Customer Reviews

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition S - Black

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first fight stick purchase. I have been playing fighting games for years and I finally decided to shell out the money and get one. I have visited many message boards figuring out which fighting sticks were the best and most affordable. I discovered that this one( Mad Catz) and the Hori fighting sticks were the best for affordability and performance. I picked the Mad Catz one because it has a storage device for the 12ft wire right in the back of the base, and also the nice art work on it.

The performance is spectacular. I have always used the d-pad on a controller for fighting games so i was skeptical switching to a analog stick and 2 rows of 8 buttons, plus the fact that I would have to spend $130 to find out if i liked it or not. It did take time getting used to. I spent a good 2 days getting used to the button layout.Other than adapting to the button layout I am not disappointed at all. This stick is worth all $130.

The cable length is perfect and more than enough. The fight stick itself is light and I usually just place it on my lap. The buttons are really responsive. I mean I barely touch the buttons and I can perform a move. The analog stick is great. The stick is really responsive as well. All I can say is that the fight stick screams precision. Every move, combo, can be pulled off with precision with little to no error. I play Street Fighter for ours and my hands dont get tired or start hurting. When using the PS3 controller my hands would get cramped. No cramping has occurred when using the fight stick, and I have had it since March 12.Arcade sticks can be fully customized and Mad Catz Fight sticks are one of the most fully customizable when it comes to replacing parts and the artwork.

I fully recommend this Fight Stick for first time buyers like me who are looking into buying one. Put all worries aside. This stick is great for upping your game. This Fight stick will make you play better period. Its so much more responsive than a normal controller and now I can see this is how fighting games were meant to be played. Worth every penny.

This new Super Street Fighter IV Fight Stick TE is really nice. Same as the previous TE sticks with some tweaks to the exterior and interior as well. Supposedly there is an update to the PCB board, but I'm not sure if it actually improves over the last stick, since there were no complaints.

You get full Sanwa (Joystick & Buttons) and the cover art is slick! The actual footprint isn't as large as I thought it would be, but it is just right. It also has a good weight and doesn't move around, even when on your lap. I can pull off moves that I was not able to do with the SE stick. These TE sticks, new and old, are the best sticks available in my opinion.

Cons:
The bezel from the previous generation sticks is absent in this one, leaving a hard edge corner that gets irritating after a while. It looks a little cheap since the corners are exposed and you can lift it up just with a finger. My hands rest right on this corner, which makes me wonder if the 1st gen stick would have been a better choice. Other wise, I would have gave it 5 stars.

Overall:
The current price for this is a little more than the 1st gen TE sticks. If that is still the case when you buy, I'd suggest going with the 1st gen.

All Sanwa parts (lever & buttons) so it's insanely sensitive (a good thing for fighting games). Heavy enough so it won't move around (I prefer to use it on a flat surface rather then in my lap). Cable compartment's a bit tight (just like the previous TE's) but no issues. This is hands the best mass produced joystick (as well as the previous TE's) on the market & yes, I've tried/owned quite a few of them including the HRAP 3 SA (surface area's too small for my big hands) & also less hollow.

This is my first professional grade Arcade Stick. I currently own the poorly made Tekken 5 Arcade stick as well as the Xbox360 wireless Tekken 6 stick. They are very good for beginners, but until I owned this particular device, I never knew what I was missing. The buttons are perfect, never sticky, and are extremely sensitive to the touch which allows for much better execution. The stick is very fluid, and, while it took alot of practice to be able to perform moves, once you get the hang of it, you will never want to go back to standard controllers for fighting games.

With that said, the most mind boggling thing about this product is the sharp edge. Who thought that this would be a good idea? I am not a wimp by any means, but after a few hours of playing, you can definitely feel the edge rubbing against your wrist. The best way to remedy this is to have perfect posture and make sure you're sitting above the stick with your wrists raised off of the device, however, Mad Catz should have thought this one through more.

Because of this one design flaw, I cannot give it a full five stars. However, I still recommend this product, as it will lift your game to new heights with the proper practice.

If you've never played on a stick before, this stick is as good an intro to one as you'll get. Its very responsive, and the moves come out easily. Offline, the pad can't beat it for sensitivity and response in my opinion.Overall it does what its suppose to, plus to boot the artwork is great.

However, since you've probably been playing on a pad for most of your life, and special moves on the pad are second nature, you're probably going to get a little frustrated playing with the stick against live opponents due to the fact that you will likely find yourself consciously thinking about how to execute moves on the stick during the game. This leaves less brain power for strategy, which means more losses.

