So here’s my story…
After getting really into SF4, I decided a fightpad wasn’t cutting it and bought myself a Hori FightStick 3. How was it you ask? Well… obviously it sucked. Hard. So I sold the stick online and purchased a Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 SA, AND a Mad Catz Round 2 FightStick TE figuring I’d just keep the one I liked the most (and second hand sticks sell for almost brand new prices here in Australia).
After playing around with them both for a while, I decided I liked the HRAP3 SA more. I liked the size and shape of the Round 2 TE, but the actual stick seemed to have this weird “catch” or “dead space” when I would push it lightly in certain directions. It felt a bit odd and I figured it must be defective. The HRAP3 SA had no such problems.
Flash forward to the release of Super Street Fighter IV and the HYPE hit me again. As I play exclusively on my lap, I decided it was time to sell my HRAP3 SA and try the Mad Catz TE once again.
So I logged onto my megawebs, loaded up shop.capcom.com and blew my hard earned plonk on a brand spanking new MvC2 TE.
First impressions? I loved it. Stick felt great and I loved the layout. I noticed that although it had the same parts as my Hori and the Round 2, the stick felt less stiff and my gameplay with shoto command style characters improved.
However, I wasn’t as big a fan of the garish art (cool as hell, but definitely garish) and preferred the plain look of my HRAP3 SA. Figuring the stick was great and that my original Round 2 TE must have had a problem, I decided to order ANOTHER Mad Catz Round 2 TE and sell off the MvC2 TE.
The thing is, the stick on this feels just like my first Round 2 TE. It’s much stiffer than the MvC TE and has the EXACT SAME weird “dead space” thing that my original Round 2 had. Like, it feels as if its almost catching on something. When I move the stick from middle to right slowly, the first part of the movement isn’t particularly smooth. It isn’t a big deal, but seeing as the MvC2 TE doesn’t act like this, I can’t help but wonder why BOTH my Round 2’s have?
I feel like I’m going mad. Has anyone else noticed this kinda thing before? Hopefully someone here understands what I’m on about! ><
I suppose as a side note, how difficult would it be for me to change the stick from my MvC2 into the Round 2? I’m thinking I might just do that and put all this nonsense behind me.