Have a look at my arcade sticks

[Doctor Fugue]

I generally only play games that existed or could exist in arcades, so it is natural that my favourite type of controller is an arcade stick; I also happen to prefer the ball-top/convex button combination.

I have several other sticks, but these are my best; the Xbox 360 DOA4 stick made by Hori, the Dreamcast made by Agetec, and the PS3 Virtua Stick High Grade made by Sega.





The Xbox stick is very nice, especially for the price, and it is much like the Hori Real Arcade Pro sticks with Hori's in-house sticks and buttons.

The Dreamcast stick is, as most of you know, one of the best home sticks ever made, with quality and durability all around.

My new favourite, and easily the best stick I have ever used, is the Virtua Stick High Grade. It looks simply fantastic, it is built like a tank, it is perfect for on your lap or a table, there is plenty of space for resting your wrists...but the best part is that the components are ACTUAL arcade parts - Sanwa JLF - which is pretty well unheard of in a mass-produced stick. It is perfect.





Sorry for the crap pictures, I don't have a digital camera (or a mobile) so these were snapped with my laptop. Thanks for looking!

[racketboy]

Excellent! I have the Dreamcast one and would have the others if I had the consoles to go with them

[nateup2]

Anyone a fan of the Street Fighter 2 anniversary arcade stick?

I used to have one - it seemed like they cut it right out of a CPS!

[Ivo]

I only have the (relatively) crappy Saturn stick

But then again, I only got that as it was in a bundle, as I never played much in actual arcades and am not used to those at all. I used to have an Amiga, which used different kind of sticks, and got too used to controlling the stick with the right hand. I used to play MK (1, 2 and 3) on the PC using the keys, right hand on the directional input. Everytime I wasted money on a MK arcade I just couldn't play it properly.

Something that puzzles me a bit though, directional input is often the trickiest part of a game, and yet on consoles and arcades we use the right hand for the relatively simple keypresses. That doesn't make sense (although if I try to play with a gamepad any other way, I bet I'd suck). I think part of why I got the highest score in Defender was because I was using the right hand on the directional controls...

Ivo.

[Doctor Fugue]

Excellent! I have the Dreamcast one and would have the others if I had the consoles to go with them

Thanks, I also don't own all those consoles either...the two non-DC sticks are USB, hooray for universality on computers!

[Doctor Fugue]

Something that puzzles me a bit though, directional input is often the trickiest part of a game, and yet on consoles and arcades we use the right hand for the relatively simple keypresses. That doesn't make sense (although if I try to play with a gamepad any other way, I bet I'd suck). I think part of why I got the highest score in Defender was because I was using the right hand on the directional controls...

Ivo.

I find that interesting as well. For me, I can push buttons much more rapidly with my dominant hand (my right) so I find the normal set up works fine. What do left-handed people do? I suppose they just learn to adapt like driving a manual transmission in the States.

[RackGaki]

Is the PS3 stick compatible with PS2 games on the PS3? If so, I'm sold. Well, if I can find one.

I have the DOA4 Hori stick as well, and I use that for my XBLA games and a few things on my computer. Great stick for the price.

[baphomet_irl]

Nice - I have a Hori Real Arcade Pro, a DC Agetec with Sanwa parts and now the NeoGeo Stick for the Wii (which I love)

[Flak Beard]

I've been really wanting to get an arcade stick to play SHMUPs in MAME. I don't suppose something like this is any good...

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-zl- ... -2byy.html

Seems a little too cheap to be worthwhile. What do you guys recommend for PC/PS2 use?

[ott0bot]

My new favourite, and easily the best stick I have ever used, is the Virtua Stick High Grade. It looks simply fantastic, it is built like a tank, it is perfect for on your lap or a table, there is plenty of space for resting your wrists...but the best part is that the components are ACTUAL arcade parts - Sanwa JLF - which is pretty well unheard of in a mass-produced stick. It is perfect.




Sorry for the crap pictures, I don't have a digital camera (or a mobile) so these were snapped with my laptop. Thanks for looking!

You're a mac user right? Does this work with MAME OSX? If so...I may be interested. It looks awesome and well built. How expensive was it and where did you but it? lots of q's...i know.