Arcade-style joystick for any system

check this out:

http://www.x-arcade.com

seems like a couple of these are around the web if you search enough, but this seemed interesting

 

To add to Myke's comments: these were the sticks that I quasi-reviewed in my E3 report last May. They were the only ones who had VF4 on display in their booth with joysticks hooked up in Kentia Hall.

 

X-Arcade seems cool, but it's that American joystick style which I don't like too much. Still, Someone should come out with a quality cross platform joystick. I couldn't get my VF4 stick to work with my Xbox despite using an adapter.

 

Hi guys, I am really thinking about dumping the insane amount of cash for this sucker, because it really sounds like the real deal when it comes to quality. A few of you are criticizing it because you don't like the baseball bat shape stick, but what else?? How about the way the stick feels and how accurate the stick is for Virtua Fighter (for those of us who are accustomed to western style sticks, like me)? And Myke, can you please give some reasons why it is not advised? (and not badreasons like because it isn't a ball-stick) I am about to make a huge purchase (more expensive than a PS2 console) and need to know any info. you have on it. Ice-9, what did you think about it for VF4? I'd be using this for Dreamcast VF3 mostly at first.

 

If you search for the E3 meet report written by Ice-9 he gives some opinions on it.

 

Here's the brief opinion from that thread

X-arcade - The only place to play versus VF4 with sticks, which propels it to at least neutral. However, the sticks they were selling aren`t that great AND they cost $150 (demo price) for a unit of two. Gyah. A lot of people bought one too, idiots.

 

I still haven't heard what is bad about this arcade stick. The only bad thing I know of is the insane price, but it uses genuine arcade parts including wood panelling. Aside from the expensive price and not being a ball-stick... is there actually anything bad about this stick? It seems flawless in every way. I have read about 20 positive reviews about it on the net, and zero negative ones. I honestly don't care if it isn't selling well... why the heck would I care? I just want to know if there are any "actual" reasons that this board isn't good for the Virtua Fighter series. So far I have yet to hear 1 reason.

Also, can you link to that E3 Meet Report where it talks about the X-Arcade? I am new to VFDC (but a long time Virtua Fighter obsessive).

 

Well it's not all that bad considering its two sticks. Strange the two utility buttons are below the 2 rows. Pick it up and post a review /versus/images/icons/wink.gif

 

Hehe... no no you pick it up and post a review /versus/images/icons/cool.gif

It will be a while before I make my decision, but the bottom line is that this arcade board will last a lifetime because it is true arcade quality. That , and its multiplatform abilities is why I think highly of it, even though I've never tried it.

 

I had a custom job from P&L vid games, while I was living in the US, cost a hefty chunk for each stick and at the time I used it for my Saturn and Playstation. All arcade quality components, very similar to the X-arcade types, great for Street Figther type games but I didn't like it for 3D fighters. Thing was the buttons seemed to go relatively quickly which was a shame, I hope the X-Arcade doesn't deteriorate.

 

The complaint I've heard about the X-Arcade is that it's too small, i.e. you can't reasonably fit 2 people on there like you can with a real machine.

 

Yikes, those two sentences don't qualify as even a "quasi-review."

I will recommend the sticks ONLY if money is a concern and you plan to purchase one set of sticks for multiple systems. Then it might make sense, but realize that when they make connectors to new systems the pieces of plastic will cost more. I don't remember how much, but maybe as much as $15.

First, the stick is the hot dog shape, but I think you can actually change it to the ball shape. What you can't change, however, is the circular base. For those of you comfortable with Asian and Hori sticks, they use a square base, which makes hitting the diagonals much easier. The X-Arcade sticks don't have this, and their circular base is huge, which makes hitting the edges and recentering that little bit longer. Also, at the E3 demo unit, the 1P side had terrible diagonals and I couldn't even CD, though the 2P side was a little bit better. I could CD on the 2P side, but I doubt I'd ever be able to Shinz step.

There are a ton of buttons (can't remember how many) and the buttons can be changed to the button type that you like. That's good, though you'll probably end up changing the buttons to the ones that the Hori/Agetech sticks have. However, the buttons are spaced quite widely apart, and you can't change that either. If you have small hands, this is not a good thing; even with all those buttons, I couldn't really get a configuration that I liked (i.e. Japanese style VF button placement). One annoying thing about the stick is that you have to program button assignments for nearly every game (or is it just platform? I can't remember) and I had an irritatingly tough time configuring it to VF4 at E3.

The sticks are huge and trust me you won't be lugging it around to your friend's place any time soon. For the avid VF fan who travels to get competition, this is not good. (Moreover, you'd probably be the only one used to this stick, and would either have a big advantage over people coming over or a big disadvantage when you're using someone else's Hori stick). And as someone mentioned before, while it's too big to carry, it's not actually big enough for two people to stand/sit comfortably side by side. That certainly sucks.

