First time Stick for Tekken 6

columok

With Tekken 6 imminent was considering getting a stick (my first proper non flight sim stick) for 360. I saw the Hori EX2 in gamestop today for €55 which seems like a reasonable deal. Any advice on this? The SF4 madcatz sticks seem hard to find in bricks and mortar shops...

Would love to have €150 for the Tekken wireless pack but its just too much!!!

Sagat06

It's OK to be honest and a perfectly respectable stick to start out on it its your first stick. I started on one and learned to use it pretty quick.

However, if you do get into the game and play it ALOT you will want something that you can mod easily like a Madcatz SE or something that comes with quality parts like a HRAP or a Madcatz TE.

bugs

Its a matter of preference really but the hori sticks are well made and can take some punishment. At 55 euro you can't really go wrong.

Dreddybajs

I wouldn't pay 55 quid for an EX2 personally, especially when you can get a new SE off amazon for 20 quid more, which are imo far and away better sticks as well as much more easily moddable. I wouldn't pay more than 40 quid for a new EX2.

edit: Also, Hori sticks are well made...compared to which other manufacturer? :pac:

Orim

A-Trak wrote: »

Could be a false economy buying a budget option TBH though.
If you really like SFIV or any fighting game and plan to play them for any amount of time its worth considering one of the pricier sticks.

My brother has busted 2 madcatz fightpadz since the release of SFIV.
Kenny B here has also ruined 2 Hori Ex 2 fightsticks, both of these would be considered budget options, and both Ken & my bro moved to the Madcatz fightsticks, and are now both considering the tournament edition.

So if you reckon you're just going to be a casual player online for a few games a few times a week, (and nothing wrong with that,) then the saturn pads or a cheaper stick will do you fine and should meet your needs.

But if you plan on playing anymore than this, I'd consider the more upmarket sticks.

There's a thread on pads for PC here, and the merits of stick v pad here as well as pc compatability

On a personal note I paid €40 for my game and €100 for my stick. Roughly the price of three games in total.
I checked my played stats last night & I've 200 hours+ played on SFIV alone. Other then a MMORPG, I can't imagine any other game that would offer that amount of playtime. Ken B has managed to get his counter to 999 hours.:eek:

I'm going to quote A-Trak as it's a good rely and I think it covers everything. For me the Madcatz SE is the best stick you can buy. It's comfortable, not too expensive and will last you for a good with stock parts. It's also easy to mod for fixing or putting in a better stick/buttons.

Dreddybajs

Also, as always, if you drop into one of our regular meet ups you can try out different sticks.

I guarantee this though, if you buy an EX2, and stick with playing on stick in fighting games, you WILL end up buying another stick sooner or later regardless.

bugs

Dreddybajs wrote: »

edit: Also, Hori sticks are well made...compared to which other manufacturer? :pac:

Logitech, ascii, any number of other random companies that churn out god awful plastic junk.

chopperbyrne

Again as I've said in all these threads, come to a meet and test them out for yourself.

Hori sticks are fine and not everyone wants to mod their stick so if you do get a Fighting Stick 3/EX 2 then there is no guarantee you'll want to replace it.

A-Trak

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Hori sticks are fine and not everyone wants to mod their stick so if you do get a Fighting Stick 3/EX 2 then there is no guarantee you'll want to replace it.

I think its a case of when (rather then if,) a button fails or something needs replacing, the hori Ex2 are a bit of a nightmare to swap out.
Terrys tale of woe modding his is enough to scare anyone.

So when a button or input goed kaput, this may render your Hori Ex2 pretty useless.
Where as if you spend 20Eur more on a Madcatz SE, even a 10 thumbed idiot such as myself can swap out buttons if they go.

So the 20 Eur you'd save on the Hori Ex2 is a false economy IMO.

Dreddybajs

bugs wrote: »

Logitech, ascii, any number of other random companies that churn out god awful plastic junk.

Well yeah, but I mean in terms of companies that are actually reputable fighting stick manufacturers. Hori (specifically the EX2/FS3, I know some of their other sticks are better) is pretty much the bottom of a pretty small barrel imo

bugs

Once again, depends on use and preference. I used to play tekken alot, and yes, button connections soldered to the board in my old hori/namco job failed. But its likely to happen on any make, especially with the pounding they have to endure.
Anybody with a soldering iron (granted not everyone has one or wants one) can repair most faults outside of knackered dipswitches in a matter of minutes.

Dreddybajs

It's likely to happen but if you spend the extra 20 quid on an SE rather than an EX2 you won't have to solder anything in order to swap the parts out (and imo the original parts are of better quality anyway, though not by a huge margin).

K.O.Kiki

As a part-time stick builder/modder, I heartily endorse the Madcatz sticks.
Firstly, they are moddable by a trained monkey with a single flat screwdriver.
Secondly, Madcatz more-or-less endorse this modding.
And lastly, they have a really nice layout.

columok

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Will hold off and see about a Madcatz SE... Or will see how much the Tekken 6 Ltd Edition (w/ stick) retails for.

animaX

A-Trak wrote: »

Terrys tale of woe modding his is enough to scare anyone.

Very true! Ex2 is grand for the novelty of using an arcade stick but if you get seriously into the game you will probably want an upgrade (which I still haven't done yet )

Doctor DooM

I didn't like the Hori, got to say.

It felt like a cheap imitation of the old HRAPs (is that right Kiki?) they used to use in arcades.

That said- functionally, it did everything I needed it to do. I didn't feel I was playing worse because of it. So if it's your first stick, and you acknowledge it's effectively a throw away purchase, then it's fine as a starter.

Dreddybajs

columok wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Will hold off and see about a Madcatz SE... Or will see how much the Tekken 6 Ltd Edition (w/ stick) retails for.

One thing to keep in mind about the Tekken stick (if it's the wireless one I'm thinking of) is that if you want to play in tournaments, most nowadays ban wireless pads and sticks due to possible interference when you're not in a match and you accidentally press the Xbox Live button or something.

edit: As seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAsUqN1KPjw

K.O.Kiki

Dreddybajs wrote: »

One thing to keep in mind about the Tekken stick (if it's the wireless one I'm thinking of) is that if you want to play in tournaments, most nowadays ban wireless pads and sticks due to possible interference when you're not in a match and you accidentally press the Xbox Live button or something.

edit: As seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAsUqN1KPjw

In fairness though, that wasn't gandido's fault -- someone on port 3 pushed the button, robbing him of a win.

But yeah, wireless sticks/pads are de-facto banned at most tourneys, though you can always plug it in & run without batteries.

Dreddybajs

Exactly, and that's what I'm talking about, the person on port 3 was connected wirelessly. Hence why they're banned