I’ve been thinking about buying a stick for a while now but I’ve never gotten around to it until now. I’m just curious to know, what do most 3s machines use for their joysticks? Octagonal or square gates? I’d probably prefer the octagon gates but I would like some more input before I make a decision.
It’s usually not a good idea to choose a stick based on one game, but all 3S machines I’ve played on or heard of use the stock square regardless of region. The two most common sticks used for 3S are Sanwa JLF and Seimitsu LS-32, both square by default. Can’t go wrong with either but the prior is often thought of as being the stick for fighting games, hence why they outnumber any other Japanese stick. Though the LS-32 is used for 3S at SBO, if that makes any difference to you. Just remember that favouring an octagon before using the square is an unfounded choice; anything can be done on a square with enough practice.
Tech talk section has all the stick info you could want.
i can never do necro back strong when i want on octagon-gates for some reason. never bothered to find out why, square gates ftw
square gate is my recommendation. when i first got a sanwa it had a square gate and i had trouble doing anything, so i though it was the gates fault. i ordered a circular gate and i was missing everything that required a diagonal input. i went back to square gate and i’ve never looked back.
in my opinion, square gates don’t require as much movement of the joystick like octagonal and circular gates do. they seem more efficient to me. plus they are standard on most jap cabs.
although if you decide to go with an octagonal or circular gate, you can get accustomed to it as well with enough practice.
just my $0.02
i like the octagonal gate b/c you know “exactly” where you are b/c of the corners. i dont like catching the corners of the square gate in half circle or quarter circle motions…
You’ve already gotten a lot of good answers, but I’ll still try to help since I have a pretty good background in stick knowledge.
It’s simple: No stick is going to work perfectly for you the first time. This is more true if you have used American sticks in the past. In other words, it’s harder to transition from one stick to another than it is to just start using one. Your first stick is usually your best unless you really have a lot of problems with it. You have to keep in mind is that it can take days, maybe even weeks for you to get adjusted to a stick.
That being said, square is indeed the golden standard in Japan. Some people swear by square, and others by octagonal. Octagonal gates are not that expensive and if you can, just go ahead and buy both. Remember that no stick out there comes with an octagonal gate standard so you’ll have to replace it if you want to use it.
Finally, are you open to other kinds of sticks? There are American and even Korean ones available.
Square gate if you want to Survive Chun’s Cr.Mk.
to clear this up for myself…what is the japanese standard in arcades and the standard for SBO? (buttons and sticks i mean)…i hear they use seimitsu sticks with sanwa buttons in normal arcades but im not sure…would anyone know the models for the buttons and stick (EX: Seimitsu stick LS-32)
I’m interested in this too… I heard the setup was different in Japanese stock cabs vs SBO cabs. Can’t confirm anything though.
I talked to someone and they said that SBO uses Seimitsu’s since KSK’s (he’s on the SBO committee) arcade only uses modified LS-32’s for 3S. But the buttons are all Sanwa, even at his arcade.
ah ok thanks for letting me know
To my understanding, the stock controls in Japanese cabs are some no name brand, but yes, seimetsu sticks, sanwa buttons. Good shit.
How are they modified? Do you (or anyone else) know the details?
Going from an American MAS to a lollipop
i figured my question was on topic so i’ll just post it here. so i decided i’m going to get a japanese style stick to practice before i go to japan. are there any recommendations as to which sticks last the longest and are best quality? i also want to know if a stick that is custom made can have the same quality as a (H)RAP and all the other popular jap style sticks.
Seimitsu LS-32 for the stick and Sanwa OBSF-30 for the buttons is the best way to go.
Customs are generally of the highest quality because they use real arcade parts, meaning they are as good or better than HRAP.
To be precise about the SBO cabs,
stick = Seimitsu LS-32-01
buttons = Sanwa OBSF-30
Instead of making an entirely new topic, I thought I’d just ask here instead.
While I’m going to get the joystick layout that I prefer to be the most comfortable either way, I’m just curious, what do most arcade cabinets for fighting games, or better yet, the ones at SBO use for their layout? Blast City?
All Sega cabinets used for fighting games (Astro, Versus, Blast, etc.) have the same layout because the panels are interchangeable. Try googling for a pic.
Cabinets made by other companies can be a little different though. Taito Vewlix panels have a slightly different layout than Sega uses, so I’m going to take a guess and say that anything at SBO that isn’t on a Sega cab runs the risk of having a different layout. I don’t know what type of machines were used for other games though. Tekken, VF and some other new games have higher-end cabs which probably have a layout more similar to the Vewlix.
I would like to know this too. I use a LS-32-01 and sometimes it feels like a octagon gate especially the corners. My friend has a LS-32-01 and it feels like a really smooth square gate. Any help?
Don’t quote me on this but from what I understand, LS-32s can have two restrictor plates at once. The basic square, and a plastic blue one (which might be removable?) that adds a slight rounded edge to the corners; enough to soften the square feeling, but not enough to make it octagonal. IIRC that guy Deadfrog drew a diagram of it. Read a bit more into it though, I could be very wrong. I’ve never taken apart an LS-32 myself.