Mas sticks are they worth it

I really need a good arcade stick as I play a large amount of fighting games Street Fighter III third strike and most any other fighting game. I was thinking of getting the Mas sticks and if I get a stick I will probally get two and the Mas sticks are like 95.00$ for the Dreamcast ones and 129.95$ for the combination Dreamcast,PS2 stick so my question is to any one who has used them do you think they worth their considerable price.

P.S thank you in advance for your help it is greatly apprieciated.

Under the surface of the most jaded cynic lies a dissappointed idealist- George Carlin

 

Not if you enjoy japanese style lollipop sticks.
Mas sticks are the best american sticks available...good parts solid construction. Price is heavy but that can be worked around (they auction their sticks on ebay quite often).
The agetec sticks are the best japanese dreamcast sticks available...unless you can inform me of a place that sells japanese arcade parts cheap with no bulk purchase requirment

-sa

 

imo, the sticks used on MAS boxes are crap. utter crap.

japanese parts are seemingly impossible to obtain outside of japan. i have looked and tried very hard.

--
"Relax in the safety of your own delusions"

 

IMO, American sticks period are utter crap, but the MAS sticks are the best on the market.

-sa

 

no, they're not.

you might want to go out and try four or five different brands and manufacturers, along with the different types of springs and contact devices, personally, before you make such a well founded (*spit*) "opinion".

--
"Plop."

 

I have *SPIT*.
The best sticks for TTT or any fighter on the PS2 (perhaps minus the SF series) is the Namco stick (grey with yellow buttons)
The best for dreamcast (which is what I'm talking about) is the Mas Stick. The enforcer stick is a piece of garbage, the alloy stick is an equal piece of garbage.
The hardware is good quality. They use cherry switches (what do YOU use?) I dont personally like the Joystick...(Ultimate sticks are trash imo, I prefer the Comp joysticks because they return to Neutral better)...so what isn't there to like about the "contacts" and the "springs"?

-sa

 

what's wrong with the official sticks?(green buttons). who makes them, btw?

 

He asked about MAS sticks which are typical american style (reverse teardrop). The enforcer stick tries to meld japanese and american by using a lolipop teardrop grip (which doesn't work too well imo).
Those are the official dreamcast arcade sticks...sega brand but picked up by agetec here in the U.S (btw nothing's wrong with them imo...i love those sticks for VF and SF)

-sa

 

hehe, get a friend at an arcade to rig a stick for you.

I haven't had the time to really finish my project yet... when I get around to it, it should only take an hour if not less, well, besides some saw work. However, Rich uses the Happ Competition arcade sticks (stick grip, spring, switches, base) I believe, and I picked up two of those and my project is to install it into one of my three Agetec stick bases.

However, I have tested the stick out, it's wonderful for American sticks. I personally like it a lot more than others I've used. Again, you can have a friend that works at an arcade probably put one together for you if not having them find someone to do it.

Buy-Rite has been giving me issues, so I didn't received the Capcom vs. SNK limited edition Ascii stick from them, which is an optical base stick, which I ordered from them. I should have had the damn thing three weeks ago... Anyways, whenever I get that stick I'll write a report for VFDC about it so people get an idea if its a good investment or not.

As for the Namco Tekken Tag stick.... It's alright... I really wish it was heavier or something.... Almost all the time I've lifted the stick with slight effort and it drove me nuts... It might be just me, but I feel the buttons are too close to the stick, I swear I've hit both of my hands together on accident... Buttons are interesting... I don't really like them, but at the same time, they don't have the issue of not being pressed down when pressed at certain angles which is definitely a plus as a brand new agetec will typically have this problem (I'm assuming my button has been worn on my agetec as it's not an issue for me anymore). What I don't like about the Namco Stick's buttons is that they feel excessively springy to me... Though, it's been a bit of time since I used it. It took me about 10 minutes to get used to the diagonals on Namco's Tekken Tag stick... it was sort of awkward at first, but it probably just has to do with how you hold the stick. It sort of took my friend and I a bit to doing setting changes on the stick for DoA2: Hardcore, but I think in the end it worked out fine. The Namco stick is a fine stick imo, but it's not a favorite. For what it's worth though, it's probably my favorite one on the PS2 market, but I don't have a PS2 yet and don't plan to have one for probably a year.

-Chanchai

 

>I have *SPIT*.

we all have spit, my friend.