In fact, you will almost definitely lose games that you would otherwise have won hands down with the pad, but due to a missed move, or a missed combo while using the stick, you lose an opportunity and then things go wrong. So again, definitely expect to lose a little bit more than usual, especially against a similar level of competition as yourself. Much lesser competition you'll probably still win against with the stick

However, when you do get good with it, you'll realize that some moves are easier and more reliably executed, especially ultras and DP motions. Having all 6 buttons laid out is also very nice. It makes it much easier to press two buttons at a time for EX moves, throws etc.

My only problem with the stick is its ease of modding. I switched the ball top out for a bat top, because my fingers are long and the ball top made the stick too short. The bat top is much nicer for people with larger hands. Anyways, opening the top panel in order to do the mod requires much more effort that it should be necessary. After undoing the 6 hex screws on the top, you will find that the panel is glued extremely tightly to the base. I literally cut myself on the edge of the faceplate trying to lift it up. It really is stuck down tightly. On the other hand, the original TE had a faceplate surrounded by a bezel. Unscrew faceplate and lift. No glue. For this reason only, the previous TE's are the better sticks because the internal parts and overall quality of those sticks are identical to this new one.

I also tried the octagonal restrictor plate, but honestly, the square gate, at least for me is better. I main Ryu and have no problems with fireballs whatsoever. Overall, an excellent stick, and if you don't have to mod it, will suit a beginner or professional quite fine.
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EDIT
Recently got my hands on the discontinued Hori Real Arcade Pro 3-SA. The Hori is the better stick.
1)More finger friendly button placement
2)Face is slanted towards you (arcade style) instead of flat.
3)Shaft of these particular Sanwa joysticks is longer. Not by much but noticeable for people with longer fingers

I recently had an issue with a Hori Fighting Stick 3 I had purchased almost 2 months ago and I was initially looking to order a Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 Premium VLX at the $300 price tag. On shopping around, I found this stick for $130 and for a nice stick with full Sanwa parts, it was quite a good deal for me as I had a fighting game party the day after ordering it. This and a savings of $170 from skipping the Hori Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX was quite a bargain.

The stick is great for my needs for a few reasons:

1) The use of the Taito Vewlix button layout has helped me play a little more consistently. This is due to the fact that with my former Hori stick, the former stock Hori layout would cramp up my fingers pretty badly. The transition to this new layout has allowed me to play for longer without pain. The Vewlix position for the buttons is much more natural to the angle of the hands.

2) The Sanwa parts are really nice and just have so much precision versus how the Hori stick was. For purist of the arcade experience, it's perfect as it's almost exactly like having pieces of the Japanese Taito Vewlix cabinet in your home.

3) For a little less than the new "mid-range" Hori Vewlix stick (Real Arcade Pro v3 SA) or less than half (Real Arcade Pro 3 Premium VLX), it's a great "upgrade") if you like arcade games from fighting games to scrolling shooters.

Either during the processing at Amazon or the shipping though Fed Ex that disconnected a wire on one of the buttons. I hope that in the future Amazon could flag arcade sticks as fragile as a casual consumer would have thought the stick was defective. It was easy to fix the problem, so I am still very happy with my purchase.

For those who have concerns over the sharp edge of the plastic art sheet on the arcade stick... Art Hong of the Shoryuken community has found out that under the plastic overlay, the stick is just like a standard Mad Catz tournament edition stick just without the rounded bezel. This gives you all 3 choices: You could take take the plastic sheet, paint the metal plate, and call it done. You can buy a Mad Catz colored bezel for $15 and either paint the metal plate or get a custom cut plexiglass sheet (from Art for example) to put on top of the metal plate. The other choice is a full plexiglass replacement from Art's website ([...]) that looks like it will fit flush with the arcade stick and replace the metal plate. This gives you plenty of options for making the stick comfortable for your uses.

If you are looking at this you probably have read a good amount about this stick (or it's many derivatives) so I'll keep it short. Amazing, arcade quality build on the stick. Good weight and size. The plexi glass top doesn't give me any discomfort on my wrists. I play with it on my lap and I have yet to even feel the so-called "sharp" edge of the plexi glass. Sure, you can feel it is a bit rough but nothing to write home about or even bothersome in my opinion. Overall great stick and no more struggling with the d pad!

Pros: Great construction, solid Sanwa parts, slick design.

Cons: Plexi-glass top doesn't fit flush with the frame can rub on the skin a bit depending how you play. If you sit above the stick you won't notice it at all.

Comparison: Same as the Original TE stick, no real reason to get this if you have the older model. Unless you are like me and got it anyway because it looks super slick!

Madcatz sticks are some of the best on the Market. The new sticks still have everything that made the originals great. With a new slim design if you don't already own a madcatz stick or any other kind this would be the one to get.

I have both the tournament edition s and the cheaper fightstick and MAN what a difference. weight quality of the components and overall playability is 2x the normal fightstick. Also was able to mod the 360 version of this so it can work on both the ps3 AND the 360. Well worth it for any one that loves fighting games!