Hori Fighting Stick EX2 Review!

Well it came in the mail today from ebay for 39.99+shipping and I of course played the demo on it and then shortly there after ripped the thing apart.

The ups to the hori fighting stick ex2:

#1 Price, averaging $39.99 to $59.99 depending on how much dudes want to mark up.

#2 A Xbox live mic port so you can bust out your double palms while talking shit.

#3 A japanese style stick. 30 mm wide buttons, square bottom stick for hitting them diagonals.

#4 All buttons minus analog are available on the stick obviously.

#5 A fairly long cord which is great. Importantly, it comes mostly in wired rather than the disgusting wireless that some DoA4 sticks came out with.

#6 Ferrite beading is used on the cord and mic input, a small expense that I'm suprised Hori would even go through but they do it to improve the quality of your voice transmittion, nice!

#7 It's small, sleek, pretty aesthetically pleasing and if you buy the VF5 LIVE arena version you get some stickers, WHEEEE!!!




The downs to hori fighting stick EX2:

#1 I wish they would rape me on the price for a better quality stick.

#2 It uses the common imported microswitch garbage we've come to know Hori for, these ones are made in Thailand, thanks Sagat!

#3 Perhaps I'd be easier on Hori if they would have put the time to come out with a mechnical design that doesn't suck in one way or the other. In this case, the stick's mechanical design has alot of problems, acutator is too small and/or mircoswitches are way too far apart. Makes hitting things quickly and consistently hard.

#4 Modding this stick is hell, plain and simple. I found a couple different paths than those already found by SRK guys but nevertheless this stick SUCKS to mod. I'm sad to say I probably won't mod other people's sticks cause this was way more labor than intended.

#5 This stick is TOO small and sleek. As noted by those who did mods before to the doa4 stick, fitting a sanwa JLF stick into this bad boy is quite a challenge.

#6 What is up with Microsoft, Hori, and all controller manufactures obsession with individual grounds? I hate all you dudes, yes this means you will need to tear apart a lovely looking JLF sick if you want to mod this thing. Why do we need individual grounds? It's probably half the reason next to MS's stupid digital liscensing that all nextgen crap costs so much.

#7 To piss me off more, Hori continues to manufacture 30mm holes that well aren't exactly 30mm (nice quality control there). Sanding is needed which is the probably the most annoying thing there, and then you have to bend and clip the prongs designed to thwart any attempt at putting anyother brand of buttons other than the Hori Thailand garbage.





Unmodded the stick works alright for low execution characters. Maybe I'm just off but I had all kinds of hell landing hit throws with this thing (like 1 out of 10), but I think I'm just a bit off. Also Akira stuff was missing for me like standing palm combos and DLC. I could be full of it and someone could pwn me with this stick tommorrow but I think I'm just spoiled by VHGS's or perhaps this stick design really does suck.

Needless to say this stick made my day modding it. Tommorrow it meets Mr. Rotary and Dremel Set and get's plastic hair cut from the inside. The Sanwa is getting in there, end of story lol.


Pics will be posted here and in the photo forum when I get them.

 

No kidding!

You guys want my advice for the ABSOLUTE BEST WAY to deal with sticks for 360? Go to 001 or LA_Akira's friend and get your VHGS or HRAP3 or whatever modded by them. Or take the next step and look for the dudes on SRK, fork over the $150-$200 and get a sweet looking custom, trust me it's worth it.

Then hopefully in the future Toodles or some dude will come up with a reliable Universal PCB. So we can all play on our Saturn, DC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, etc. on the same freakin stick.

Nevertheless I look forward to tommorrow were I can put my excess anger toward this stick with a 3000rpm rotary bit tearing that unnecessary plastic garbage and a metal sheet bit sanding those holes back to the proper 30mm that God intended it to be.

 

i want a stick for the xbox but ont for 150-200 bucks. Just dropped 350 for the system itself soo broke now. I'm just going to probably get this EX2.

 

Well, I guess your way is cheapest. My VSHG-360 is coming on the UPS truck tomorrow (cost me ~150 dollars total). Still, worst thing about that stick is the weight. It moves around in your hands and on your lap. I played on it with Dr. Dogg before DOA4 came out, and it is weird how small/light it is. I'm gonna be watching the tracking on UPS all day tomorrow, and the second I see it's delivered, I'm gonna come home from work and at least get a good 20 minutes of my grubby hands all over the thing.

