The "what stick/controller should I get" Guide.
Warning: This thread is heavily opinionated as are the nature of any product review. Movie and game reviews are heavily opinionated as well.
As well all have contrasting views on what is good/acceptable, as rule from the moderators, we shall not devolve into a VERSUS thread.
Personal opinions are fine, trying to argue that your favorite stick is better will not be tolerated. Do not confuse opinion with fact and vise versa.
Your Results/Mileage will vary. And don't ask for us to make a choice for you, I am not holding anyone's hand.
When it comes to my own reviews, I will not go through and point out what is my own opinions from what is fact (as my prerogative), and I encourage everyone to do your own fact finding research before you make a final conclusion for yourself. That is what google is for, finding your own research and making your own decisions.
Stop asking for Promo codes and sales for any Mad Catz or other products.
Mad Catz has a front page ad on SRK's homepage. If there any codes to be had it be ether there or a insider like MarkMan will share with us the good news via a post in Tech Talk.
You will find out when everyone else dose.
I will come back and edit and update this thread as needed so if you spot something wrong, let me know. And you other experts on Tech Talk, feel free to add your own wisdom and insight.
Yeah I am not having that any more, because I am a jerk.
Keep in mind I am purposely leaving out many limited edition and/or collectors sticks, as it goes outside the intentions of the guide. Collectors are going to collect.
ATTENTION ALL READERS
And I also like to keep
custom sticks off the thread entirely, Custom sticks are outside of the scope of this guide and is considered off topic. If you want a custom stick go to the
Need a Modder in Your Area? or you can try the
Trading Post.
If you have questions for a mod try
the search function here at SRK or
The Absolute Noobie Thread Or
The Info Thread: Rules FAQs and Tutorials
Please do not post build questions here.
And do not ask about Converters, Converts can be found here.
Converter Compatibility Thread
Quick tip on searching the forums. Courtesy of RosserRooster
If you ever want to search SRK google :
site:shoryuken.com and then beside it put what your looking for
bookmark it It makes searching SRK and so much easier and efficient
SRK vets should really advertise this more maybe it would cut down on some of the repetitive question...nah it wouldn't because people are too lazy to search for answers
At no time I will rate Sanwa or Seimitsu with each other or IL and Happs, or Japanese vs US/European vs Korean style parts.
Before I start with the cool part of this guide, we will first cover three more important objectives.
And what you need to consider above all else.
Needs. This covers what you absolutely have to have, strip down and basic. With any purchase this is what you should think of first. When it comes to Video Game controls this is usually covered by the Default game pad, only a few games require specialized controls or controls modified for those who have special needs. Example a One handed controller for a gamer who only have one useable arm.
I am assuming most people reading this guide now are hardcore fighter or arcade game fans who the regular d-pad is not cutting it for you, as we all hear complaints over the Xbox 360 or PS3 D-pad.
Wants. This is what you have your heart set for. For most people this is your end results.
Budget. This is how much money you have to spend. Budget is the more realistic and sobering part of the purchase process. Typically a stick will run you 60 to 250 dollars U.S. retail this figure will change with what the normal market price is in your region of the world.
Any stick you find
less than $50 is not worth your money and breaks easy. Sticks more than $200 are no longer considered Beginner Sticks.
My general rule of thumb on these things: when in doubt, pass. I'd rather pay the few extra dollars and get one that I KNOW works than one that may or may not. My peace of mind is worth a few extra dollars
If you find some cheap stick or pad somewhere from questionable sources, consider it highly risky and pass. Usually what is too good to be true usually is.
Keep in mind if you are broke (
Budget), and the default game pad works fine enough for you (
Need) that these 2 will and should over ride your Wants.
Now I am also going to cover other features of each stick/ controller here. These factors are also important to cover but goes secondary to the above. I be using this on almost every stick I list here.
- Quality
- Reliability
- Ease of Modification
- Purpose or special use
Quick Short Cuts
Mad Catz
Hori
Sega
American/ European Style , Korean Style, Qanba and others
Unless otherwise noted, each sticks are for the PS3 and the Xbox 360.
