Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks

[Queasy]

Link - click through for pics.

Straight from the GameStop Expo 2008 in Las Vegas, here are some shots of Mad Catz's official line of Street Fighter IV controllers. They come in three different flavors - the decorated gamepad version for $39.99 (meh), the definitely-a-console-accessory stick for $69.99 (hmmm), and the ripped-directly-from-the-cabinet premium arcade stick for $139.99 (tissue please). Shin-RoTeNdO from Shoryuken got to play on one of the premiums, and reports that it feels just like the arcade sticks, with "some other cool features" he wouldn't mention. Damn stick-tease.

drool

 

[purbeast0]

pretty sweet, but i don't think i would drop that much $$ on a mad catz accessory ever heh.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Not bad!

But, Mad Catz needs to bring back the Pather XL and make a PS3 version of it as well! (with BlueTooth and optical trackball)

The PatherXL (aside from quality problems with the joystick and the bearings in the trackball) was the best controller design for a FPShooter ever, IMO.

 

[KaOTiK]

Normally I wouldn't even look twice at it cause it is Madcatz but, over on the CAG forums, the resident guru of fighting games MarkMan has been designing that stick with other top players with Madcatz and he is vouching big time for the stick. He knows his shit when it comes to them so I am leaning towards the premium one. I held back on buying a Hori HRAP3 cause he was so confident in the this stick a month ago.

 

[Imported]

Wonder what parts they're using. I'm modding a stick now with Sanwa buttons and a Seimetsu stick.. hopefully they're using quality parts. They do look gorgeous though!

 

[KaOTiK]

He can't say what parts they are using yet, but all he can say is it will be the good stuff, so it pretty much answers itself lol

 

[Tiamat]

Man, I am still developing my SF3 skills

Gotta love red parry into Eins, Zwei, Drei, Ende!

 

[JackBurton]

See, now THAT'S a joystick (arcade stick). Are there better? Yes. But this looks to be pretty dang good. Unfortunately they're not wireless.

 

[ponyo]

Looks pretty much like Hori stick. Which isn't a bad thing since Hori is a solid stick.

 

[Imported]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Looks pretty much like Hori stick. Which isn't a bad thing since Hori is a solid stick.

Hori buttons are horrible.

But their HAP series are damn good after switching the buttons out.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Yeah MarkMan knows his shit and I've seen him talking it up. Still though it is Madcatz so I'm wary. I don't like my crappy hori stick though so if reviews are good i'll hook it up.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Looks a little too small, might be issues of it moving around because it's too light. Though if they really are sticking true to the arcade, then it'll have full Sanwa parts. I'd personally stick with a HRAP2 with a convertor or an HRAP3 and swap out the buttons.

 

[randay]

i made my own arcade stick. the thing is, my stick cost me more to make in time and money. but with a little more time and money i can probably make a stick that is quite a bit more awesome than anything you can buy off the shelf. but thats a project for another day.

btw i wired up a ps3 controller and my stick is wireless, no problems yet. i dont see why madcatz cant make a wireless stick themselves? perhaps these are prototypes? or perhaps just connected to keep the battery power from going out.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: randay
i made my own arcade stick. the thing is, my stick cost me more to make in time and money. but with a little more time and money i can probably make a stick that is quite a bit more awesome than anything you can buy off the shelf. but thats a project for another day.

btw i wired up a ps3 controller and my stick is wireless, no problems yet. i dont see why madcatz cant make a wireless stick themselves? perhaps these are prototypes? or perhaps just connected to keep the battery power from going out.

I'm guessing if it's wireless, theres lag.

 

[I4AT]

The cases don't look deep enough for the sticks to be Sanwa/Seimitsu.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: I4AT
The cases don't look deep enough for the sticks to be Sanwa/Seimitsu.

I've seen custom sticks with sanwa's that were really thin like that.

 

[I4AT]

Yeah but those are customs, the premium version looks like it may be thick enough, but the smaller one isn't any larger than a Hori EX/FS3 and those can't be modded without either swapping the shaft or drilling out the bottom panel. Not to mention $69 would barely cover the cost of Sanwa/Seimitsu hardware, but there's still hope for the premium.

I just read up a little on SRK, and it looks like the faceplates on the premium version are going to be swappable for easy modding. Definitely a step up from having to rip off the vinyl art Hori uses on their sticks.

If it uses real deal Japanese parts and quick disconnects I would consider getting one when they go on sale, but $140 puts it in HRAP territory.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: randay
i made my own arcade stick. the thing is, my stick cost me more to make in time and money. but with a little more time and money i can probably make a stick that is quite a bit more awesome than anything you can buy off the shelf. but thats a project for another day.

btw i wired up a ps3 controller and my stick is wireless, no problems yet. i dont see why madcatz cant make a wireless stick themselves? perhaps these are prototypes? or perhaps just connected to keep the battery power from going out.

I'm guessing if it's wireless, theres lag.

My regular PS3 controller (Sixaxis) has 0 lag.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: randay
i made my own arcade stick. the thing is, my stick cost me more to make in time and money. but with a little more time and money i can probably make a stick that is quite a bit more awesome than anything you can buy off the shelf. but thats a project for another day.

btw i wired up a ps3 controller and my stick is wireless, no problems yet. i dont see why madcatz cant make a wireless stick themselves? perhaps these are prototypes? or perhaps just connected to keep the battery power from going out.

I'm guessing if it's wireless, theres lag.

My regular PS3 controller (Sixaxis) has 0 lag.

If you're playing fighting games, I would definitely not believe a wireless controller is absent of any lag. It might feel like theres no lag, but theres definitely a little on it.

When you play game with 1 frame links, I don't think anyone would ever use a wireless stick in competitive play.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: randay
i made my own arcade stick. the thing is, my stick cost me more to make in time and money. but with a little more time and money i can probably make a stick that is quite a bit more awesome than anything you can buy off the shelf. but thats a project for another day.

btw i wired up a ps3 controller and my stick is wireless, no problems yet. i dont see why madcatz cant make a wireless stick themselves? perhaps these are prototypes? or perhaps just connected to keep the battery power from going out.

I'm guessing if it's wireless, theres lag.

My regular PS3 controller (Sixaxis) has 0 lag.

If you're playing fighting games, I would definitely not believe a wireless controller is absent of any lag. It might feel like theres no lag, but theres definitely a little on it.

When you play game with 1 frame links, I don't think anyone would ever use a wireless stick in competitive play.

I MAINLY play fighting games and there is zero lag on the PS3 controllers, at least nothing anyone would be able to tell. I bet if you put a modded wireless PS3 arcade stick in front of even a pro, they'd be hard press to feel a difference (input wise) between the wired and wireless versions. It's that good.

 

[buzzsaw13]

I'm pretty skeptical that is has zero lag, even if it has 1 frame of input lag, it's no good.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Wireless controllers are typically 10ms lag.