XBox 360 Arcade Joystick

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:58 am

What are the options out there in the retail world?

Post by **raztat** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:24 am

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/19/xbox- ... ade-stick/

Are you looking for something like that? I almost bought one back when they came out but decided not to.

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:56 am

raztat wrote:http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/19/xbox- ... ade-stick/

Are you looking for something like that? I almost bought one back when they came out but decided not to.

Not really -- more like a six-button fighting stick. I know somebody mentioned a DOA one.
I'd like to know all the options though....

Post by **raztat** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:13 pm

DOA 4 one was made by Hori, They also make another one that is just white and green.

Post by **RadarScope1** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:42 pm

I've been researching this, too. The Hori stick appears to be the best option. I wish it were wireless, but we can't have it all.

I'm also thinking about doing some mods to my 360 d-pad to make it better for arcade/retro stuff. Probably going to try to get a cheap used one to try this on, rather than opening up my controllers I shelled out 50 bucks for.

Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:12 pm

It was me who mentioned the DOA4 stick. I love it. Hori rarely makes a bad product. It has really precise movements and buttons...I would say its quality is about the same as the HRAP2 on the Playstation or the DC Agetec. Of course the picture on the DOA4 stick is beautiful too. Triggerheart plays very well with it, and it's great for MAME too because it has USB.

Hori re-released the limited DOA4 stick for the 360 last year with the release of VF5 and called it the EX2. The insides and feel are exactly the same as the original, although there isn't a pretty picture on it!

That MadCatz arcade thing doesn't appeal to me. The stick is pretty much useless because it's hard to tell when you have actually made an input. And the layout just leaves my hands cramped. Definitely a good attempt at recreating the Atari look, though.

One of the best options is a custom stick, but they will cost a lot. They really can be a fine piece of art, and have all the best insides if you are willing to pay the price.

Along the same lines as custom sticks, there is the Arcade-in-a-box for the 360. Their website is going through some changes so this might not be the right address:

http://www.arcadeinabox.com/scripts/default.asp

Those look pretty good, you can get your own custom art on there, you can choose what kind of sticks and buttons you want (including industry favourites like Sanwa or even Magstick if you prefer), and you can include a headset jack if you want. You can also get a 2-player option. Now these also appear to be quite expensive and they also look to be very heavy so shipping will probably cost a lot. I have only seen great reviews of this stick.

If the 360 had a lot more shooters (I need a JP 360 for the Cave games!) and fighters (well SF4 and KOF12 are coming I guess), and if I didn't already have a decent stick, I would definitely go for the Arcade-in-a-box. In case you are wondering, no, I don't work for them.

Post by **RadarScope1** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:16 pm

So do you think the basic EX 360 stick also has a USB plug?

And - I hope at least some of those Cave shooter come to the US.

Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:58 am

RadarScope1 wrote:So do you think the basic EX 360 stick also has a USB plug?

And - I hope at least some of those Cave shooter come to the US.

Indeed, all three versions of the Hori 360 stick use a 9ft USB cable. I don't think I made it clear in my last post that there are three different Hori sticks, but they all play the same way. There is the Dead or Alive 4 stick, the Virtua Fighter 5 stick, and the plain stick that is mainly just green and white. They'll probably release a Soul Calibur 4 stick eventually too! Well, maybe not.

And about Cave, someone on the shumps.com forum wrote a letter to the company that are publishing the two shooters for Japanese release, and the response was polite but not very encouraging. They just said we need to keep telling Microsoft that we want a localized release. The stupid thing is that the games don't actually need to be region-locked; it is the publishers and not Microsoft that apparently decides this. Who knows, I think Cave thinks we can't handle their games.