Read about PlayStation 4 sticks here
http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/195854/ps3-ps4-retail-arcade-sticks-list-with-information-facts-photos-etc-in-progress/p1
Difficulty Scale for Modding
From a scale of 1 to 5. This will factor in installing Buttons, Joysticks and replacement panels, and to a lesser extend PCB replacement.
This will not factor actual Dual-mods, replacement art or any painting.
- Easy: Standard parts drops right into place, reasonable access to all parts.
- Medium Easy: Still uses standard parts, access can be difficult/ time consuming
- Moderate Difficulty: Requires minor case modding or appropriate mount plates
- Medium hard: Requires some physical tool use to fit parts into place.
- Hard: Requires Heavy modding using tools to cut, grind or drill to fit replacement parts.
Last but not least I ask readers to go outside of this thread and do your research. Read reviews here on SRK and reviews on online stores and in magazines. Weigh the Pros and Cons before deciding which stick to get. And stop posting new threads on what stick you should buy, its why this thread is sticked.
How to Win at eBay.
Keep in mind eBay is not an online store. eBay is a listing and auction service, you are buying from that individual seller not eBay. And Every Seller is different.
For Experienced sellers who sold hundreds if not thousands, Look for sellers with a Feedback score of 99.5% rating or better. Huge time sellers with a 95% or lower are to be avoided like the plague. Pay attention to the text in the negative feedbacks, check to see if the negative feedbacks buyers actually have an issue or they are just jerks.
For people with a hundred sales or less, if they do not have a 100% rating, avoid them.
*When Bidding
Never, ever bid early. You only drive the price up higher.
Wait till the last possible minute, sometimes the last possible twelve seconds.
Also decide in advance the maximum you want to bid.
*How to know if you have a good price or not
Swing over to the reviews on PAGE 1 (it is required for this thread). I did not list the current price of a stick, I listed there original MSRP (or close to it). With the exception for huge collectors’ items avoid sticks that price them higher than I have them listed. (Examples Comic Con TE, Chun Li TE is going to be priced higher than other TEs) Many sellers have a terrible habit of over inflating the price of their sticks thinking the Market will bear, do not fall for it.
Also beware for sticks that are market high and are not in NEW/ Close to NEW condition. DO NOT pay full price on "customized sticks" with a few exceptions. Otherwise only pay full price on sticks that are keep stock.
Those exceptions are:
* Sticks that do not come as Full Sanwa or Full Seimitsu (they used knock off Parts instead of authentic parts) are modded to be all authentic buttons and joystick. Example finding a Mad Catz WWE Brawl Stick that has a JLF and Sanwa buttons installed. You should not pay any more than (approx) 10% more than the cost of the stick + cost of the new parts.
* Sticks that has been professionally Dual-Moded (if in doubt ask someone in SRK TT) The pricing should be cost of the stick + Dual Mod PCB Cost + 10% to 25% of the stick for labor.
* Older era (Decades old sticks such as SNES and Genesis/MegaDrive Era and back) sticks that are refurbish. Many of these are collector items.
As for buying online outside the United States? This is a tricky issue as each countries fighting game scene is different.
The market strong in Parts of Asia (like Japan or S. Korea), Europe (mostly Western Europe), Australia and Canada (maybe Mexico) otherwise you have to eat heavily shipping costs.
Tip for you guys overseas is try to find a seller in your home country first if possible, better if he is in your home province/area.
If that not possible look at neighboring Countries that are friendly to your own. Example You are living in Span, try a French, British or German Seller if you can't find someone in Spain (yes I know they are not right next to each other).
Here is another VERY GOOD guide for buying on eBay
It is on a website for cameras and photography but everything on that guide applies to arcade sticks as well. Just that all their examples are photography related.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/ebay/
P.S. Ken Rockwell is also having great advice and tips on photography.
Also there is no such thing as a "BEGINNER STICK" so do not ask. There are no Training Wheels in the FGC.
Also there is the thread FrankCastleAZ started, I am defaulting anything said to his thread.
DEFINITIVE PS4/PS3 RETAIL ARCADE STICKS LIST WITH INFO/FACTS/PHOTOS/ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES/ETC
http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/195854/definitive-ps4-ps3-retail-arcade-sticks-list-with-info-facts-photos-advantages-disadvantages-etc/p1
and I'm just as happy with this.
