling, bleh) but the cost to get new switches and pay for shipping will probably outweigh any performance benefits you think you may get.
To be frank, when I first started playing on stick I was all about upgrading the parts because I thought stock was shit based on name and word of mouth. However over time, I’ve found that isn’t the case. In my prototype stick, I have stock Hori buttons and I’ve been playtesting that for about 6 months now. About 98% of the people here will talk big shit about stock (not the new Kuro’s from Fighting Edge) Hori’s, but they aren’t bad. They use the same exact switches that Seimitsu use in the snap-in line of buttons, so if you like Seimitsu, the Hori’s will work just as well. I’ve seen some people say the plastic isn’t as good, but the Hori’s have taken a pretty good beating, surviving a 4 foot drop while Sanwa snap-ins have broken on me in the past from simply changing them out. Point is, I’d stick out your buttons a while longer until you wear them out, and then simply buy some new brand-name ones when you need them.
I’ve tried a variety of buttons, and most are good. Except Yenox. Those are the most awful buttons I’ve ever laid fingers on.
Thank you for the excellent answers! I was questioning those parts when I cracked the case, but all in all seem to work good enough for the moment.
My experience with a Hori Fighting Stick EX2 had switches utterly fail, but once I swapped them with some MadCatz buttons the stick holds up quite well to my needs in Final Showdown. Certainly a frankenstick if I saw one, but keeps me in the game with my Jeffry. I kept those shells around, where new switches could bring them back to service. A Neo Geo art scheme seems fitting for the
My favorite setup was a custom using a Suzo System 500 stick & iL concave buttons w/ Cherry D44 switches. It was a pain to mount in wood, but a metal panel would be ideal for it. If there’s one thing I should do is replace the balltop with a batt-top to make the stick more comfortable.
Ah, yeah I liked iL buttons a lot, but they don’t offer much in the way of color selection. So I switched over to Seimitsu. The only stock J button I’ll ever use is PS-14-GN. Hate the rest.
I tuned up my Brawlstick with help from this forum and a few youtube videos. The only real problem I found with the Brawlstick besides not liking the stock buttons was the metal washer in the JLF clone doesn’t seat correctly in the base and can jump out making the shaft stick. I just glued the washer down with a drop of super glue.