arcade sticks - which to buy?

[DemonoidTentacle]

So arcade sticks for the 360. Who's had some experience with these? I'm chasing a good quality stick that is still regularly available through retailers.

 

What have you found is good, and what have you found is rubbish?

[DemonoidTentacle]

I'm currently looking at a Hori Real Arcade Pro VX-SA.

[Hydro Thunder]

I can't fully say why, but I HATED the feel of the Hori Real Arcade Pro. Just despised it, the accuracy of the stick for me was just awful. The stick was well made and looked great, but I sold mine after a month or so of frustrating trial.

My favorite stick, despite the look of it, has always been the X-Arcade controller, and it now has an adapter for 360.

[disjaukifa]

I have to agree with Curious Sofa, X-Arcade is the only way to go!

[DemonoidTentacle]

I can't fully say why, but I HATED the feel of the Hori Real Arcade Pro. Just despised it, the accuracy of the stick for me was just awful. The stick was well made and looked great, but I sold mine after a month or so of frustrating trial.

My favorite stick, despite the look of it, has always been the X-Arcade controller, and it now has an adapter for 360.

I have to agree with Curious Sofa, X-Arcade is the only way to go!

 

Curious Sofa, was it the accuracy of the commands from the Hori stick, or was it that the stick is a square plate restrictor setup that caused you to dislike the stick? And how did you feel about the buttons? Was it the VX-SA model that you had?

 

I have heard that the X-Arcade is a great controller... when it's working. I've heard a few horror stories of the controllers commonly screwing up, and very poor customer service through their Support line.

 

Sure, it's got a lifetime warranty, but if I've got to send the unit back for repairs, I'm getting stung on return cost freight as they very clearly say that they will not cover warranty freighting the unit outside of the USA.

 

I've also heard that whilst it's a great controller for classic arcade games, the stick isn't quite suited for fighting games such as Street Fighter or KOF.

 

Have either of you guys had any problems with the X-Arcade? What kind of games do you play with it? Are you using it on a 360, or on a PC? I hear there is input lag when using the X-Arcade on consoles, but they're golden for running MAME on a PC.

 

And don't get me wrong, I'm not asking these questions cause I have my mind set on a HRAP. I'd love the X-Arcade to be the perfect choice because then I'd have a new stick for my Dreamcast as well. I really just want my first choice to be the right choice.

Edited September 20, 2011 by DemonoidTentacle

[disjaukifa]

I can't fully say why, but I HATED the feel of the Hori Real Arcade Pro. Just despised it, the accuracy of the stick for me was just awful. The stick was well made and looked great, but I sold mine after a month or so of frustrating trial.

My favorite stick, despite the look of it, has always been the X-Arcade controller, and it now has an adapter for 360.

I have to agree with Curious Sofa, X-Arcade is the only way to go!

 

Curious Sofa, was it the accuracy of the commands from the Hori stick, or was it that the stick is a square plate restrictor setup that caused you to dislike the stick? And how did you feel about the buttons? Was it the VX-SA model that you had?

 

I have heard that the X-Arcade is a great controller... when it's working. I've heard a few horror stories of the controllers commonly screwing up, and very poor customer service through their Support line.

 

Sure, it's got a lifetime warranty, but if I've got to send the unit back for repairs, I'm getting stung on return cost freight as they very clearly say that they will not cover warranty freighting the unit outside of the USA.

 

I've also heard that whilst it's a great controller for classic arcade games, the stick isn't quite suited for fighting games such as Street Fighter or KOF.

 

Have either of you guys had any problems with the X-Arcade? What kind of games do you play with it? Are you using it on a 360, or on a PC? I hear there is input lag when using the X-Arcade on consoles, but they're golden for running MAME on a PC.

 

And don't get me wrong, I'm not asking these questions cause I have my mind set on a HRAP. I'd love the X-Arcade to be the perfect choice because then I'd have a new stick for my Dreamcast as well. I really just want my first choice to be the right choice.

 

I never bought a pre-built X-Arcade stick, I've always just bought their parts kit and made my own sticks with their parts and I've loved it. Haven't don't it for a 360, but I've made X-Arcade controllers for my Atari 2600 (Love it but its really simple as well), Jaguar I had (Keep the pieces to build another), PS1/PS2 which I just soldered the buttons and joysticks to a PS2 controller PCB which worked great, and I've used the X-Arcade parts for my Atari 2600 Cabinet I built which has been fantastic as well. The buttons you can get anywhere and that doesn't really matter, but I use their micro-switches and their joysticks and I've loved them, haven't had any issues with them so far . . .

[Hydro Thunder]

I had the Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE, and that's all I can speak to. It may have been the restrictor plate, I'm not entirely sure. I just know that for fighting games it felt like I was fighting with the stick to get it to do what I wanted. I also thought the buttons felt "mushy', like there was too much travel on them or something.

