Saturn Arcade Sticks - Options and Opinions

[Whomper]

You could argue this should be on the Sega board, but I'm looking for a fighter's POV, so I'll stick it here. Apologies if it's already been covered, but the search seems to be goosed at the moment.

I'm shortly due to pick up a Saturn, mainly for Street Fighter Zero 2/3 and Vampire Saviour (oh, and Pocket Fighter). I've never owned one before, so it's all new to me, but the main stick options seem to be (roughly in order of availability):

Sega Virtua Stick - big flat black/grey thing, released in Japan and the West. Looks like this.
Sega Virtua Stick - tastier looking Japan-only stick, white body, green ball-stick, mostly green buttons. Looks like this.
Hori Fighting Stick SS - large black monolith with green buttons and a dinky looking stick. Looks like this.

I'll ignore the insane double-stick Sega Astro, as I think my chances of finding one are roughly nil, and the Wife Acceptance Factor is perhaps a little low.

Are there any other options I've missed? Which of the above gives the best play for fighters, and is it worth doing any simple mods to them?

I'm inclined to go for the Jap Virtua Sticks (the second one), based on appearance, but I've not handled any of the three, and as I'm currently lurking in New Zealand I'm fairly unlikely to get a chance to do so.

On a vaguely related note, what do people think of the Capcom Power Stick Fighter for the SNES? I have a line on one for about $25 USD delivered, but not sure if it's worth a punt.

[fingersmaloy]

I occasionally see another stick floating around that looks like the white panel/green stick you mentioned, but it only has like three buttons or something. I think it's only usable with Virtua Fighter.

Japan also sells a gray and blue version of the Virtua Stick. It's not so good, Al.

Personally I really like the black and green Hori one.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Talk to Hashiriya1, he'll set you up with a good stick shipped straight from Japan at a great price.

Personally I recommend a Japan only 8 button Virtua or the US black Virtua as your starter and then moving up from there to a Hori or other more pricey stick such as an Astro etc...

[fingersmaloy]

If you talk to hashiriya, I would ask him about the Hori stick anyway. I found mine in Japan for like 280 yen (about $3 US)

[reagan]

Japan also sells a gray and blue version of the Virtua Stick. It's not so good, Al.

i see you also tried the fish.

[Curlypaul]

I have the Hori, and while I havnt tried any of the others to be able to compare, it is a good stick. My only complaint is that the buttons are a little too loud (I do a lot of my gaming late at night when other people are trying to sleep)

[racketboy]

I have the Hori stick and have been happy with it.
Played through X-Men vs Street Fighter just the other day with it.

[Betamax001]

I have the American black Sega Virtua Stick (The first link) and it is really nice. Sadly the only game I can play it with is Virtua Fighter 2, as I have no other Saturn fighters....yet....

But Its much better than my other Saturn controllers, the Model 1 American Saturn controllers that I have. And for an arcade stick, the American Sega is pretty good and pretty cheap. I picked it up at this local shop for 20 bucks. Then the next day I saw one at another shop for 15 >.< But that second shop was in Chicago so the tax there would have probably brought it back up to 20 ^_^

[h8b1llg8ts]

I have two of the black Virtua Sticks and I'm fine with them. See my backloggery (below) and you'll see I have mostly Capcom fighters and they work just fine.

Would like to own all Hori sticks sometime soon but my gaming collection seems to be taking priority ...

[hashiriya1]

I have a virtua stick, boxed, laying around. Of course, it is for sale.






And...this...