Curious who all has had the chance to use any of the various fighting sticks available.

I love fighting games, and I've recently decided to start collecting a wide variety. Right now, I have copies of each Soul Calibur game (save for Soul Blade, each for a different console right now haha), Street Fighter Alpha 2, Virtua Fighter 5 Online, and DBZ: Burst Limit. I'm planning on collecting a large variety of them - including SFIV, SF2 HD, most of the Mortal Kombat franchise (particularly the ones playable from the 360), and a number of others.

I'm looking to buy myself two arcade fighting sticks. I was planning on getting a Hori Fighting Stick EX2, but I've since decided I'd like to have the two extra face buttons that the Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 and Madcatz FightStick offer.

However, I want to save money as much as possible, so I'd like to avoid shelling out the big bucks that'd be required to get the HRAP3. The Madcatz FightStick seems to have a really good reputation, though (contrary to most Madcatz material), and it has all the features I want (enough buttons to work like the four shoulder buttons + four face buttons).

Now, I'm curious who has experience with these (or other fightsticks), and what thoughts you've got about them. Is the Madcatz stick as good as I've heard? Is it worth paying a little more than a Hori Fighting Stick and close enough to the quality of the Hori Real Arcade Pro to be better given the cheaper price-point? Is there another solid stick that I should be considering?

Let's try and make this thread into a quality buyer's guide, eh? It'd be nice for there to be a solid source on the Internet for considering the differences here.

PS: Also, I'm planning on getting mine for the 360 (if that wasn't clear enough already), but they all work the same across each platform. Question is - can each one be used across platforms? I'd prefer to get last generation's Mortal Kombat games in the PS2 trilogy pack... but only if I can use my 360-compatible fighting stick with it. I'd prefer it to work out-of-the-box - pluggin' right into the PS2's USB ports, but if all that's required to work is a USB to PS2 adapter, that's acceptable. If that's no good though, then I'll get the Xbox editions of each one.

Also, I would like to be able to play Soul Blade, PS2's Soul Cal II, and Soul Cal III with a fighting stick, but again - not as big a deal if it can't be made compatible.

I have an HRAP 3 for my PS3. When I first got it, I had a few problems with it randomly pulling up the XMB on me, but that problem hasn't happened in over a year now. And to be quite honest, I haven't had experience with the other 2 sticks to be able to tell you anything about them.

Best case scenario for you and easiest though not cheapest is to buy a shitty stick and replace the buttons and joystick with either Happ parts from America or import Sanwa or Seimitsu parts. As for me I am going to be building my own fightstick, I was thinking of making a thread to entice others to join in making a stick or help me on my stick. It'll probably be about a half year until I complete my stick, I'm making the box out of scratch as well >

What'd you pay for it? I'm finding most prices around the $200+ range, but I did find a couple sites that charge $130... if you're willing to wait.

Meanwhile, the Madcatz stick is around $80-$100 (edit: Nevermind, I was wrong. More like $110-$130), and the HFS EX2 is as cheap as $50+shipping if you look in the right places.


Also, how do you feel about the stick itself? Buttons aren't a big issue... I wanna know how the stick feels though. Unless you've switched it out.

@Grahamhsu - the Madcatz stick uses Sanwa parts, and by what I've read on Amazon about it, it holds its weight against the HRAP3, which is awesome. I'm very uninterested in building my own unless I'd be saving at least 50% on it, though. Not worth it to me. I'm, personally, just interested in something for quality home playing, and occasional vs. play against a couple friends. Not looking for anything too hardcore (which, by what some Amazon reviews say, means I'd be satisfied with the Madcatz FightStick, Standard Edition instead of the Tourney Edition).

Tonestarr are you talking about the SF4 MadCatz Fighting Stick. Only the 150 dollar stick uses Sanwa parts the 80 dollar stick does not. Now both sticks use a square gate which means that the joystick can only be moved in a square. That is actually not a bad thing though, a square shape actually allows you to feel corners better and has less deadzone (you can see via pictures). However you will need a little bit of time to get used to a square gate if you've been playing on octagonal or round gates.

Now in terms of button layout, for my hands and for the majority of people's hands I would have to definitely give the edge to the HRAP3. The button spacing is much better and more arced. If you have large hands I would suggest the MadCatz a bit more if you have medium size/small hands I believe the HRAP3 is the way to go. The HRAP3 uses Hori buttons which aren't anything to scream about but the 80 dollar fightstick doesn't exactly have stellar buttons either.

From my personal experience I've only used the 80 dollar Madcatz stick it's a decent stick, but keep in mind that your fightstick will go through wear and tear like any fightstick. My friend's Madcatz he got on the day of SF4 is already wearing down. I'm not too sure about Madcatz sticks but I know HRAP3 sticks have always been mod friendly so if anything should happen to your button or joystick it'd be easy to replace with another. Personally if I were you I'd shell out the extra money for the HRAP3, do a small amount of research on button modding should you ever need to replace anything (you will eventually) And here's a good site for research should you ever get into repairing your stick.

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/introduction.html

I also prefer the HRAP3 because of the lack of artwork on the stick box would allow me to paint something on it myself.

@Tonestarr if you want a stick that is going to be compatible with more than one system you will probably need to build it yourself or have someone build it for you. I know a couple people that could do it, but it's a complicated procedure involving a lot of soldering and multiple PCBs so it won't be cheap, but they do ship =P. Also btw what games do you plan on playing with these sticks?

When I got it, I want to say I ended up paying right around $170-180.  As far as the stick itself, it's not bad..I have a hard time with it sometimes, but I'm not quite as experienced as my friends who are fanatic fighters who love it and use it with ease.  It's the square inset, I want a hexagon stick just until I get better, just to switch back to the square once I'm comfortable.  Will I though?  I dunno..I don't wanna spend more money, so I'll probably just deal=P

I have two Horii sticks. I have EX2 for my 360 and I bought FS3, essentially an EX2, for the PS3. I don't have issues with either stick. They aren't made from arcade parts but they never give me any problems. I've had the EX2 for 18 months and it still works like new.

@Grahamhsu

I've been considering more and more actually building one, but if I do, I want to make it compatible with the GCN/Wii too (which would mean including a third PCB... ech!).

As for games, I'll be playing a LOT of various fighters. For the 360, I've already got SCIV, VF5, and DBZ: Burst Limit, as well as SC1 on XBLA. I'm also going to be getting SFIV, MK vs DC, and one or two other fighters, as well as some of the Xbox titles like the Xbox version of SCII.

I'll also be getting the three last-gen Mortal Kombat games, but I'm not certain if I'll be getting 'em for the Xbox or PS2. We'll see.

As for other titles, I'll also be doing Soul Blade (PS1, played on the PS2), Soul Calibur 2 (PS2), and Soul Calibur 3 (PS2, obviously). If I build it compatible with GCN as well, then I'll throw in SC2 (GCN) and the Smash Bros. games. And I may collect the full Tekken series between my PS2 and my 360, once Tekken 6 is out.

Would I need anything to keep the signal from crossing to the separate PCBs? Because I mean, if I have three different PCBs (PS2, GCN, 360) hooked up to a single button, when that button's depressed, it completes a circuit and the charge coming through would travel down all three wires to the separate PCBs. That's... not necessarily good and can mean I'd fry the circuitry.