Arcade sticks help

[danholo]

My gripe is this... I've gotten into arcade style games (shooters, fighters) all of a sudden because of the difficult gameplay and I've understood that, obviously, one needs an arcade stick for better control and to get the best of what the games have to offer. For example, playing SF 3rd Strike with a Dual Shock is killer, and using the d-pad is just unhealthy for the fingers.

My biggest problem is that I have several consoles now; DC, Saturn, PS2 and GC which I'd need to get new controllers for and I wouldn't like the prices to go too high.

So what's my best bet? Just put in a search of arcade sticks in Lik-Sang/Play-Asia and get the most popular ones? What about the new PS2 Sega Saturn controllers? It seems like a good controller for some games, like SF for example.

Would this be a good buy?

[babs]

Can't go wrong with a good PS2 Hori stick. There are adapters to make them run without lag on xbox and PS2 and Saturn as well I believe.

I have a Hori Soul Calbiur 2 stick and can testify to how nice it is to use

[anephric]

Can't go wrong with Hori and adaptors. Just avoid anything by Nuby. And the X-arcade is pants for fighters, so don't be tempted - it's laggy as fook.

[Big Seany]

Get an official DC arcade stick - they are the tits for fighters and shooters, plus the other arcade stuff (Virtua Tennis is superb with ver stick)

But otherwise, anything HORI, or the Namco sticks (the official PS1 with the yellow buttons is wicked)

[Rsdio]

Getting an X-Arcade might be a choice - you'd only need to buy it once then you just get the leads for every console you have. I picked one up from TK Maxx for ?40 (reduced from ?100) the other day, worth a phone call if you've a TK Maxx nearby.

Haven't used it much yet, but it does feel pretty good. Only trouble is the buttons are in straight rows rather than curved which isn't as good for fighters, but for the price I'm not complaining.

[anephric]

It's laggy for fighters. Seriously laggy. If you played against someone using pretty much any other stick you'd lose consistently.

[Rsdio]

Really? Is that in general or just certain consoles? I'll try it out properly later on, probably flog it though if that's the case. Could get a decent profit on it anyway I imagine.

[Shoju]

Can't go wrong with a good PS2 Hori stick. There are adapters to make them run without lag on xbox and PS2 and Saturn as well I believe.

I have a Hori Soul Calbiur 2 stick and can testify to how nice it is to use

And the DC as well. I've got a PS2 Hori SC2 stick with adaptors for everything mentioned in the 1st post + the Xbox and agree it's a great stick and the adaptors all work fine.

[Shozuki]

what adaptors are you guys using? - the ones I try seem to have MAJOR lag...

[babs]

Magicbox all the way (certainly for ps2 > xbox and sf3 online).

[danholo]

Shouldn't I get the official Dreamcast one considering it has the slot for the VMU? Anybody have any experience of the controller I asked about above? Otherwise I think I'll go with Hori.

[Kubrick]

A good adaptor will also let you connect the VMU.
I'd recommend a PS2 joystick and some adaptors to use it on many consoles. The ones lik-sang sell are good.

[danholo]

OK! Thanks everyone!

[nightstalker100]

Shouldn't I get the official Dreamcast one considering it has the slot for the VMU? Anybody have any experience of the controller I asked about above? Otherwise I think I'll go with Hori.

Official dc one is overated imo. I have two and have never had much success. The stick is just too loose and 360s are a chore not to mention theyre prone to sticking

[Geezer]

The DC stick is an incredible base for modding with aftermarket buttons/sticks and also converting to other consoles, but in it's vanilla form it's poor imo. The Hori sticks and the Sega PS2 Virtua Stick are far superior.

Whatever people say about the Hori RAP sticks, the Soul Calibur 2 stick is much more practical and much easier on the pocket