A Revolution In The Fighting Genre: High Caliber Hardware

How far we’ve come…

This year is truly shaping up to be the return of the fighting genre and I’m not gonna lie…I couldn’t be more excited. In November I wrote an article on how the software side of things was shaping up nicely but there wasn’t enough information available for me to follow it up with an article on the upcoming hardware. Well there is now and I’m happy to say that the hardware lineup is just as impressive as the software lineup. When it was revealed that Madcatz would be the company behind the official Street Fighter 4 peripherals I, along with anyone else who ever used a Madcatz controller before, cringed. Madcatz’s reputation is worse than awful and the fact that such important work was being left up to them was terrifying. Many people voiced their concerns on forums all across the internet and I was part of most of them.

In short, we couldn’t have been more wrong. The stick shown above is the official Street Fighter 4 Tournament Edition Fightstick, and if ever a piece of plastic and electronics was sexy, it is that stick. The problem with most available arcade sticks is the build quality. The Tournament Edition Fightstick uses all Sanwa parts, which are exactly the same as what’s used in the Street Fighter 4 arcade cabinets. Also, it is the most easily modifiable arcade stick to ever be released. The top of the stick opens up to reveal the cleanest wiring job that a modder could hope for. Even inexperienced stick modders such as me are given the best options available. All eight face buttons are fitted with quick disconnects so that swapping buttons is as easy as unplugging, snapping out, snapping in, and plugging in the new button. If while you’re modding you lose track of which wire goes to which button, each wire can be followed down to the base of the case to see each wire clearly labeled as A, B, X, Y, RB, RT, LB, and LT. It is completely idiot proof. The stick isn’t in need of any such modding to be the best arcade stick available but for the hardcore modders out there who want custom artwork, buttons, and the ability to use the stick on other systems, this is amazing. While the 150 dollar price tag might drive some people away, I can’t stress enough that you are getting your money’s worth. The parts included in this stick, the fact that it’s limited to 3000 units, and all of its features make it the last stick you will ever need to buy.

Other than the Sanwa parts and the ease of modding that this stick provides, what other features should make you want to drop that amount of money on this stick? Let’s talk. On the back of the stick you will find a compartment made to store the cord in when the stick isn’t in use. Is that a huge deal to the standard consumer? Of course not. Does the standard consumer spend 150 dollars on a controller? Of course not. This feature will however, make it much easier to take this stick to tournaments and friend’s houses without having to worry about wrapping the cord around the stick and damaging it. Madcatz has also put a great deal of effort into making sure that there are no accidental button presses that could affect play. There is a switch on the stick that locks the Xbox guide/PS home button to make sure it isn’t accidentally pressed and the start and select buttons are found on the back of the controller to prevent any accidental pausing. There is also a turbo function for each button.

One feature that was put in strictly for the hardcore players is the ability to unscrew the four rubber feet on the bottom of the stick and take them off. This allows the stick to be bolted on to a table to make sure that it doesn’t move at all, no matter how in to the game you get. The coolest feature of the stick though has to be the one that the least amount of people seem to know about. There is a switch on the stick that allows the player to choose how he wants the joystick to function. It can be set to function as the d-pad, the left stick, or the right stick. So for all the people complaining that 150 dollars for a controller that can only be used on fighting games is ridiculous, take notice. Beat-em-up games like Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage 2 can all greatly benefit from this type of control. Shooters like Ikaruga and Triggerheart Excelica could also benefit from this controller. Seriously, any game that you could find in an arcade will feel better with this kind of stick and if you’re looking for an added challenge to your nightly game of Halo or Gears of War, do feel free to try and play with this stick…just keep in mind that you won’t be able to turn.

The only other option for this kind of stick, at a comparable price range, is to make it yourself. There are some great resources out there if you have the skills to undertake such a task and the picture above is proof that some absolutely amazing things can come from stick builders. The only downside to this method is that you need the patience, skills, and equipment that making a custom stick requires. I was almost ready to try my hand at stick making until I heard about the Madcatz stick and realized that for about the same price, someone else could make the stick for me and it would be under warranty. For anyone that is interested in making their own stick I would strongly suggest checking out the tech talk forum of Shoryuken and Slagcoin’s amazing guide. While this may be a viable option for the more creative among us, the majority of people will feel that the T.E. Fightstick is the better choice.

The other arcade stick that Madcatz is offering is their standard Fightstick. This arcade stick is made up of entirely Madcatz created parts and while the durability of the stick remains to be seen, initial impressions are positive. The 360 version will cost you eighty dollars and with the limited nature of the T.E., it may end up being some people’s only option. While it hasn’t been confirmed, the rumors are that the standard Fightstick will be just as easily moddable as the T.E. So for those that can’t justify spending 150 dollars on an arcade stick, this standard stick is a good starting point to figure out if arcade sticks are really something that you like playing on. If it is, then you can easily order the exact same parts that are in the T.E. Fightstick and put them in yourself, and if it isn’t then you can revel in the fact that you’ve saved 70 dollars. Also, even if you aren’t playing a fighting game, if you enjoy arcade games that have been brought to XBLA then this stick may be worth it to you to bring arcade feel that much closer to home.

The fact is that the market for arcade sticks has always been poor in America. If you want to know why then just read my last article that shows how long it’s been since we’ve gotten a fighting game worth buying. The Hori EX2 is the only stick that most people know about for the 360 and while it may be functional for a month or so, soon the buttons will decide whether or not to pop back up again and the joystick will tell you which direction it wants you to go. The closest thing to the Tournament Edition Fightstick would be the Hori Real Arcade Pro 2 SA and those will run you up to 130 dollars and it’s only compatible with the PS2 out of the box. Add a converter to it for PS3 play and you’re up to 155 dollars for a PS2 stick that depends on a converter for it to work on a current gen system.

Capcom knows that Street Fighter 4 is just the beginning of the resurgence of fighting games and serious players are going to want an arcade stick to play them with. Capcom and Madcatz have the advantage of being the first ones to release anything. While I’m sure that Hori will continue to release the EX2 with a new sticker on it for each fighting game that comes out, the quality isn’t going to change. Madcatz has managed to defy everyone’s expectations with this product and how they managed to do it is extraordinarily simple, they listened to the community.

Markman, the lead designer of these sticks, is a serious arcade stick fan who has a personal collection of over 100 sticks. He has experience with other products, the good and the bad, and he made it a point to get involved with the community. He’s as active on the Shoryuken forums as any of the rabid fans of Street Fighter and has constantly answered questions and asked for input from everyone. I’ve actually seen him post in the forums on every gaming website I go to…other than this one. If you don’t believe me then just Google his name and look at all of the gaming forums that come up. This is the first time that I’ve seen a company get involved with the players like this and I hope it pays off for them and sets an example for other companies.

[Thanks to Big Pockets from SRK for the awesome custom stick picture and Markman for the steady stream of information and finally getting a stick done right]