hori fightstick or madcatz fightstick?

DARK-KNIGHT

hi which of these would be better for the 360? sick of getting nailed by guys and gals cos im playin with a controller and it does limit your capabilities!

oh yeah cant afford the tournament edition! or any other ideas?

Dreddybajs

hori arcade stick

The SE is the better option by far, though it's still not near arcade-quality - but in the event that one of the buttons breaks (which will happen at some point for the Hori for sure and likely for the SE too) the SE is leagues easier to mod. It's also got more weight to it, has two extra face buttons, a locking button to stop you accidentally pressing start, better positioned start and back buttons, and imo slightly better button quality. It should be noted that it looks like the TEs are starting to come down in price (I think I saw one on amazon for 120 dollars a while ago), but they're still a lot more expensive in general. Basically unless you are extremely limited by budget there is no reason to buy an EX2 over an SE.

Since this is becoming a routine question it may be a good idea to have a stickied stick talk thread!

There's a guy who posts on boards (0011100 or something is his username I think?) and has come to a couple of the meets who's making custom sticks - I'm not sure when he'll start selling those, but they looked great (your choice of sanwa/seimitsu buttons and stick, custom artwork, great paintjob etc.). I think he wanted about 140 for each, the last time I was talking to him, so it might be above your price range.

DARK-KNIGHT

hori arcade stick

Dreddybajs wrote: »

The SE is the better option by far, though it's still not near arcade-quality - but in the event that one of the buttons breaks (which will happen at some point for the Hori for sure and likely for the SE too) the SE is leagues easier to mod. It's also got more weight to it, has two extra face buttons, a locking button to stop you accidentally pressing start, better positioned start and back buttons, and imo slightly better button quality. It should be noted that it looks like the TEs are starting to come down in price (I think I saw one on amazon for 120 dollars a while ago), but they're still a lot more expensive in general. Basically unless you are extremely limited by budget there is no reason to buy an EX2 over an SE.

Since this is becoming a routine question it may be a good idea to have a stickied stick talk thread!

There's a guy who posts on boards (0011100 or something is his username I think?) and has come to a couple of the meets who's making custom sticks - I'm not sure when he'll start selling those, but they looked great (your choice of sanwa/seimitsu buttons and stick, custom artwork, great paintjob etc.). I think he wanted about 140 for each, the last time I was talking to him, so it might be above your price range.

so you think madcatz SE then?

Dreddybajs

hori arcade stick

raycaulwell wrote: »

so you think madcatz SE then?

Yes indeed.

K.O.Kiki

hori arcade stick

Absolutely agree -- Madcatz SE is not only a better product than the EX2, and HEAPS easier to mod (and you will mod, eventually); but you can actually find it, and find it cheap -- £56 on Amazon, for instance.

animaX

Agree with the lads above, the EX2 is such a pain to mod and I know from experience! One of the buttons gave up so I was forced into it.

The SE is a good buy. As for the custom sticks by 00011000, he's actually a good friend of mine but unfortunately his sticks are only ps3 compatible at the moment. People can always do their own xbox360 padhacks but that is messy - ask kiki

A-Trak

hori arcade stick

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Absolutely agree -- Madcatz SE is not only a better product than the EX2, and HEAPS easier to mod (and you will mod, eventually); but you can actually find it, and find it cheap -- £56 on Amazon, for instance.

I'd completely agree, £56 is well worth it for what you get.
Mine has yet to give me any bother, but if it does its nice to know its easily modded.

DARK-KNIGHT

hori arcade stick

was on line last night and cant be dealing with the pad as its just too difficult imo will defo be getting a fightstick!

thanks for the advice

Snesfan

Pardon my ignorance, just got SF4, was always a massive fan of SF2 from the earlier days but whats the actual advantage of an arcade stick over a control pad?

I'm playing with a cotroller on my Pc and haven't been having any major problems, should I upgrade to a fight stick and what are the advantages?

Creature

There are no advantages really. Some people will say that they find execution of moves is more reliable with a stick but ultimately it's a personal thing. If you're fine with a pad then why change?
I use a stick because I use charge characters mostly (Balrog, Blanka etc) and I find their special move motions easier to pull of with a stick than with a pad, where I inevitably failed most of the time especially doing the super/ultra motions. Also because I get tremendous pains in my wrists from using pads.

K.O.Kiki

hori arcade stick

A stick makes certain moves faster, more accurate and/or actually possible.

For instance, kara throws (cancelling a forward-moving attack into a throw) can be downright impossible for some people due to the positioning of buttons on pads.

Additionally, the dpads on most modern controllers (esp. X360) are terrible for fast, accurate movement, due to being, simply, badly designed.

Finally, if you don't have a stick -- you ain't as kool as us kidz!

Snesfan

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

A stick makes certain moves faster, more accurate and/or actually possible.

For instance, kara throws (cancelling a forward-moving attack into a throw) can be downright impossible for some people due to the positioning of buttons on pads.

Additionally, the dpads on most modern controllers (esp. X360) are terrible for fast, accurate movement, due to being, simply, badly designed.

Finally, if you don't have a stick -- you ain't as kool as us kidz!

Well if people genuinely think they are better it might be worth learning SF4 on one of these instead. If I bought a PS3 madcatz stick would I be able to plug it into my computers USB slot aswell and configure it to work on that aswell as my PS3?

If not are there any decent sticks that work for PC aswell?

A-Trak

hori arcade stick

raycaulwell wrote: »

was on line last night and cant be dealing with the pad as its just too difficult imo will defo be getting a fightstick!

What I would say is there is a moment of crushing disappointment you'll experience after about 10 mins of playing with a stick, when you realise that your gameplay is far far worse with a stick that it was with the pad.

