Will be ordering a stick soon from arcade in a box and saw this option. I’m a bit of a novice only stick I ever owned was a hori ex stick. Not sure which option to go with. If it’s a matter of opinion can I get reasoning behind each preference? Thanks in advance.
get the octo gate. its only a few bucks more, and when you buy the octo, he sends you the square one as well, this way you can try both out.
if you want a true japanese arcade feel go with square gate. but its more easy to do fireball motion and dragon punches on an octogonal one. i will choose octogonal.
my first stick was a square and I could not do anything on it. after a while, I got used to it but I was not as precise.
i switched to octagon and It felt great. however, I found thhat when I went back to square, my motions were more controlled and precise. I now prefer square gate, but only due to the practice I have had on an octagonal gate.
square is the shit, i used to hate it too, but its super precise once you get used to it
Try using search. This gets asked once a month.
square is the best smaller motions are too good not to mention once u get used to it jumping ducking fb srks are effortless the most efficient way to play in the long run
The EX2 has a square gate, so if you liked that you’re all good.
If it felt a little stiff when you do hadokens switch it to an oct an try that.
i would recommend octagonal for starters, then move to square.
Well thank you all for your responses.
I prefer square. It’s kind of nice that you can feel the corners with octagonal gates, but those will also make the ‘throws’ wider, and force you to move the stick extra amount for a lot of motions.
I feel more corners with a square gate. Octagonal is eh. Never really liked them.
edit:nm
I like square because Sanwa JLF is longer throw and I like Octagonal because Seimitsu 56-LS is shorter throw. 
Start with square then get an ocot if need be.
I think it depens on the player and the game, for instance i have a EX2 where i play mame/ggpo and i have a custom (full seimitsu) with a Octagonal stick which i mostly use for tekken. I love em both for the games i use, now of course i use my custom for SF type a games as well but its just not the same.
This has been done to death. The answer to your question is buy both gates. Play on both gates. Make your decision based on your experience with both. End.
I’m not trying to steer you away, but the octagonal gate isn’t going to work perfectly for you either. It also takes a bit of getting used to.
when you are** first starting out **with a stick, this is what tends to happen with square vs. octagonal gates:
square - youll mess up quarter circle motions. for example fireballs wont “come out” sometimes and stuff like low forward > super is harder.
octagon - youll mess up diagonals. for example you will do down when you think you did downback/forward. in number notation that means you did 2 instead of 1 or 3.
so basically (when you start out on sticks) pick whether you want to work harder on circular motions or diagonals.
later on when you are comfortable with doing inputs you will be able to play on both. then basically it comes down to this:
square - less movement required to do stuff but you have no gate to guide you. that means your motions have to be more precise.
octagon - the gate will guide your motions somewhat but you have to move the stick farther. circular inputs like 360s are still easier though
that has been my experience. i can play on pretty much any stick as long as they arent messed up. i have octagonal gates in my sticks atm
You know, this has been my exact experience as well…only I have square gates in my sticks and stuck to that.
I was surprised to find out that octagonals actually need more distance to do moves, but then after reading slagcoins site…it all started to make sense. Squares really do require you to do things correctly, but once you do…I find that I tend to pull things out faster and with less energy with one rather than an octagon.