First, let me introduce myself. I edit the video game site The Gameroom Blitz, which you may or may not recognize as the home of such fighting game features as “Fighter’s Misery” (reviews of the world’s crappiest fighting games) and “Saikyo Crusher” (a heartfelt tribute to Dan Hibiki). If you’ve never heard of the Blitz and would like to check it out, here’s the address:
Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you why I’m here. Last week, I purchased a Pelican Real Arcade Stick. Although it may not be 100% arcade quality, I was nevertheless very satisfied with it… it was certainly the most faithful reproduction of an arcade control panel I’VE ever owned. However, last night my stick suddenly decided that it had enough of my Playstation 2 and refused to work with it. It will not respond to any and all input… pressing buttons, spinning the stick, and even unplugging the controller and reinserted it yielding no results.
I thought the joystick was completely hosed, but when I plugged it into my GameCube and my Dreamcast (with the use of a Dream Connection adapter), it had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It worked exactly as it did when I first took it out of the box, but only with those systems. I haven’t tested it on a XBox yet (I don’t own one), but I assume that it would still work perfectly with that console as well. The only system it WON’T work with is the Playstation 2. This is especially odd since I had to use the Playstation port on my controller converter to hook the Real Arcade Stick up to my Dreamcast.
So, does anyone know what’s wrong with my joystick? Do you have any advice for me? Can this problem be resolved cheaply? I’d really hate to have to send the stick back to the manufacturer, since I just lost my job and can’t really afford the shipping on this monster. Does anyone have any schematics for the controller or pictures of its internals? I’d really like to get the stick back on its feet as soon as possible… I can’t settle for the stick being compatible with just my other systems, because I’ve got far too many fighting games on my PS2 that demand true arcade-calibur control.
whats goin on man? im here to help (or break the news for ya). First off I have gone through 4 of those sticks because they would stop working on MY playstation. I have gone through 4 playstations, 3 mini’s and 1 old style. Chances are your rumble feature will NEVER work again on your playstation. It’s fried. And here’s why: The pelican universal gets its power from the rumble feature in your games consoles. For some reason,people who own one system (bein the ps2) never have problems. But, for people like me who have em all, ps2 goes bye bye. When plugging in from say an xbox or gc, the pelican seems to want to get stuck in drawing that first consoles power out of the ps2. The xbox has a stronger fuse, i think 7v, thus the pelican pulls that out of the xbox. when plugged into the ps2, it tries to draw that same power out of it, and the ps is weaker, thus blowing your rumble fuse, and no power to your joystick anymore. Trust me on this, i went through an old ps2 breaking the rumble, and was told “it’s cuz it’s old, get a new one” so I did. I sold it to gamestop for credit towards the mini’s. my first mini, same thing happened. Returned the joystick to gamesquare, got new joystick. Returned mini, got new mini. Same deal. Returned ps2, got new ps2, same thing! Finally I got my money back for my joystick, got my fourth and final ps2, and never tried that garbage again, and bought a new joystick for ps2 (custom), bought an xbox adapter (you can get a gamecube adapter). No problems with systems. So sorry man, your rumble feature is screwed by pelian and you are stuck with that, return your joystick for your money, TRUST ME they all do this. ----
havent tried the ps2 version, as its harder to find nowadays, its the universal stick that acts up, i would say the ps2 stick would work and here’s why. The universaly has three seperate outputs attached to 1 cord attached to 1 universal pcb they made. It’s the universal pcb board attached to the universal stick that blows. The ps2 stick wouldn’t have a universal board, so you could get an adapter that would properly regulate voltage and you would have a working setup. So if you own a universal pelican, be careful switching from one console to another quickly. I would give it an hour or so at least to let the universal chip reset or whatever it does so it doesnt draw an innapropriate current. be careful or say goodbye to your rumble feature on your ps2, (and any future arcade sticks that draw power from the rumble fuse.) Oh and pelican will probably replace your ps2 dude, just email them, they said they would repair mine if i paid for shipping, well i found that the shipping would be enough credit to just sell my used ps2 to an ebx (i know i shouldnt have sold it broken, but they probably get refurbished anyhow) and get a mini ps2 with a 30 day store warranty to mess with your joystick again and break it again (well just take my word for it and keep your first console workin!) Good luck man any further questions just ask!
wow…this is quite a revelation. To think I was seriously considering a pelican arcade stick…well I guess nothing that’s universal can be perfect…
Oh man what do I do now…
Draw power from the rumble feature?
