Is it wrong to think Madcatz would make high quality anything?

[Richter Belmount]

http://shop.capcom.com/store/capcomus/en_US/pd/productID.170803600/Tatsunoko-VS-Capcom-Arcade-FightStick.html

That looks like a tempting arcade controller but is the appearance a lie and its a piece of junk controller? Considering its mad catz.

[BetaWolf47]

I think in certain cases, 3rd-party developers should be given the benefit of the doubt. Always best to Google reviews of the item.

[TonyTheTiger]

Mad Catz is a different company than it used to be. I can vouch for their sticks since I own two of them. That TvC stick is one of the best on the market. Most people like to swap out the stock parts for real arcade Sanwa or Seimitsu sticks/buttons but I can say without question that the stock parts are pretty much identical to Sanwas. They just have slightly stiffer springs. If you replace just the spring you'll essentially be using Sanwa parts. And I personally like the extra stiffness so I'm leaving it stock.

[Richter Belmount]

How many games have you been playing with it though considering its a wii only arcade stick?
I was only disappointed that it doesnt work with gamecube games , Ikaruga or some other shootem ups would of been awesome.

[PapaStu]

We've got a Wii only Hori Stick. Thats 3rd party and it rocks socks off people without even trying. I'm sure I could swap parts out, but there hasn't been a reason for me to even ponder it.

[TonyTheTiger]

How many games have you been playing with it though considering its a wii only arcade stick?
I was only disappointed that it doesnt work with gamecube games , Ikaruga or some other shootem ups would of been awesome.

Just TvC but I'm going to mod it to work with other consoles. With any stick you'll probably want to get it to work with other consoles through either modding or controller converters.

The reason I like the TvC stick so much is because unlike the FightStick TE, it's not a pain in the ass to carry around. Plus the matte finish is really nice to the touch. You have to actually feel it to understand what I mean.

[Richter Belmount]

Thats some cool shit , do you do the mods yourself? Let me guess dreamcast mod?

[TonyTheTiger]

I'm probably just going to do a PS2 mod and then buy a bunch of converters since there's tons of "PS2 to whatever" ones out there.

It's a bit too involved to get into here but the modding process really isn't that hard. Mad Catz builds their sticks with modding in mind. The hardest part is running the cord through the casing in a way that doesn't look like ass. I was going to mod my 360 Tournament Edition stick but, like I said, it's a pain to carry around.

[poloplayr]

i know madcatz are now sponsoring Daigo....i wonder if he will guarantee at least the quality of his signature stick (no pun intended)

[Dangerboy]

A coworker has had both the original SF4 Tournament stick and the newer Marvel one (the $130+). He's pretty damn impressed with both of them. He is changing out the joystick well (from the stock squaregate to a circle), but otherwise they're damn impressive.

A friend of his has the X-Arcade, and after using both most said the they liked the Mad Catz one's feel better.

[Zapf]

The wii version of their SE fightstick is way better than the xbox360 or ps3 versions - they changed the microswitches from the noname junk in their earlier models.

Its also generally better than the hori stick, and a lot easier to mod if you ever consider it. The hori is a very shallow and cramped stick to work with.

[Mayhem]

Yeah, the current Hori sticks aren't as good as the MadCatz ones. The TvC stick for the Wii is good, but the TE sticks for SF4 are even better. Certainly picked up its game in the last couple of years...

[ubersaurus]

Tatsunoko stick is fantastic. Best stock stick on the Wii market. The Hori is good, don't get me wrong, but the TvC stick is more responsive, and easy to mod with actual Sanwa parts if you actually want to. As opposed to the Hori, which from all accounts is a pain in the ass to mod (as their sticks seem to be in general). The TvC stick also has one over the Hori in that you can use it to play Star Soldier R, as you can change what analog stick(and D-pad) the stick is taking inputs from.

MadCatz has really found its footing with arcade sticks, between that and the TE. I've had no problems with either (and have done a bit of modding on both!)

If you're looking for a multiconsole stick though your best bet is to grab a MC Cthulhu PCB, pick up some basic soldering and drilling skills, and use that with whatever stick case you'd like. You can dual-mod the PCB with MadCatz ones (since they are common ground) to get it working on the 360 (or Wii, as opposed to Gamecube), but it takes more work. I've got an old Happ modded Pelican with a Cthulhu in it that works quite well for Tatsunoko and the like, two Gamecube shooters :P

[Astrocade]

I'd have to say that MadCatz is much more impressive a company than they used to be. Their Dreamcast controllers are still the best I've ever used for that system, and their arcade sticks are top notch.

[Nirvana]

I have the TvC stick. My brother switched out the buttons for Sanwa buttons, and it worked like a charm.

Honestly, MadCatz's arcade sticks are quality, but the first batch of Round 1 Tournament Edition sticks have had its fair share of problems. For example, the bottom right two buttons occasionally stop working for me, and I have to unplug it and then plug it back in for it to work. It is quite a nuisance, but I am thinking about having a friend of mine mod out the circuit board and replace it with a new one. It should solve the problem.

[G-Boobie]

Get one of the TE-S sticks and ye shall be pleased. I can't speak for the quality of anything other than their recent Capcom affiliated products, but those, at least, are great.

[Az]

Purchased a regular Fightstick on release of SFIV, within a few months the down-left diagonal quit registering.

Took the case apart and noticed the left microswitch was just a hair off, the gate would not hit it in a diagonal position due to that. Found out afterwards that it would had probably been fixed by warranty since it was a manufacturing flaw, but I opened the stick to find out the problem thus voiding the warranty. I doubt it would had been cheaper to pay the return postage for warranty repair versus fixing the problem myself.

I personally don't see myself dropping any large dollar amount on their products again, unless it's incredibly cheap or already modded. Just because they make nice sticks doesn't mean the rest of their products are produced as well.

Most of the people I see praising their stuff don't actually use stock parts, which should kinda tell the novice end user something.

[ubersaurus]

My stock TE and tatsunoko parts are quite nice! The only mods I did were replacing the Sanwa in one TE for a Seimitsu (for shooters) and moving that Sanwa to my TvC stick. The stock one in that was just fine, but the Sanwa is still slightly better.

[kedawa]

Warranties are only void if they can tell it has been opened.

[Beefy Hits]

It will be interesting to see how their instruments will be for RB3 and how the keytar or keyboard will fare.

[HappehLemons]

That stick is garbage, don't waste your money. It using shit parts and it feels like a cheaply made stick.


Although! if you feel like taking the stick apart you can take out the joystick and replace it with a JLF-TP-8YT-SK and take out the buttons and replace them with Sanwa OBSF-30 Pushbuttons. It'll cost you around $50 but it'll make the stick just as good as any top of the line arcade stick.

http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/arcade_parts.shtml

^You can buy it all there.

If you're trying to get a good stick for the Wii I believe this is your only option...


This stick is also made by MadCatz, and it is fantastic. It's only for Xbox360 and PS3 though (Works on PC too of course)

http://shop.capcom.com/store/capcomus/en_US/pd/productID.181591500/Super-Street-Fighter-IV-FightStick-Tournament-Ed-Black.html

It doesn't have the Madcatz name anywhere in the description, but I can assure you it's made by them. This is by far one of the best sticks you can buy. I used to own one and I've never used a better stick.

[duffmanth]

Their stuff has been pretty shitty for the most part.