HORI Fighting Stick for PS4

Tech Talk
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Thought I’d make my first thread about Hori’s next arcade stick controller, this one being a compact, budget-oriented option that sits between the Fighting Stick Mini and RAP4. Releases in Japan this June for ¥ 9,980 (approx. $90-100 USD).


(Site is in Japanese, use Google Translate for now)

Tweet with larger images

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This looks cute.
I love buying cheaper/budget sticks and souping them up.
A little pricey for a budget stick, though.

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Not a fan of the case design or the cable placement/cover. Everything else looks fine, it’ll probably use their Hayabusa parts. Technically it’s the cheapest current gen stick that offers the noir layout (or astro city idk) from a reputable brand so 1 up for that. I probably won’t buy it, but it’s always nice when a new stick comes out.

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I think it’s a little bit late (considering that budget ps3 hori sticks already existed when Soul Calibur 4 came out… right?) But still very good for people not wanting to invest a little bit more than 100 USD :slight_smile:

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Y’know, to me, this stick actually gives off a very “Konami Hyper Stick” vibe, with the large area under the stick/buttons for palm rest, and the angled cutaway at the top of the front panel.

Also note that the cable compartment door is held on with magnets, so I’m presuming it won’t suffer quite as much of broken cable compartment doors like the past Mad Catz and Hori sticks.

… and I love magnets on stuff for arcade sticks. -_-

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Audio port is an exciting feature for a budget stick. Loving the line art, keeping it classy as usual. Like the neutral color scheme that can be complemented in different ways. Hori never fails to me and this still stands.

I’d like it more if the top array of buttons were round like the FS3. Hurray for top controls over side setups. Dark Hai or Clear Smoke hardware might be the route I’ll follow once I get my hands on it.

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I’ll check out the teardown video, but I’m curious to see if Amazon (US/Canada) will offer this stick; I’d be tempted to pick it up and mod the crap out of it like most other budget sticks I get.

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You know, if these do start shipping soon enough (or form the basis for the Fighting Stick 5 series you’d hope would come soon), it’d be so good if someone from the community could make and sell a drop-in PCB replacement for hooking up to Brook boards - right now that’s the one negative of the stick, those admin buttons look like you’d need to solder to a PCB, which is typically beyond my dexterity.

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Bought this over a month ago and finally got around to modding this last month. Always keen for some cheaper smaller sticks.

2400×1600 1.52 MB

2400×1600 1.72 MB

Modded with a JLFD and OBSFEs. JLFs (and I think Hayabusa lever) can be easily mounted with M4 screws.

2400×1600 1.59 MB

2400×1600 1.09 MB

Pros:

  • Price, considering it’s a native PS4 board w/audio.
  • Compact size - less wide than HFSV3/X but is larger vertically.
  • Noir layout.
  • Light, but weight distribution is pretty okay (I’m not typically fussed by stick weight though).
  • QDs on the buttons - typically not found on cheapest Horis.
  • JLF mounts at correct height using mounting plate without any futher modification.
  • Stock buttons actually feel pretty good - they actually feel a little better than Hayabusas for me as they seem to be slightly less shallow. They also are not that loud.
  • Cable door is a slab with magnets, so less prone to plastic or hinge breaking.
  • Cable compartment is generous - there is enough room to store a link or JLFD inside with the cable.

Not Ideal:

  • No metal panel, all plastic construction - case does insulate noise pretty decently though, but stock lever is loud. Mounting a JLF with plate made things quieter than expected.
  • Plexis and replacement panels aren’t really supplied for HFSs, but as there is no panel, artwork would probably be decal only. Cutting might be a pain.
  • Many (11) screws to open the case, but I only put back about 7. The bottom is a little awkward to remove due how the cable feeds out of the case.
  • Stock lever uses a weird 8 pin connector with latch (SMH200-8A?) - soldering on a JST PH connector for the alternate pins makes the 8 pin unusable.

Cons:

  • No touchpad functionality; not even a button like the Hori Mini Gamepad!
  • Combined board for top buttons (as opposed to daughter board).
  • Not much space for modding due to compartment size.
  • Soldered on wires for buttons w/glue - spacing appears a bit weird so might not be able to desolder for a header?

Was mainly disappointed that there was no touchpad and annoyed about the wires/glue/button wire spacing. Have used it for maybe a couple of weeks with no problems - going stick with it for now just because the compartment accommodates the JLFD really well, and I quite like the Noir layout (was a pain point of my previous Qanba Q1 coming from a HRAPVX-SA KAI). I actually got an N3 as it looked pretty good in the other thread, but having a decent compartment in this is quite handy.

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