Arcade Joysticks Vs Controllers

polysteamtoken

I have been thinking of possibly getting an arcade joystick because I've heard it's easier and better to have your fingers apart especially for fighting games. The appealing part to me is beat em up games played on an arcade joystick really brings the arcade feel of a coin op. Though fighting games I am very use to a controller since mortal Kombat and street fighter on sega mega drive. Newer gen controllers have analogue controls but I find myself tearing and wearing the hell out of it. How can you possibly even play a fighting game without ripping up your thumb stick. One session of street fighter put more wear on it than all my other gaming combined. I therefore feel a joystick would be better.

So my question is which joystick to get. What are you currently using? A controller or joystick and what console do you use for emulation or do you use a pc? Also what sort of screen do you use? The make and model of your joystick & maybe the cost of you can please?

KeRbDoG

All depends on the system you want to use it with - when I had a notion about getting a seperate arcade stick a few years ago i was looking at the 8Bitdo Arcade Stick. Looks like there is a few on Amazon in their Warehouse - a few euro off. It has bluetooth, works with their their own 2.4Ghz adapters (one inc.) and wired with a USB-C cable. Its focused on the Switch and PC.

Mucashinto

I bought my first, and only, arcade stick last summer and really happy I did. I got it to play arcade games using a MiSTer as I thought it might it create better immersion etc than using a joypad and it really does, along with way better control in the games. Haven't tried 8/16 bit consoles with it but Neo Geo games are great as well.

I was mainly focussing on price - most advice seems to be spend small at first to see if you like it and you can upgrade later when you know what you like. I wanted to spend about a hundred euro so the two main options were the 8Bitdo mentioned above and this Hori.

https://hori.co.uk/real-arcade-pro-v-hayabusa-for-nintendo-switch/

I went with the Hori in the end, it was 100e plus 10e delivery on Amazon Germany at the time. I can't actually remember the main differences now tbh, I think the parts in the 8Bitdo mightn't be as good but then the 8Bitdo has good wireless and it's completely upgradeable if you want to swap out the stick/buttons at a later stage. The Hori with its hyabusa parts seems to be a good midpoint that can be used in fighters/platforms/shooters iirc but I don't think they're viewed that highly compared to Sanwa and some others. People seem to take this stuff pretty seriously but at my level this has me well covered, wouldn't want to go back to a pad now and no desire to upgrade atm.

I watched a few videos from this guy's channel and he seems to cover everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLEFPhaACb8

But yeah I find using one brilliant, definitely brings a different dimension & fun when playing certain types of games.

Retr0gamer

If you want to get an arcade stick there's a lot to consider. Firstly don't cheap out. I'd make sure there's proper parts in it from manufacturers like sanwa or seimitsu. They are good quality parts but also replaceable of they wear out. Don't even bother with a cheap one. If you do want to go cheap I'd make sure the parts are easy enough to replace with higher quality ones. The other thing you have to consider is the gate. The Japanese like a square gate but a lot of people got for an octagonal gate.

Also don't expect to be good straight out the gate with a stick, it took me an awful long time to get good with it in fighting games. You might be better with a joyoad as you are used to it and getting a high quality Saturn pad replica (again be careful here, plenty of reviews of really bad Saturn type pads out there).

A lot of the professional fighting game players have moved from joysticks to hit boxes now.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120402654#Comment_120402654

Hit boxes, had to look that up. Very interesting, too late for this old dog but I can see how they'd be an advantage once you program your brain in how to use them. They seem extremely fast.

polysteamtoken

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401469#Comment_120401469

Wow! What a good answer. I remember hori! We had some of their parts when we use to repair consoles back when ps3 was around. Good brand. Most of the joysticks I've looked at I haven't liked so much I might have to import, this one looks good and I like what you say about it and the video is good. I'm just wondering because you me it seems having a large base is important. It must not move or slide around so how does the base feel?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120402654#Comment_120402654

I was looking at the saturn controller too it looks good. Forgot the brand but I would only ever get the main one not the knock offs. It's made very well. Bit pricey but it's ok you get what you paid for.

Idk about a hit box that's like a d pad right? Seems a bit odd. Though I'm not a professional fighting game player 😜

Mucashinto

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405643#Comment_120405643

It feels good, metal base and weighs about 2kg I think. Fits on my lap comfortably and I imagine it might be better on a desk, it's huge and wouldn't move etc. Yeah it's a real try them and see thing unfortunately, what might work for some just won't jibe with others. I think the Sega Astro City looks great as well but I thought it might be a bit on the small side but again no clue how I'd find it in person (or the Sanwa parts). Looks stunning though.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astro-City-Mini-Arcade-Stick/dp/B08H2LH8WK

polysteamtoken

Thank you looks good. Like the lime it's shiny. Would look cool in pink too. So you got a joystick and never looked back as far as gameplay right?

o1s1n

I never knew how anyone could play fighting games with a joypad. My thumbs are in absolute ribbons after a couple of minutes!

Joystick all the way.