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Lodestar wrote:HRAP3. I got mine for 60 on sale, it comes with a Sanwa stick and Hori buttons. Compatible with PS3 and PC.

I have a HRAP 2 - is the stick on that Sanwa too?

I love my HRAP - I also have an Agetec DC Stick ( with Sanwa parts) - they're great too, but are a little harder to configure for emus on a PC...

I was thinking of gutting my spare SNES Advantage and replacing the buttons and stick with good quality arcade buttons and stick. My SNES Advantage doesn't work that well and they never were the greatest controllers to begin with.

Anyone know if this would work or have a similar experience?

viewtopic.php?p=311911#p311911

^ my thoughts from a year ago...

def the HRAP is tops is you can swing it.

Para wrote:I was thinking of gutting my spare SNES Advantage and replacing the buttons and stick with good quality arcade buttons and stick. My SNES Advantage doesn't work that well and they never were the greatest controllers to begin with.

Anyone know if this would work or have a similar experience?

I doubt actual arcade buttons would even fit that thing without some severe modding.

Besides, there's still that atrocious layout that the SNES advantage has.

Do you have any gaming friends that have sticks that you can try? Because the best stick for you might not be the best stick on the market.

To give you an example, since I dont compete in tournaments anymore, I bought a Hori Fighting Stick EX2 for my 360. The stick is not the best stick, it is not as tight as the HRAP (Hori Real Arcade Pro), but it is good enough that when I want to pull off a combo it is there. If it misses a command, it is not the end of the world. Now I use it mostly for Castle Crashers and Jamestown on the PC, but I have used in it alot of fighting games. The reason I said this is that if you go to the hardcore sites, they say that for the EX2 you HAVE to mod it or it is useless. But to me, it is more than sufficient for my modern fighting game binges.

If you go HRAP, make sure you get one of the models that has an S bracket so that you can swap in a Seimitsu stick later on if you want. Sanwa is nice and all, but I wouldn't play a shmup with a JLF. Speaking from experience here.

So far my favorite stick is the Seimitsu LS 40.

Another option is to find a Capcom Fighter Power Stick. They usually go for around $5 to $20. Capcom put actual Sanwa JLWs and Seimitsu LS 40s in them. Even the pushbuttons use microswitches.

Lone Wanderer wrote:Well I've heard nothing but great things about the x-arcade tank stick. They sell new for around $200 iirc but there's one on eBay right now at about $80.

If you haven't, then you haven't asked around the shmups forum or shoryuken. In short, the sticks are not acceptable for high level play. Apparently the corners are harder to hit than they should be. It could be placebo, but people say they can hit combos on real happ sticks that they can't on the X-arcade.

Of course, this only applies for experts, but wouldn't you like to be sure your stick isn't holding you back?

I'm not too happy with their encoder either. I've had some PCs refuse to recognize the USB connection, and some PCs refuse to recognize the PS2 connection. They've upgrade the encoder since I got mine, but I'd be out another $50 on the thing, and still have the knock off parts.

Also, the sticks can apparently be configured for a 4-way mode. But that just turns off the switches on the diagonals. There's no 4-way restrictor plate included.

I'm just glad I got mine used for cheap. I'll probably end up building my own stick eventually.

Hatta wrote:

Lone Wanderer wrote:Well I've heard nothing but great things about the x-arcade tank stick. They sell new for around $200 iirc but there's one on eBay right now at about $80.

If you haven't, then you haven't asked around the shmups forum or shoryuken. In short, the sticks are not acceptable for high level play. Apparently the corners are harder to hit than they should be. It could be placebo, but people say they can hit combos on real happ sticks that they can't on the X-arcade.

Of course, this only applies for experts, but wouldn't you like to be sure your stick isn't holding you back?

I'm not too happy with their encoder either. I've had some PCs refuse to recognize the USB connection, and some PCs refuse to recognize the PS2 connection. They've upgrade the encoder since I got mine, but I'd be out another $50 on the thing, and still have the knock off parts.

Also, the sticks can apparently be configured for a 4-way mode. But that just turns off the switches on the diagonals. There's no 4-way restrictor plate included.

I'm just glad I got mine used for cheap. I'll probably end up building my own stick eventually.

I have a review of sorts of the X-Arcade stick up on the main page. The highlights are the durability, portability, and the inclusion of a trackball all for a low price. The lowlights are the rigidness of the stick (which has either lessened or I have adapted over time) and the design of the artwork. I have had zero problems getting it recognized on three computers and 3-4 consoles, but I'd concur with Hatta that the stick doesn't perform as well as a high end console arcade stick (e.g. a modded HRAP or the MadCatz TE stick), but it works great for the context I wanted to use it in (MAME cab).

I own a ton of different fighting sticks both wired and wireless from MadCatz and Hori. I currently use the MadCatz Tournament Stick for my PC/PS3 and it's amazing!!

Anyone have PS2 stick recommendations? My budget is up to $200. I am thinking about the Arcana Heart 2 stick.