 

Unsafe Dan, if you have used the three other PS3 joysticks before, where would the Hori Fighting Stick EX2 fall between?

To me the order is: VSHG > Hori Fighting Stick 3 > Hori Real Arcade Pro. (factoring price/value/quality)

For the price, I would imagine the Hori Fighting Stick EX2 to be closest to the Hori Fighting Stick 3, in terms of feel and build quality?

Cheers

 

modding a VSHG would be the best way to go, but 150$ is way to much. Especially when I think that VF5Evo will eventually be making its way to PS3. Plus no mic input

My hope would be since Sega made the VSHG they release a patch for the 360 version that will allow VSHG to play on a 360, but I doubt that

The Ex2 isn't $150 bad.

 

I would say:

VHGS>HFS3>HRAP3>HFSEX2 If that was the case.

The VHGS was the deal of the century no doubt, PS3 owners got REALLY lucky with that.

Hori Fighting Stick 3 is a POS just like the EX2 difference is that HFS3 is common and has 3 competitor sticks bring it's price down a lot in most corners.

Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 is not bad it just suffers from huge inflation. It's got a quality stick, tons of room for modding, and quality design. Just bad price.

Hori Fighting Stick EX2 is not only crappy but like the DoA4 stick is on a market with small supply and high demand. Meaning the price is probably going to vary usually higher than expected because of that.

 

i'd say vshg, hrap3, hfs3

vshg speaks for itself. $126 shipped playasia.com

hrap3 has sanwa jlf already and buttons use microswitches similar to seimitsu in the buttons. wide enough to rest comfortable on my lap without having to squeeze my legs together. works well with pc. $99 shipped highscoreonline.com

hfs3 has cheap buttons, cheap stick, cost more to mod to make it into vshg quality. buttons are layed out weird. doesn't work with pc. $45 shipped new ebay

ex2 stick is pretty much the only choice for 360 if you want a japanese lolipop style stick. if you want american, mas released a new 360 stick with happ parts. http://www.alphaelectronics.com/showpages.asp?pid=1025

 

I was able to find the stick pretty easily by going to Gamestop.com then doing a search for nearby stores.

Im sure they will release more once the game comes out plus you can always buy the Japanese version in December by importing, but once it is discontinued it will be very hard to find at a decent price. Case in point the DOA stick back in the day

 

Yes, in terms of stick quality I would rate it the same way too; just not price/value-wise.


Unsafe_Dan,

Thanks for your comparison feedback; appreciated!

 

Well since things on the modding scene are a bit shaky.

I'll be fine playing with the EX2 and waiting a couple of months to see if any universal mods are available then.

The stick isn't THAT bad, is it? I'd prefer to wait now and get something worthwhile in the future than spend so much money trying to get the best stick right now.

It's a shame though, that a real good Xbox 360 stick has arrived especially with the rise of fighting games on the platform. Hopefully something will change, and I guess we'll have to wait and see from both stick manufacturers and the modding community.

 

I don't think it's that the stick is bad, but that it should be better than it is. For the price and the availability though? I wouldn't tell anyone on a budget to skip it, myself. I got one as soon as I could. It isn't perfect, but it is definitely good enough for now.

 

If I used parts from an X360 controller, I could certainly mount the mic-input jack in the HG somehow, yes? Not that I want to do this. Just want to make sure it's possible.

 

just get a male to female mini mic extension cord and drill a small hole somewhere on the front of the vshg to mount it or get a wireless headset and leave your vshg as is.

 

I'd stick with the wireless headset. More wires is just too much hastle.

 

Doesn't this lose you the mute / volume control functions? or are the other 2 connectors on the headset adapter just for keying?

 

Mod that mofo!

 

you would connect male side of the extension to the pcb and connect your headset to the female side of the extension which would be on the front end shell of the vshg. this way you'd still have control of the volume. the trick is creating a slot on the vshg shell to fit the shell of the headset connector snug so the headset shell won't move around. sorry i can't explain it any better and don't have a vshg to tinker with to create the mod.

i'm sure when dubc gets his from notanoob1 from srk forums that this is how the mod was done.

 

yeah what falling edge said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/n5/akuma001/brokenhalo.jpg
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