>The best for dreamcast (which is what I'm talking about)

no, you were talking about "american sticks". namco ain't american. agetec sticks ain't american. if you talk to someone on this group about "american sticks", they're most likely going to think of those bat shaped things on american arcade machines that have given vf'ers so much hell over the years, _not_ home console sticks.

i don't know what the hell mas uses in their pile, but the stick is ridiculously stiff, and the diagonals are totally fucking non-existant. the buttons are poorly arranged (SF configuration, blah) and they're concave as well. all of which adds up to an expensive, festering pile of crap compared to what you (or a friend...) can make on your own, either retrofitting existing joystick units with different parts, or with some plywood.

i have tried several sticks from happ, and one from wico, and some generic no-name sticks. out of these i prefer happ competition sticks and buttons (cherry microswitches, not optical. i actually prefer the normal microswitches to a very small extent). and, i can agree with you on the ultimate sticks - bleh.

--
"Plop."

 

Yea I mentioned some japanese sticks...and they are for dreamcast...and yes this post is about american sticks...what's your point? I can't deviate from the topic and offer another valid solution (that'll probably suit him better in the end anyway)? Bleh.
Optical sticks are good for street fighter...the problem with optical sticks (and all opitcal sticks imo) is that they dont return to neutral as well as I'd like.
If Mas sticks are too tight then mod them yourself. Yes I agree they're expensive, yes you can build those by hand (as they do use Happ parts) but that's not what this topic is about either is it?

-sa

 

the original question was: "are MAS sticks worth it." i've said my part and more as to why i don't think they are worth it. that was the crystal clear point, and i did not stray.

--
"Plop."

 

Well I ordered my Mas stick yesterday and ordered it with the soft spring so hopefully they wont be to ridgid. I thank you all for your input.

Under the surface of the most jaded cynic lies a dissappointed idealist- George Carlin

 

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

the problem with optical sticks (and all opitcal sticks imo) is that they dont return to neutral as well as I'd like.

<hr></blockquote>

Optical or microswitches should make absolutely no difference to how the stick returns to neutral. I have the optical kit for my Happ competition sticks and changing to optical or back to switches doesn't matter - the spring does

IMO, any homemade stick is better than what you can buy pre-packaged...if you don't have a clue on how to build the sticks though, then buy the best possible - a bad stick is just not worth it.

cheers,

<font color=white> Llanfair the prized <font color=green>cabbage</font color=green></font color=white>

 

Oi good point duh.

-sa

 

you really have very little idea what you're talking about, when it comes to arcade machines and parts, don't you?

still waiting to hear what you meant by "proprietary"...

--
"Plop."

 

No you're just the smartest guy in the world. I may not take these arcade machines apart for a living but I've done a few mods in my time and I enjoy talking about them. Just because I'm wrong sometimes or you disagree with me doesn't mean that I dont know anything about it. Asshole.
Llan: But the neutral area of the optical sticks is so large in comparison with the directional contacts, that it wouldn't matter how rigid the spring was: if you try to double tap an optical stick, because it's so "sensitive" it'll register f, b, f instead of f,f or it'll just register 1 forward sometimes...that's been my experience with optical sticks anyway.

-sa

 

Oh, do you mean that the neutral area is too small? The way I see it, when the neutral area is small, that's when you have issues of surpassing it and doing something like right, left, right; instead of two right taps (chances of this are higher if you have a loose grip on the stick). However, the more notorious result is that you get one long F instead of f,f.

I'm not trying to be a wiseguy or anything, just clarifying because I think you're talking about a rather small neutral area. I've encountered similar problems on sticks before, but I don't have experience with any form of optical sticks.

 

>No you're just the smartest guy in the world

thank you!

>I may not take these arcade machines apart for a living

neither do i. too bad the arcade industry in NA is so fucking piss-poor, otherwise i'd probably do something i enjoy for some money.

anyway. your lack of ability and/or utter resistance to explain exactly what you're talking about (i.e. "proprietary", you gonna answer that? if not for me, answer GE's query, which was politely made) combined with being unable to back up your own arguments with accurate info, or at least info that was/is not totally wishy-washy (see chan's reply for one example) made me say what i said. it's not a matter of personal disagreement with you.

>Asshole.

well, thank you for your straight-forwardness and honesty. it's kinda rare around here.

--
"Plop."

 

Hey, I was contemplating purchasing the Mas stick myself, and I didn't know purchasing it with the softer spring was an option. Were you charged extra for ordering it with the soft spring??? If it's not inconvenient, could you please post a brief review of the Mas stick (with the softer spring) when you receive it??? If it works out for you I'd like to know, 'cause then I'd order one myself.

Thanks a lot.