An arcade stick thread

[MattyD]

Are there any decent USB six-button sticks for PC? SFIV is coming out for it and I'd love to have one for MAME stuff. It's probably also cheaper and easier to get hold of right now. 360 sticks are like hen's teeth at the minute

[hudson]

All the new SFIV Madcatz stuff, pads included, work on PC.

[JamesS]

Got the Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 today:



Not fastened it up yet, but I've replaced the buttons with Seimitsu ones, and put in an octagonal gate and US-style bat top:



Really not sure about the gate, though. The throw is much longer with the octo gate, and I'm not sure if that's going to make quick moves (particularly stuff like dashing, which is really important in SF4) too hard. Probably going to have a bit of a play with it, but my initial feeling is that I'll put the square gate back in.

[hudson]

Nice. Are your buttons Semitsu? Not a fan of the bat stick though

[JamesS]

Yep, Seimitsu. Just been having a play with it. The buttons are a touch firmer than the Sanwa ones, it seems, with you needing more of a definite press to trigger them. I think I actually prefer that, as I have triggered the Sanwa ones accidentally a few times. They're a vast improvement on the Hori buttons, which I really didn't like at all.

I changed my mind about the bat and the octagonal gate after a bit of play. The travel is just way too far with the octagonal gate, and I wasn't getting moves off anywhere near as accurately as I do with a square gate. It's probably preference more than anything, but I'm sticking with the Japanese setup. Replaced the bat top with a ball instead:



Comparison with the SFIV stick, for anybody who's interested:



They're pretty much the same size and weight. HRAP3 has more of a slope to the top which, for me, makes it a touch more comfortable when it's on my lap rather than a table. Other than looks though (where I think the SFIV clearly wins), they seem more or less identical. Hori stick works on my PC and with PS2 BC games, which I guess is one advantage over the Madcatz one.

[hudson]

Was there much soldering involved with your mod, James? It looks ace with the ball top, btw.

About the Seimitsu buttons... can you easily wash/wax on/swipe across the buttons as well as the TE stick ones (for mashing out of dizzies)?

[Pavey]

Shouldn't be any.

Much prefer the ball too...

[hudson]

Cool. That Hori has them plug in wirey thingmebobsicals like the TE?

[SuperBeatBoy]

I'm thinking of taking out the octo and going back to the square. I'm finding it more difficult doing Bison's Ultras on the octo. Square also seems to be better for shooters too.

[JamesS]

Cool. That Hori has them plug in wirey thingmebobsicals like the TE?

Yep, completely solder free so far. This weekend I'll hopefully be putting a 360 PCB in it so I can have it work on both systems, and to do that I'll need to solder onto the PCB. I've done plenty of electronics in the past, though, so it should be a fairly easy job. I'm likely to have more trouble making a hole for the extra cable.

The quick disconnects were really stiff, though. Had to use pliers to get them off in the end (but not before cutting myself trying to do it by hand, of course).

[Pavey]

I would say try and research, see if the third party wired pads have better solder points than the official one, as they are pretty small. Heard that a Madcatz one is one of the best for it.

[JamesS]

Yep, already got hold of one of the Madcatz arcade sticks (terrible thing that looks a bit like an old Amiga joystick) as the solder points on that are pretty easy to use.

[Atticus]

I ordered my mod package (buttons, octo gate, bb bat stick top) in advance of my HRAP EX arriving and I have to say I won't be using everything. These things perform amazingly, straight out of the box. I had absolutely no problem pulling moves off with the square gate and personally think the stock buttons are very good (bearing in mind all I've been using recently is a 100% Seimitsu 9000TB stick).

I think I'll still change the buttons as the action will be a bit better but to anyone wanting a fantastic stick, straight out of the box I can recommend the HRAP EX whole-heartedly.

[J0e Musashi]

I ordered my mod package (buttons, octo gate, bb bat stick top) in advance of my HRAP EX arriving and I have to say I won't be using everything. These things perform amazingly, straight out of the box. I had absolutely no problem pulling moves off with the square gate and personally think the stock buttons are very good (bearing in mind all I've been using recently is a 100% Seimitsu 9000TB stick).

I think I'll still change the buttons as the action will be a bit better but to anyone wanting a fantastic stick, straight out of the box I can recommend the HRAP EX whole-heartedly.

There's nothing wrong with stock parts for the vast majority. Unless you are exclusively used to sticks with genuine arcade parts, there's little point IMO. There's just been an amusing mass-bandwagon-jumping thing going on since Mad Catz mentioned Sanwa Denshi. Now everybody thinks they'll be at a disadvantage if they don't have said parts in their sticks. The boys at Gremlin are laughing all the way to t'bank I'd imagine...

[spagmasterswift]

I'm skipping changing out the stick, just switching the buttons out (mostly for cosmetic reasons if I'm honest) and looking forward to seeing if the Sanwa are more responsive.