Basic arcade sticks vs. High quality ones

HughMan

Hey,

Last christmas I got a cheap Hori arcade stick (Fighting Stick 3), and it feels perfectly good to me; I haven't had any problems with it. Recently, though, I've been looking at the Shoryuken and Dustloop forums, and whenever anyone asks advice on what stick to get, they're always told that they should pay for the more expensive, better quality models; that it's worth it.

Looking at the SFIV Tournament edition stick, the layout and features definitely look awesome, but it is £100, and I already have a stick that works. I do love fighting games enough to consider buying one if it feels that much better, but I'm still a casual player, and I'm not sure if I'm good enough for the fancy Sanwa parts to make a difference. But then, I don't know. I've never played on another stick.

So that's my question: How much of a difference do the expensive parts make? Are they only important for high level, competetive play, or are they noticably better even for casual players?

(I thought I'd ask here because Shoryuken definitely seems geared towards competetive players; here seems a better place to ask, as long as you can tolerate my runalong sentences. :P)

Ah_Pook

youll notice the difference, especially in the buttons. but i wouldnt put it at a high priority level until the hori buttons start to crap out on you.

Viscountalpha

As with many things, Doing it yourself (so you know you can repair the parts) Is where it's at. There is an arcade stick building thread in the technology sub forum.

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=81347

Aumni

HughMan wrote: »

Hey,

Last christmas I got a cheap Hori arcade stick (Fighting Stick 3), and it feels perfectly good to me; I haven't had any problems with it. Recently, though, I've been looking at the Shoryuken and Dustloop forums, and whenever anyone asks advice on what stick to get, they're always told that they should pay for the more expensive, better quality models; that it's worth it.

Looking at the SFIV Tournament edition stick, the layout and features definitely look awesome, but it is £100, and I already have a stick that works. I do love fighting games enough to consider buying one if it feels that much better, but I'm still a casual player, and I'm not sure if I'm good enough for the fancy Sanwa parts to make a difference. But then, I don't know. I've never played on another stick.

So that's my question: How much of a difference do the expensive parts make? Are they only important for high level, competetive play, or are they noticably better even for casual players?

(I thought I'd ask here because Shoryuken definitely seems geared towards competetive players; here seems a better place to ask, as long as you can tolerate my runalong sentences. :P)

Arguably it depends on the level you play at, the level of angry having buttons/joystick not registering makes you, and the character you play.

If you play Viper, get very frustrated when you press forward instead of downforward and end up losing a tournament match, and play at a moderate level then you need a good stick. If you have a lot of people who play with you and use your stick, quality = longevity. If you're aggressive when you hit buttons, you'll probably want better stuff as well.

If you play Zangief to laugh at people on live, then you don't need a good joystick. You don't even need a joystick....could probably do it with a Guitar hero controller.

acidlacedpenguin

I consider myself a competitive player and I use a hori DOA4 stick.

I use the original buttons and original stick, but I put an 8-way gate and a heavier spring on the joystick, shortened the microswitches, and added two 24mm buttons.

all of these (well, except for the 2 buttons) were extremely easy mods to do, and can be found on srk forums.


anyway, my point is that I use a basic hori stick with mostly stock parts and I don't feel inferior to players who use more expensive sticks.

edit: also, I've owned all of the components necessary to build my own stick since months before street fighter 4 came out but I still haven't been compelled to build it because my hori stick is working just fine.

Bartholamue

I guess it all depends on what you're used to.

HughMan

Thanks for the advice. I'll see if any problems crop up with my current stick before I buy a new one. With SFIV, Blazblue and MvC2 I'll have plenty of chances to spot anything.

(... and Tekken 6 later in the year. God, I know I'm not the first person to say it, but this is an awesome year for fighting games.)