Universal Joystick/Fighting Pad and Converter discussion

[GreenMonkey]

See also previous topic about universal joysticks :

 

http://www.lcvg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1346

 

 

Here's the deal. SF Anniversary comes out tomorrow. I have Guilty Gear X2. My 3rd party Xbox controller I got with it, the D-pad is a little iffy (up/right command responds erratically - needs a lot of force).

 

 

Anyway, I need a fighting game solution. I was going to get the Soul Calibur 2 universal stick, but I can no longer find it in stock anywhere - I shouldn't have hesitated.

 

Reports on the Magic Box Saturn/DC to Xbox adapter are iffy - I see reports of problems with anything but first party stuff. Plus there is this qualifier -

 

"Please note that this product does not support 6 button Arcade Dreamcast sticks!"

 

(So much for my clicky green Dreamcast joystick!). My Saturn joystick would still work, I hope, as would my Saturn pad.

 

and there is apparently no xbox live headset support.

dammit.

 

There is that SF anniversary stick, but the buttons aren't set up slanted, and for $59.99 it would have to be frickin' perfection.

 

I was thinking maybe the SF joypads for $30 are the solution. Not a joystick, but what can I do?

[iainl]

The ideal solution is to buy the big bundle of Tekken 5 and the stick. It's "just" a repackaged Hori Real Arcade Pro stick, confirmed as working ok with the Magicbox for XBox playing. Forget any qualms you have about the quality of Tekken 5, importing a RAP will cost you as much as the bundle, if you actually manage to find one anywhere now.

 

Sure, you won't get headset support, but the only easy way you're going to get that is to play on an official XBox pad, and I wouldn't want to wish that on you.

 

Plan C is to buy whatever stick you want to use (Official Dreamcast one is the easiest to work with) and hotwire a pad with the insides.

 

By the way, if you already have an official DC stick (gorgeous and lovely things that they are) and don't want to hack it about, it is perfectly ok for playing DOA and SNK games with - "doesn't work with the stick" just means that the Y and Z buttons are not mapped to L and R for you, so it only acts as a 4-button.

 

I wonder, do you suppose you could plug a standard controller in port two, along with a headset, and then speak through that while using the stick?

[EnemaEms]

Plan D would be to just buy one of these bad boys when they are released.

 

-Dean-

[Camp]

If there is a Game Crazy near you check them out. Those Street Fighter pads are on sale for $17.99.

[EnemaEms]

Are those the PS2 pads Camp? What is nice about the X-box pads, when they are released, is that you will be able to use the Communicator with them.

 

-Dean-

[GreenMonkey]

Yeah, I would really prefer to use the headset with whatever it is.

 

Not that I find anyone talking so far of any use, but hey, I'll run into friendly people eventually.

 

I really prefer a joystick for fighting games but will probably end up getting the xbox fighting pads as above. Some stuff (like double quarter circles and <- -> <- -> or double half circles I find very difficult on a dpad.

[Romier S]

I'll repost this here from the Street Fighter thread:

 

I bought the Street Fighter arcade stick today while heading out to EB. It was sitting there in that lovely box (and it's a rather large box too). Plunked down the cash and got it home ASAP.

 

The layout didn't bother me any as it felt comfortable and the joystick itself was tight and the gripping on it felt solid. Also there is a plug in for the Xbox Live headset right in the front! Only problem is the stick had two dead buttons and when I tried to wrap the cord back into place, the bottom casing that houses the cord literally fell into the main circuit board. It fell right off the screws! I'm hoping this is just an isolated incident and doesn't speak on the craftmanship of these controllers in general.

 

I'm off to go return this defective stick for a new one. Crossing my fingers for the next purchase cause if it's even remotely shoddy I'm getting a full refund and sticking with one of the simple 6 button pads. Anniversary releases tommorrow.

[ChoiceStriker]

The layout didn't bother me any as it felt comfortable and the joystick itself was tight and the gripping on it felt solid.

I don't understand the criticism some people have about the straight button layout - every Capcom fighting game I've ever played in the arcade has had a straight six-button layout. Curved buttons might be marginally more ergonomic, but can someone explain to me what the problem is with a straight layout?

Only problem is the stick had two dead buttons and when I tried to wrap the cord back into place, the bottom casing that houses the cord literally fell into the main circuit board. It fell right off the screws! I'm hoping this is just an isolated incident and doesn't speak on the craftmanship of these controllers in general.

Yikes. I hope they're built better than that.

[Angry the Clown]

I don't understand the criticism some people have about the straight button layout - every Capcom fighting game I've ever played in the arcade has had a straight six-button layout. Curved buttons might be marginally more ergonomic, but can someone explain to me what the problem is with a straight layout?

 

Personally after a bout of senseless button bashing, a straight layout tends to become more of a problem for me. I think it's really just down to the individual player's taste and what they feel most comfortable with, no button layout is definitively incorrect.

 

For me, fatigue between my fingers sets in a good deal later with a slightly curved layout. The Hori sticks are much more to my liking with a model like their Real Arcade Pro likely to find a home at mine at some point this year (perhaps the special edition model out in March).

 

Daniel

[GreenMonkey]

I get a lot of wrist tension and joint pain...since doctor visits did little to figure it out I spent a lot of time self diagnosing...fairly sure the problem was long term dehydration.

 

In recent months since I now drink a lot more water and a lot less caffeine, my achy wrists/finger problem has mostly cleared up. But I still get fatigue/ache when playing fighting games from the frantic button mashing. So ergonomics is an issue for me.

[Romier S]

For those interested, I just got my replacement Street Fighter Anniversary Arcade stick and am happy to report all is well. All of the buttons work perfectly and I put some decent tension on the bottom casing to see if it would suffer the same fate as it's predecessor and it held nicely. Though you could still feel some buckling which is disappointing to say the least. The screws that are menat to hold that casing in place are still somewhat tenuous but the last one I bought was definitely far worst in this regard.