This is normal.
If you've used a pad for any length of time for fighting games, (And in most cases it will be years of using a pad, in my case 16!) all your muscle memory relates to using your thumbs for ALL commands. With the stick, you'll be using all of your hand.
You'll need to spend a good few hours getting used to the motions with the stick, particularly quarter circles and shoryuken motions. Took a good while for me (a couple of weeks tbh to be as competent at the motions as I was on a pad, and I'll still miss ultras etc.)

Its worth it in the end, you'll be linking combos that previously would have been a nightmare. Good news is that charge characters are accessible using a stick almost straight away, and are infinitely more accurate using a stick over a pad.

Point to note is that buying a stick will not immediately make you a better player, in fact it will more than likely initially make you worse. I had the illusion that once I had a stick my gamplay would go up a level, it doesn't work like that. Its worth persevering though, you will up your game in the end. A stick is simply way more accurate. Hope this helps!

Retr0gamer

Agree with A-Trak, there's even a thread on this forum of me bitching about my stick when I first got it. Now that I've played a good few hours of it I could never go back. It's so much better although a really good pad like a first edition MS sidewinder or saturn pad come very close.

Snesfan

thanks A-Trak, that advice helps alot, I guess the problem with moving to a stick on a game your slightly familiar with such as SF4 is that I will be expecting to be better at it. I think I'm going to invest in the stick anyway and persevere and see what happens, if the worst comes to the worst and I don't improve, I can always revert back to the control pad.

Is it true that a PS3 mad catz controller will be compatible with a Pc?

A-Trak

hori arcade stick

Snesfan wrote: »

I think I'm going to invest in the stick anyway and persevere and see what happens, if the worst comes to the worst and I don't improve, I can always revert back to the control pad.

Is it true that a PS3 mad catz controller will be compatible with a Pc?

Yup PS3 stick will work fine on a PC.
And if you decide the stick isn't for you, you'll have no problem selling it on due to no bricks and mortar stores in Ireland stocking any type of stick

Retr0gamer

The PS3 controller will work on a PC as well.

One tip when you get started, the buttons are really sensitive on these joysticks. You are probably used to pressing the button down during a special move motion but on these sticks you press the button after the movement. I was pressing the buttons too quickly when I started with my stick.

chopperbyrne

The real advantage to stick, is the button layout.

You have a nice big area to rest your wrist on and the buttons are evenly spread out for the use of three fingers.

It makes transitioning so much easier. Circular motions I find are far easier to perform on stick, particularly half and full circle moves. I could never do any 360 moves without buffering the motion by jumping first on pad, but I can do standing 360s on stick.

Even if after a couple of months (months, not hours or weeks) of practice, you decide stick is not for you, you should have no trouble selling it on for cost price.

Snesfan

Thanks for the advice Retrogamer and A-Trak, the compatability issue swings it for me.

I take it I'll have to buy these online?

Also I don't know if you own one or not but should I go for the SE or the TE edition? I like the Idea of having the TE edition but find it hard to justify the extra money, is it really worth it and what are the differences?

CodeMonkey

Retr0gamer wrote: »

One tip when you get started, the buttons are really sensitive on these joysticks. You are probably used to pressing the button down during a special move motion but on these sticks you press the button after the movement. I was pressing the buttons too quickly when I started with my stick.

Also, when doing an ex moves or super/ultra with 3 buttons and they come out as normal then you are tapping the 2 buttons too lightly. When I got my SE stick I had this problem before I realized the buttons are too sensitive and if you don't tap them hard enough then sometimes only one button will register when you touch it. Use the trainer to see your inputs etc.

Retr0gamer

The TE has better quality parts but I find the parts in the SE just fine for the moment although they will wear out. I'd recommend the SE since the price is better and if you do want to take your game further you can easily swap out the stick and buttons for proper seimetsu or sanwa parts since they are quite cheap. You can get both from amazon.

chopperbyrne

Before you buy any stick, come to one of the regular meetups we have and test out a few first.

That will give you a good feel for which one you like. Size and weight are important too.

Also if it's PS3, look into the Hori Real Arcade Pro 3.

Placebo

when is the next meet?

animaX

There's a TE for sale on adverts.ie (ps3). Just to let you know. But it is good advice (as chopper said) to come to the meets and see what you think

Snesfan

Where do you have your meets? I'd love to come along to one and test my skills. it'd be nice to weigh up the advantages of the TE and see what its like?

How regular are SF4 competitions in Ireland?

animaX

Snesfan wrote: »

Where do you have your meets? I'd love to come along to one and test my skills. it'd be nice to weigh up the advantages of the TE and see what its like?

How regular are SF4 competitions in Ireland?

We have then in the xtreme gaming cafe in Dublin city (liffey street - near the ha'penny bridge). Usually, every 2/3 weeks. Competitions once a month maybe (azza has just posted up the next one)

Snesfan

Too far away from me at the moment, I'm in the munster region, doing a stint in Cork. Might try to make it up sometime alright though.

animaX

Snesfan wrote: »

Too far away from me at the moment, I'm in the munster region, doing a stint in Cork. Might try to make it up sometime alright though.

People often travel from afar for the competitions (donegal, the north etc) but it is a bit much for casuals alright

Snesfan

Indeed it is

redshoulder

hori arcade stick

Got the Madcatz SE stick in June and it was easy to mod it. Replaced stock parts because I felt the joystick was too loose and didn't like the square gate.

The PS3 SE stick does not work with an AMD cpu. You can either get the Xbox360 version or get a PCI usb expansion card (with VIA chipset). If you have Intel cpu you're ok.

Snesfan

Thanks for the advice redshoulder, unfortunetely i am using an amd computer, but a PCI card won't break the bank.