Welcome to the world of Arcade Sticks
Many fighting game fans, both casual and competitive, decide at some point to ditch the pad for an arcade stick. At one time, the options for American consumers were very limited, but following the release of Street Fighter 4 and subsequent revitalization of the fighting game scene, many new products are available on the market. The purpose of this thread is to help people new to arcade sticks understand what is available and to help them decide what stick is best for them.
Before we get to that though, many users wonder to themselves, ?why use a stick in the first place??
Simply put, most fighting game fans find them to be the superior control method. The stick itself is generally considered to be more precise and fluid than a d-pad. Having access to six (or eight) buttons on the control panel is also extremely useful for many advanced techniques in a variety of games. Some of the older, grizzled veterans also prefer them as they grew up playing on arcade parts. The ?authentic feel? is very important to them.
That being said, when most people first change to a stick from a pad, they find their execution suffers in the short-term. This is totally normal! It takes most people a few weeks of practice to get used to playing on a stick. Spend some time in training mode before considering going back to pad, or altering your stick in some manner. You will adjust, trust me.
Ok so, what is the best stick to buy?
The truth is there is no ?best? stick. The answer is really subjective. The important thing is understand the differences, so you can make good decisions for yourself. In addition to explaining the differences, I?ll give my opinion of several of the major mass-market sticks.
So? what?s the difference between American and Japanese parts? Which should you get?
In short, Japanese parts tend to be more sensitive and responsive. American parts typically require more effort to move and engage button commands. People generally view Japanese parts to be of higher build quality. That doesn?t mean they are necessarily ?better,? but at this point, I wouldn?t recommend someone new to the scene to start with American parts. Most of the top players Japanese and American players currently use Japanese arcade parts.
On top of that, these days pretty much all of the commercially available off-the-shelf arcade sticks use Japanese arcade hardware, so they are easier to find.
What is the difference between Sanwa, Semitsu, and the other parts manufacturers?
This question comes up a lot. Sanwa and Semitsu are the two largest producers of Japanese arcade hardware. Which should you get? Ideally, try both out and decide which you prefer. If that isn?t an option for you, just get a stick with Sanwa parts. The Madcatz TE stick is full Sanwa stick and buttons and most of the Hori Real Arcade Pro (HRAP) line has a Sanwa stick at minimum. Semitsu parts also have a lot of fans, but really, you can?t go wrong with Sanwa.
As far as American parts go, ironically the best American parts currently come from a European company, ?iL.? Unless you?re going to buy a custom however, don?t worry about it.
If you?d like to know more about Sanwa, Semitsu, and the other arcade part companies, consult the essentials thread.
Ok, so I want a good stick for cheap, what should I buy?
There are basically three price ranges sticks come in: around $50, around $100, and $150+. (Give or take $30).
Around $50
Short Answer: Get the Mad Catz SE
Long Answer: In the $50 range, you first need to understand that these sticks do not have real arcade parts in them. They use knock off parts. How bad are they? Me personally, I have a strong preference for the real stuff. If you want an entry level stick however, or aren?t sure how serious you are about fighting games as a hobby, they are good options.
Notable entries in the $50 range are the Hori Fighting Stick (Hori FS) line and the Mad Catz SE. Which one should you get? To me, this is a no-brainer. Get the Mad Catz SE. Why? It?s very easy to mod. If you ever decide you want to move on to real arcade hardware, Sanwa and Semitsu parts more or less drop right in. There are guides here in the essentials thread on how to do this. The Hori FS line is much more of a pain to mod.
Note: the Mad Catz line seems to have a higher incidence of problems with the PCB (electronic guts), but knowing this, I still would recommend buying one over the Hori FS line.
There are also a ton of knockoff Chinese sticks in this price range, but I wouldn?t recommend them.
Around $100
The around $100 range is generally features sticks with arcade parts, full or partial. The big sticks to look out for here are, again, from Mad Catz and Hori.
Short Answer: PS3 owners, get the HRAP3: SA or either the Mad Catz TE or HRAP:SA if you don?t care about backwards compatibility. Xbox 360 owners, get the Mad Catz TE.
Long Answer: Mad Catz offers the TE stick, which features a Sanwa stick and buttons. Hori offers the Real Arcade Pro (HRAP) line, which comes in a few flavors. Normal HRAPs have a Sanwa stick, but have Hori (read: knockoff) buttons. HRAP SAs are full Sanwa, stick and buttons. HRAP SEs are full Semitsu. Both the Mad Catz and Hori lines are easily modded with other parts, so those knockoff parts in the HRAP3 line can be easily dealt with. The HRAP and TE lines also have slightly different button layouts. I like them both fine, but have a preference to the layout used by the Hori line.
Hori also has a few new entries coming out soon that aren?t yet easily available. I?ll add information on them when they become more common.
As far as which I recommend, the short answers is: they are all great products. You can?t really go wrong with any of them. The long answer is a bit more complicated. The big thing the Mad Catz TE has going against it is backwards compatibility problems with playing PS2 games on the PS3. Is this a huge problem? Maybe it is, maybe it is not. Most people don?t use the PS3 for serious play of PS2 games anyway, so it might be a non factor to you. I personally don?t care in the least. Other than that, the TE is a solid choice. For the Xbox 360, I personally recommend just getting the Mad Catz TE. There are certain specialty mods (dual console modding) that are much easier to do on the TE than the Xbox 360 HRAP line.
Another brand to look out for is an up and coming Chinese company named Qanba. They seem pretty solid, but I don?t have a hands-on review to offer you yet. I?ll update this when one is available.
$150+
The $150+ range is generally all custom builders. There are a number of excellent custom builders lurking around SRK. Some of the ones I recommend off the top of my head are: Norris Arcade Sticks, Kaytrim?s Customs, Arcade in a box, and Bigpockets are all very popular, but there are a ton of other great builders.
Sticks in this price range are for people who aren?t satisfied with off-the-shelf sticks, or want to have something unique. If you are just getting started in the arcade stick world, these might be more than you want to pay for. They are worth every penny though! I own two Norris/TMO sticks and they were both worth every penny.