Stick Pick
Choosing an Xbox 360 Arcade Stick that is right for you.
There are a lot of different manufactures to pick from when it comes to choosing an Xbox 360 arcade stick. For example Madcatz, Hori, and Mayflash just to name few. The quality can vary between them but the better manufactures like Hori and Madcatz have the usual Sanwa arcade quality parts inside.
When looking for an Xbox 360 arcade stick there are a few things to consider. Firstly of course is the quality. As stated above, Sanwa parts are really the industry standard as they are used in most Japanese arcade machines around the world, but there are other parts manufactures like Seimitsu, which have a more of a snap feel when pressed.
Another arcade stick quality you might consider is the ability for customization or it’s modding ability. Being able to swap out buttons and sticks fast and easily without too much hassle is always very handy and a big selling point for myself. Also if you’re like me, the ability to change the artwork of your Xbox 360 arcade stick is a bonus too. I find that most new sticks have taken this into consideration and accommodate it.
My top two recommendations for a good Xbox 360 arcade stick are:
Madcatz Tournament Edition – This stick was released a little after Street Fighter IV came out back in February, 2009 and is a very popular stick and choice of many top fighting game players. The Tournament Edition or also know as a “TE” stick claim to fame or selling point is that it uses the same exact Sanwa joystick and 30mm buttons found in the SFIV arcade cabinet.
The Madcatz TE is also a favourite with many people for its easy ability to customize the artwork. Using a clear plexiglass cut to the same template of the original artwork makes it very easy to make the stick more unique with your own custom artwork.
Hori Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX – This stick is fast becoming a favourite in the fighting game community. It not only has Sanwa parts, it is the exact design of the Vewlix arcade cabinets housing Street Fight IV. It is a whopping 5kg so either on a table or on your lap it will not move as much as other sticks. It has also been designed to be give easy access to the inside, making it quick to change or rplace broken buttons or stick.
The Hori VLX is not as easy to customise artwork as the front face is not screwed on separately.
Both sticks have a Turbo button feature too, but if you’re a die-hard arcade player you will never use them. Also you may want to change it to a six button layout instead of the eight button layout that they come standard with.
These are my top two recommendations when it comes choosing an Xbox 360 arcade stick. These two arcade sticks are also the top model of their manufactures and keep in mind the Hori and MadCatz also make less expensive arcade sticks.
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