4-way arcade joysticks

Thread in 'Hardware' started by marionintendo, 5 Mar 2017.

  1. Hi all! I wouldn't want to bore you guys with yet another question about arcade sticks, but after searching for close to an hour about this, I need your help.

    I've recently picked up TGM, and am considering playing more seriously. Right now, I'm playing with a Hori Mini arcade stick. From what I understand, this stick is an 8-way square gate that cannot be modified. What I am currently looking for is a stick that has an 8-way square gate by default, but can be modified into a 4-way gate, to remove diagonals.

    I've read about the Sanwa JFL stick, which (correct me if I'm wrong) comes included with a gate that can be "rotated" to make it a 4-way stick, after opening the arcade stick. Aside from the MadCatz Tournament Edition sticks, I was not able to find any complete arcade stick that included this part. At least under $200. I learned about the existence of the Virtua Stick High Grade, which does include this joystick, but it seems to be long gone and not available anywhere currently.

    I really love Hori products, so I'm interested in the Hori Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai, which comes with a Hayabusa stick. This one is also a square gate, but it's unclear whether or not it can be modified into a 4-way square gate right out of the box. Do you guys know?

    Aside from all this, do you guys happen to have any decent suggestion? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. can you not just buy a JLF and put it in a cheap stick
     
    Sumez likes this.
  3. I guess so, yeah, but how can I know in advance if it will fit in the cheap stick? This is another thing I cannot quite figure out. I also read in a thread here that people recommend higher end sticks for durability and all, so that's why I'm considering this route.
     
  4. all joysticks are the same size so itll fit in the hole just fine
    just make sure the stick you buy has enough space for the mounting bracket on the bottom of the JLF
    upload_2017-3-5_15-54-55.png
     
  5. hayabusa is 8 way only
     
  6. It's not necessarily as straightforward as this. Mounting plates and method can differ. It's safer to go with a stick that you know has a JLF clone of some sort or to search up a modding guide for the stick you're thinking of buying, to make sure you're not getting yourself into a more involved project.

    The MadCatz SFIV Standard Edition and WWE BrawlStick both use JLF clone parts, so you can either set the stock restrictor to 4-way (although InfiniteCombos and I found that they made it way harder to get it off the clip than an actual JLF -- I actually sanded down the nubs to make it easier to get on and off) or drop-in replace with an actual JLF ($20 part).

    If you wanted to try using the Hori Mini to hold things over, you might be able to do a modification like @K did on a Hori EX2 and just drill holes in a JLF restrictor plate so it will screw in as a replacement for the Hori restrictor plate -- $5 plus labor.
     
    Echo likes this.
  7. You can easily look up which sticks are "easy to mod", the shoryuken forum has a lot of knowledge about this.
    But honestly, I'm with BBQTKZ here, it should fit in just about any case as long as it's deep enough to fit an original Sanwa joystick. Don't worry too much about exact measurements, and just try to avoid completely flat cases like this: http://brutalgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tekken6_arcade_stick_ps3_1.jpg

    Sure, it'll be tough to find one that has mounting holes that fit a Sanwa stick, but personally I don't mind drilling a few extra holes - I just screwed directly into the plastic to mount a Seimitsu joystick into my cheap Datel arcadestick that cost me around $15. No big loss. Still looks ok, IMO:

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Hori has a cheaper stick with this 4/8 gate, but the buttons are a bit shitty. If you wanna go cheap, you could replace just the 3 buttons you use with Sanwa ones. The stick is called "Hori real arcade pro 3". Its around 40-50 euros used on ebay. Theres also a "Hori real arcade pro 3 SA", it has teh Sanwa parts, but is a lot more expensive.

    However my personal recommendation is too look real hard for a MadCatz Tournament Edition Stick, its possible to get them for around 60-80 euros used on ebay. Saves you all the hassle. The case is IMHO super solid and you can replace any broken parts quite easily, so its gonna last.
     
  9. I bought an HRAP4k recently, it's been pretty good so far, if you have any other specific questions, ask away. As BBQ said, the stick is 8 way only, but you can easily swap it out with a Sanwa JLF

    I should note that the buttons are *very* bad (the stick kinda sucks too, but a bit less), they're spongy and tilt around since the plunger is so shallow. I'd recommend replacing everything on the stick with Sanwa parts, which puts it in the same price range as a MadCatz stick, just over time.

    I suggest doing what a few others are suggesting in the thread and getting a pre-owned stick if you don't want to be spending $200. Due to the nature of most sticks, they should be just fine getting them pre-owned. The parts are designed to take a beating and are all replaceable. You can just get an older MadCatz or Hori stick (sticks for 360 and PS4 are generally going to be good if you happen to get into other games that use sticks) for about the same price, and there's a good chance that you stick (hah) with it for a long time. Don't do a new cheap stick, most don't have any sort of weight to them which sucks.
     
  10. Adding to what @Kitaru said, my Pana Custom has mounting holes specifically for Seimitsu mounting plates, so when I swapped the Seimitus that came with it for Sanwas, I had to get a couple Kowal S Plates to convert them. It really wasn't that bad, but I don't know if most fight sticks are going to have space for that.
     
  11. Wow guys, these are some great suggestions, thanks for taking the time to reply and make me feel welcome. It means a lot, as a new member. :)

    @PARTY MAN X , it's interesting you say that, since I've read many people online saying they converted to the Hayabusa stick after a few weeks of use (obviously to play fighting games, so this might explain the different reaction). I also learned about the Seimitsu LS-32 sticks, which include 8, 4 and 2-way restrictions. This is one deep rabbit hole, I didn't know customisation options were this varied. I guess I'll be on the lookout for used sticks, as well as the RAP4k if I can find a good deal. To be honest, I think I'm not mentally fast enough for the game yet, so I still have to cross that barrier before getting a better stick.

    I guess my last question for the moment is: what's your general opinion @all on Seimitsu vs Sanwa? I've read somewhere that 4-way Sanwa, in the diamond shape (if I understood correctly), does not completely negate diagonals. When I'm looking at the clover-shaped gate for the Seimitsu, it might negate diagonals more, I don't know. There's also talk about the Sanwa being better for fighting games, and Seimitsu being better for STGs. I'll probably end up buying both in the coming year, but just for a taste of what's to come, what are your preferences? Buttons too, I guess.
     
  12. the seimitsu clover gate is bad dont buy one unless you plan to manually wear the edges down with a file or slowly wear them down over many many painful hours of play
    the JLF is your best bet every time
    in terms of buttons it doesnt really matter, sanwas are more sensitive which is kinda a double edged sword since you can do sick fast rotates with them but also they feather really easily so some people prefer seimitsus
     
  13. To expand about the clover gate of Seimitsu sticks, in TGM2+ and TGM3 it is common to do circular moves on the stick - DAS to the right edge, sonic drop, move left 1 column, and lock - the clover shape of the Seimitsu restrictor makes these very difficult or uncomfortable to perform unless you wear down the edges.

    I've never had an issue inputting a diagonal with my diamond gates on any of my sanwa sticks.
     
  14. Hopefully you're making good use of those Seimitsus elsewhere :o
    LS-32 is an amazing joystick, and honestly, in my opinion it's better than Sanwa (just the clover gate makes it less viable for TGM)
     
  15. Thanks for your recommendations, guys. I decided to arm myself with the Qanba Carbon and swapped in Sanwa parts. I've never had such quality parts before, I'm amazed! I managed to get an S3 rank on TGM1 for the first time (instead of an S2), great stuff :) And seriously, long live that 4-way gate.

    [​IMG]
     
    RudySilvergun, TGGC and mycophobia like this.

Share This Page