What’s wrong with keeping it on? It’s more of a hassle to take it off than to keep them on.
How is it a hassle. You just unscrew the pcb out and the switches fall off. Then you cut a piece of paper, the size of the rectangle, and put it on top of the exposed pcb. Then put everything back together.
I took them off because I would ocassionally hit the switches and pause the game lol.
7mm nut screwdriver still works to open this SA just like the other horis right?
Howdy folks!
Today we publicly posted our comprehensive review of the Hori Real Arcade Pro 2: SA.
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/3969/new33bannergy7.jpg
Our Hori Real Arcade Pro 2: SA (Special Addition) review is comprised of 40 pictures (you read correctly) and a lengthy analysis on all aspects of this arcade stick. The Hori Real Arcade Pro 2: SA has been acclaimed to be maybe the best arcade stick ever made by Hori. We hope you enjoy reading the review!
Lastly, we want to thank Akihabarashop.jp one last time for the opportunity to review this product. It truly was a pleasure working with them.
Digg it: http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_BEST_Damn_Arcade_Stick_Ever_Made_Pictures_Included
P.S. Please notify us of any technical errors, questions, or comments you may have about our review. We are always open for corrections if necessary. 
EDIT [7/8/08]: By accident we originally put “Second Addition” instead of “Special Addition”. The correct name is the Hori Real Arcade Pro 2: SA (Special Addition). Our apologies for any confusion we may have caused.
That’s a very well written and detailed review that helps both newbies and stick enthusiasts alike. After reading it, you really get an idea that it really is the best manufactured stick ever. I found it strange that you called it the Real/Jaxel adapter because Jaxel, I believe, is a respected member of the community who is the first one to confirm that it has no input lag. Also, the HRAP2:SA is in limited supply it’s hard to endorse any one supplier because they’ll eventually sell out, but I think you know that. =p
Thanks for the kind words regarding our review.
Woops, I did not know Jaxel was a member. I misunderstood and thought it was part of the name of the adapter. I did not mean any disrespect to Jaxel the member. It’s been fixed now.
Yes, we know there is more than one supplier, but I am pretty sure if its sold out, people will use Google to search for other suppliers. That is our way of returning the favor to our supplier for the review. :wgrin:
A detailed review should also mention that unlike the earlier HRAPs this one doesn’t have the soft vinyl covers on the quick disconnects and the stick harness doesn’t use the matching connector (JST brand) for the header on the JLF PCB (hence the need of glue preventing it from moving or disconnecting) which is unacceptable on a high end retail stick like this, also considering early HRAPs did have the proper connector.
My HRAP2 didn’t come with insulated QD’s 
So, I appear to have a loose wire in my stick. It takes a good deal of fiddling with the cord to get it to work when it’s resting on something, which makes it really only feasible to play with the stick in my lap with the cord hanging down. I don’t have a problem with that as it’s how I normally play, but it still sometimes will quit registering the stick and I have to move around and junk to get it working again…
any tips for a novice to fix this? It has nothing to do with the buttons so I assume I’ll have to take off the bottom plate?
They were there on the HRAP1. Hori cheaped out on parts early then:tdown:
The cord might be the issue. You can probably post in the trading outlet that you need a T5/HRAP cord.
Or you can start bending and twisting the wire till you find where the short is coming from. Cut that section of the cord up, strip the wire that’s bad, and solder it back together. Tape the cord back up and voila stick is back in action!!
Nice review GameCop!
SA has a double meaning.
SAnwa
The other would be
SEimitsu
And the SA is for Special Addition not Second Addition.
~Paik
SA = Special Addition
SE = Special Edition
Thanks for the kind words. Hmm… I thought that was only a coincidence? If not, I’ll add that tidbit in the “Notes / Suggestions” portion of my review.
Wow, great catch! That was a big (and kind of minimal) error on our part and I really apologize for any confusion we may have caused.
I went ahead and edited my original post in this thread regarding our review and changed every place that said “Second Addition” to “Special Addition”. That includes all the snapshots we uploaded to Flickr and everywhere in our review that said that.
Therefore, the correct name is Hori Real Arcade Pro 2: SA (Special Addition).
Thanks again for finding that. I’m not really sure how it happened.
http://www.hori.jp/products/ps2/controller/realarc_pro_s/index.html
The previous version where it is easier to deduce where those letters come from.
Because there was a Seimitsu version.
Yep, I was talking to TheRealNeogeo the other day, and that is the best example by Hori as to how they may be naming their products.
However, we both agreed that it was inconclusive as to the secondary meanings of SE being Seimitsu and SA being Sanwa because of other parts being of different brands (not just for the buttons). It could also be a SAnwa joystick or SEimitsu joystick.
Those of you that modded yours and took the turbo buttons off, will you be willing to sell them? I’m really interested in getting a hold of the blue turbo switches!
I just noticed that Hori went the cheap route with the SA and used regular OBSF buttons. The previous version of the HRAP2: SA used OBSF-RGs.
This is more than likely due to the buttons being discontinued…
The original SA and SE HRAP sticks both had high end buttons. ;(