Which part of the PCB needs over 5V to function? Maybe it has a robotic arms or some crap.
its the stick they are using, i hope this guy checks the thread he made cuz i put alot of writing down and i want to know if its a universal board or not- but it should help other people deciding whether they are going to get a universal pelican real arcade stick or not (they shouldn’t if they own more than one system with fighting games on both!).
This is way weird. I had no idea that this stick was going to do this to my Playstation 2… if I had I would have thought twice about purchasing it. I’m going to have to test your theory about the Dual Shock vibration being disabled… I was playing Rachet and Clank 3 for hours last night and never really noticed that it was gone. To be honest, the vibration is something I really wouldn’t miss, but at the same time I am a little peeved that my $40 joystick no longer works with the system I play the most.
By the way, this is a universal joystick, and I’ve been connecting it to my Dreamcast by plugging it into the Playstation port on my Dream Connection controller adapter.
yeah check your vibration, its not that the vibration on your ps2 stick that matters if you miss a little rumble or not, it is the fact that many 3rd party sticks and pads and stuff wont work now
This might be a similar but unrelated issue, but back in '00 - '01 when I was still fooling around with Interact sticks, I went through a number of PS2s myself. The Interact stick was fine, but my PS2 would never again recognize any other device but a standard dualshock.
I traced the problem to hot-swapping, or plugging the device in while the PS2 is on. Seems some devices can be a real hazard because of this. I reckon I’ve screwed up to seven PS2s (not all of em mine) over the years with Interact sticks, wheels, and the X-Arcade.
As I said, it might be a different issue with the Pelican, but after about 3 borked PS2s I learned my lesson, never plug in the device while the PS2 is on.
This is one more benefit of arcade sticks built with 1st party PCBS.
so arugulaz which dream connection adapter do you have
2 in 1
3 in 1
4 in 1
i also have the real arcade universal that i modded with comp buttons and stick and want a dc adapter that works so if u could tell me it would be greatly apreciated
I believe it’s the three in one. It’s blue and has support for Playstation controllers, Saturn joypads, and PS/2 keyboards. I’ve seen versions of the same adapter with the word “Skillz” printed on the top, but mine doesn’t have that (thank goodness).
So, uh, is there any way to repair the damage done to my PS2 without sending it into Pelican?
maybe if u have an electronics repair store nearby
usualy tv repair shops can do that to
i have the exact same stick as u and have never encountered this problem
Could someone do me a favor and test the stick with some GameCube games, particularly Midway Arcade Treasures 2? Some GameCube games don’t seem to recognize the L and R buttons on the stick. This, as you might imagine, making blocking and running very difficult to do in Mortal Kombat 3.
Got two of the same sticks, and the exact same problems. Even the Dreamcast part.
This stick would be great for people who don’t have time/money/skill to make a stick, but no, it’s buggy as hell and even worse it destroys your console! I’ve done it to two playstations now, so I’m going to gut the hell out of it and make lemonaide from this horrible horrible lemon of a stick.
Yeah, I’m thinking that it only affects certain models/editions of the PS2. I’m pretty sure that it’s undergone some significant hardware changes since it was first released, so the older ones might react differently to the stick than newer ones. I haven’t done any research on it yet, but if I do I’ll be sure to post it.
I never had any problems with my universal on my PS2 and I own one of the original PS2 from the first release batch. I also have no problems on my other consoles either. Oh well.
You guys are lucky, then. I guess some of us get ones that blow, and some of us don’t.
Mine, unfortunately, was having problems similar to what the original poster described. I bought two Pelicans (Universal brand), and my Playstation… I’m pretty sure it’s not a first-run release, but it was a pretty early one regardless. Anyway I tried to use them for a game of Street Fighter, and it blew. Which I thought was odd because I HAD used both on this system before, and simultaneously even (and I had used both on another system previously as well–one on a Gamecube and the other on a PS1–yet this problem didn’t come out until nearly a month later).
Personally, I don’t blame the controller. To me, the fact that it still works on my Gamecube (and presumeably any X-Box I care to try it on) indicates that it may be the Playstation 2 at fault… which would not surprise me, because I’ve had bad experiences with the Playstation line before. In fact they are the ONLY console systems I have ever had to replace, period, much less had hardware issues with.
Normally, I would not consider modding sticks (electronics is NOT my field of expertise), but I payed $80 for the two sticks and really do not have the money to spend, so I would rather get these two working with my PS2 again, and furthermore make sure they STAY working. Does anyone have any suggestions for doing that? Is it even technically possible? I know I can get the PS2 repaired thanks to the Console Protection Warranty, but I half-suspect that it’s just gonna blow again the minute I try to use them.