 

I wanted to comment on the quality of the stick itself in terms of the housing and what not. The outer casing is extremely sturdy and the device has some nice weight to it (it weighs in at around 6-7lb's). The top of the device has a wonderful piece of artwork showcasing the various fighters to have participated in the Street Fighter tournament over the years. There is also an outer shell affixed to the top of the arcade stick meant to simulate a plexi-glass overlay that gives it a really nice "arcade" feel. The bottom front has a plug for the Xbox Live headset though I haven't tested how that fits as of yet. Keep in mind that this product works on both the Xbox and the PS2.

 

I threw in a few fighting games to give the buttons and joystick a good workout. Mortal Kombat: Deception was the first one on the hit list and I found that all of the button presses and directional movements were quite responsive. Unfortunately the type of timing required to pull off combo moves in Deception makes it impossible to realistically use this type of device to play but it was neat enough just giving it a try. I'd like to try something along the lines of DOA soon to see how that game fares. I will be saving Virtua Fighter 4 (the prize, the one, the bomb ) for last.

 

Next I popped in the arcade port of the original Mortal Kombat that came with the Special Edition of Deception. Now this is the kind of game this controller was made for! I was pulling off finishing moves and special abilities without even thinking twice. I never even once looked down to make sure I was making the correct button presses. :tu The reponsiveness was really fantastic but the most impressive aspect was how well the joystick handled the directional pulls. One huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to these types of controllers is having to toy around with finding the joysticks center and axis so you can make proper turns/half-circles and back/forward motions. Nothing worst than doing a "back-back-forward" only to have your character start doing back flips. Thankfully this was not a problem here. It just felt very natural.

 

I also threw in my Midway Arcade Treasures 1 and 2 discs to try some old school games as well as the other Mortal Kombat titles. My findings were much the same as above. Not all of the older arcade titles played well but there were some games like Narc that of course benefitted greatly from the use of a proper arcade stick. Guilty Gear was also a treat to play with the Anniversary stick by the way!

 

I'm very much looking forward to testing how well this new device works with Street Fighter Anniversary tommorrow. I'm also wanting to give this thing a good test run with my modded Xbox and the emulators I have available. Configuration should hopefully be a snap.

 

Thus far my only complaint is my unfortunate purchase of the initial defective product. In all honesty, I still find some aspects of the build quality suspect and you should definitely give your prospective purcahse a good glance (you can tilt the top cover on the box up so as to take a good look at the controller inside. Opening the box is also very easy. So if you are looking to buy, a salesman should be more than willing to yank it out real quick for inspection.). All in all, considering it's $54 price tag, I'm very happy with this purchase.

[iainl]

I don't understand the criticism some people have about the straight button layout - every Capcom fighting game I've ever played in the arcade has had a straight six-button layout. Curved buttons might be marginally more ergonomic, but can someone explain to me what the problem is with a straight layout?

 

It's not 'wrong', but I'm used to the curve of both the Dreamcast and Hori sticks, and it matches the curve of my fingers really comfortably. I can play Soul Calibur with my first three fingers across the three attacks and my thumb resting on block without having to do anything weird with my hand at all, and that's the main requirement.

 

I'd love to get the new "Special Edition" blue RAP coming in March, but it's looking like it's only going to be available for personal orders from the Hori website, and that will only ship within Japan. The "Special Addition" red one to match it has the same problem.

 

Which are you considering, Dan, if Play-Asia or whoever manage to get stock? The red has a Sanwa stick and the Blue is Semitsu; both have Hori own-brand buttons.

[Angry the Clown]

I'm honestly not sure, both are really very attractive. The standard pro stick already available would do should Play Asia not manage to get any of the specials. I'm not overly fussed.

 

Daniel

[iainl]

They are all pretty nice, aren't they? I'm probably most tempted by the Blue one, but the idea of going for whichever colour you don't choose is also something I was playing with.

[Angry the Clown]

Hah. Alright, the red one then...

 

Dan

[iainl]

Of course, now it looks like I'm bullying you.

 

Still, I think we'll be lucky to get either of them. VG+ aren't selling the Tekken bundle, either, or I'd have ordered one.

[Angry the Clown]

Mmm.... it's not like the standard Pro Stick (green isn't it?) brute is rubbish in comparison of course....

 

Daniel

[iainl]

The standard green stick is indeed lovely (the Capcom Fighting Jam one isn't bad either).

 

Doing some research online, it costs more to order a RAP in the UK (thanks to it's immense weight) than it will to pick up the Tekken 5 bundle if I can find it in the US and bring it back myself. Which makes it really tempting, even if I'm not in a hurry to buy a US PS2 to play it on.

[ChoiceStriker]

Thank you for the responses on my question about button layout, Daniel and Iain. I can see how it might be less comfortable for some now. Personally, because I only use my fingers on the buttons, I hadn't thought about how uncomfortable a 4-across straight layout would be for someone trying to maneuver their thumb there too.

[GreenMonkey]

I think joysticks are becoming extinct.

 

While tracking down SF anniversary today (CC didn't have it in yet, dammit, they had the best price), I tried to find a joystick. Any joystick. I even looked in the PS2 sections for a universal one.

 

Not a one to be found. Gamestop, Media Play, Best Buy, Circuit City - no joysticks. Even on the gaming websites they are becoming extinct.

 

I did a search on the ebgames website...The SF stick is available about 20 minutes away in the other town (not my local EB). I think I will run out and pick it up as it is already backordered on the website.

 

Man, $60 for a joystick. I must be feeling loopy.