 

I've got an X-Arcade Tankstick that I've had for many years now, and I use it on the PC (don't yet have a 360 adapter but am planning to get one, along with possibly the X-Arcade Solo). Can't say about how it works for the 360 obviously, but it controls amazingly well for everything on the PC. Nightwarriors, Street Fighter, all kinds of stuff on Mame works great for me. I consistently get my best performance / best scores with the X-Arcade stick on games. I've not had any reliability troubles with it at all. I think their warranty also covers you on shipping for the first year? I may be wrong about that, but I was thinking that there's a period of time where they pay the shipping if you have trouble.

 

I only wish the colors and such were customizeable. I'm not really handy with modifying such on my own, so I've got the big fat X-arcade logo staring at me. But I find it an amazingly accurate, well built and reasonably priced controller.

Now if only they made adapters for Atari 2600, Genesis, Snes and Saturn...

[disjaukifa]

I had the Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE, and that's all I can speak to. It may have been the restrictor plate, I'm not entirely sure. I just know that for fighting games it felt like I was fighting with the stick to get it to do what I wanted. I also thought the buttons felt "mushy', like there was too much travel on them or something.

 

I've got an X-Arcade Tankstick that I've had for many years now, and I use it on the PC (don't yet have a 360 adapter but am planning to get one, along with possibly the X-Arcade Solo). Can't say about how it works for the 360 obviously, but it controls amazingly well for everything on the PC. Nightwarriors, Street Fighter, all kinds of stuff on Mame works great for me. I consistently get my best performance / best scores with the X-Arcade stick on games. I've not had any reliability troubles with it at all. I think their warranty also covers you on shipping for the first year? I may be wrong about that, but I was thinking that there's a period of time where they pay the shipping if you have trouble.

 

I only wish the colors and such were customizeable. I'm not really handy with modifying such on my own, so I've got the big fat X-arcade logo staring at me. But I find it an amazingly accurate, well built and reasonably priced controller.

Now if only they made adapters for Atari 2600, Genesis, Snes and Saturn...

 

Do like I did and build your own! I'll post pictures of my 2600 stick when I get home tonight!

[onlysublime]

 

I bought the Tekken 6 game/joystick combo for the $35 deal which is the Tekken 6 game with the wireless joystick. There's rumors that it'll be on sale again for near that price with the Amazon Lightning deals. It's an Hori stick and works great for everything I've played.

 

I don't really play fighting games much so I'm not going to judge the merits of the Tekken 6 game. I do play the old school Super Street Fighter II, but that's about it. The game has received good reviews from gaming sites so I'll bow to them on the game itself.

 

I bought the bundle to get the joystick. I love old arcade games like Pac-Man as well as shmups like Raiden IV. Many XBLA games like Castle Crashers also are meant for an arcade joystick. And this joystick delivers. It's a light controller that sits quite comfortably on your lap or desktop. The base is of a good size. Not too big or too small. It has the throw distance of an arcade stick so it's a longer throw than the joysticks you may have grown up with on your Atari or Commodore.

 

It is a wireless stick so you won't be tethered to the 360. There is no force feedback or rumble so you'll miss out on that. It is an 8-way joystick with a square gate. It has 8 buttons.

 

This is my first experience with a joystick on the Xbox 360 and I've been extremely happy with it. People complain that it doesn't have "Sanwa guts". Well, if you must own Sanwa guts, there are Youtube tutorials on how to replace the guts of the joystick. Me personally, I don't see a need. If the joystick parts wear out for whatever reason, I'll replace parts as needed.

[Austin]

Anything by Hori is good.

[DemonoidTentacle]

The biggest problem I've had researching this is the amount of "reviews" on the internet that just focus on how cool the stickers are, or if the box looks good. And a heap of reviews that I've found, the sticks have never even been played, the reviewer says great things about the stick and says "although I've never used one to play". Does my head in.

[Austin]

Don't research too much, ha. Just buy a Hori.

[moycon]

I bought a Hori fighting stick to play 360 Arcade games with like Ms Pac-Man, Xevious, etc....

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V02P6Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=atariage&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B000V02P6Q

 

Not sure about fighting games, but for those types of retro games, I didn't like it at all. Didn't feel right I guess and certainly didn't help my scores any. The Xarcade on the other hand, is perfect for those retro type games. Really emulates the feeling of an arcade cabinet very nicely.

Again I never played fighting games with it, so I have no clue if it's great for those. For old school games Xarcade all the way.

[DemonoidTentacle]

I got a chance to actually test, in store, a Super Street FIghter 4 Tournament Edition stick and was VERY happy with the feel of the stick, the buttons, and the weight. Picking it up tomorrow along with my 360 and SSF4AE.