And the major thing is the price. $150 is not cheap, by any means, and the $150 is supposed to be a special demo price. What is it retail--$200?? By comparison, I purchased two T4 Hori sticks for $40 each, or $80 total.

Yes, the X-Arcade uses arcade parts, but that by itself doesn't make it a great stick. Your house can be made of the most expensive materials but that doesn't necessarily make the house any good without the right architectural design and construction work.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is that these sticks are designed for the wannabe-hardcore fighting fan, the type of wannabe that wants to own the biggest, baddest, and most expensive stick available to show off their hardcoreness It's of little surprise to me that many publications have positive reviews for the stick--being hardcore is good, right? And what can be more hardcore than these expensive arcade-quality sticks?? (And psst, you can even use this stick for multiple platforms! Great! Show off AND save money! How can you go wrong??)

If you're really that into fighting games, the investment in a great stick is a small price to pay and you shouldn't mind getting the best stick for the best platform/game possible. For PS2 VF4, these are the Hori VF4/Tekken sticks. I'm sorry but I can not help but see this X-Arcade thing as a novelty item. Serious VFers will play what other serious VFers play, and they are the VF4 stick and the various Tekken sticks for VF4.

You can take my thoughts on the product as fair and straightforward. In fact, I have every motivation to endorse X-Arcade and put ads up on this site (God knows how many times they keep trying to get me to do that), but I won't because I can not personally recommend this stick to serious VFers who have money.

The only people who should consider getting the X-Arcade are those that really like the idea of buying a unit of two sticks once (albeit at a freaking hefty price) and don't mind paying $5-$15 for future hardware compatibility. This stick is OK if you're into a lot of fighting games but aren't particularly dedicated to any one. But if you truly want the best sticks commercially available for PS2 VF4, you'd do better elsewhere.

 

P.S. I hate dissing X-Arcade because I do like the idea of a company trying to target serious fighting fans (though at heavy premium). I want them to succeed, but, I'm sorry, the X-Arcade isn't the solution for serious VF fans.

 

Before i ask a question, let me say something: BASEBALL BAT STICKS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

It's like this, i've been reading some threads and i got to one conclusion, maybe the Hori Tekken 4 AS is better than the Hori VF4 one (i still think it's only because the Tekken 4 has more buttons so we can play more than one game besides VF4), but the image (on the Arcade stick) is pretty irritating and i hate Tekken 4, so i was wondering if is it possible to play any fighting game (besides the bouncer, if you can call that a fighting game..) in the Tekken 4 arcade stick. I ask this because i have capcom vs snk2 for a long time, but i don't play it because i feel stupid playing with a pad.

 

Even though I own the VF4 stick and not the Tekken 4 stick... I would honestly say that I prefer the feel of the Tekken 4 stick. Both the buttons and sticks are actually different between the two models.

The buttons on the T4 stick have a lighter tap feel, it's pretty comfortable. I have no complaints of the VF4 stick's buttons, they're just a bit different.

The main issue most people have with the VF4 stick is that the spring is quite "heavy" or "tight." I personally have no problem with this, but it lowers the score slightly. The T4 model's stick is quite loose, but clicky. As far as I'm concerned, it feels like the stick on a modified VF4 stick (someone cutting the spring on the VF4 stick to give it a loose feel).

I have only heard of one major common issue between the VF4 and Tekken 4 stick... At some point of abuse or maybe misuse, the sticks actually tighten up. You can fix it by cutting more of the spring off, but it's a pain for a lot of people I think. The Tekken 4 stick ends up being almost as tight as the VF4 stick, and the VF4 stick becomes so tight it's hard as hell to control. These cases have been VERY RARE from what I've heard, however.

Overall, I give the T4 stick the edge simply because the stick is already loose, but perfectly controllable. It's also more versatile with 6 action buttons. I still think the Namco stick owns all other official home sticks, though. VF4 stick is wonderful for me, but it's not for everyone (nor every game).

Quick Ranking
1) Namco Stick -- It just feels right, has all the buttons, 6 action buttons on face.
2) Tekken 4 Stick -- Feels very good, only 6 buttons + Start + Select.
3) VF4 Stick -- It's great imo, but it's harsh on the forearms of most players, limited to 3 action buttons, but does have access to every other Playstation button.

-Chanchai

 

How do you guys feel about this stick -
it looks like an exact copy of the Virtua Stick for the Saturn (which was manufactured by Sega), but this one is third party, made by some company called Gamemate. The description on the site jpgames says that it uses the same parts as the SS one. Was the Virtua Stick good? If so, do any of you tink this one it worth it? I mean it's only 25 USD, and it has a hella cool button layout.