Hands on with MadCatz X360 retro Arcade Stick?

[GM80]

Anyone? I'm sure most of us here share the same general impression from descriptions and photos, but I'm wondering if anyone has any hands-on experience with the MadCatz Arcade GameStick they'd like to share. I saw one at my local GameStop on Friday, but I'm not sure how much longer they've been out.

I'm also curious whether the three included Live Arcade titles (Frogger, Time Pilot, and AstroPop) are on a disc (like Live Arcade Unplugged) or if they're just download voucher codes.

Thanks!

[Ed Oscuro]

The face buttons are a bit on the small side, and in a strange place. Interesting though...I still think I want to get a VF5/DoA 360 style stick, though.

[segagamer4life]

I wasn't aware of this release, cool I will be picking this friday when I get paid... sweeet!!

[s1lence]

Looks interesting but I would like it without the games as I already have all three that they are including.

[norkusa]

The face buttons are a bit on the small side, and in a strange place. Interesting though...I still think I want to get a VF5/DoA 360 style stick, though.

Yeah, just spend $20 more and buy a DOA stick off Ebay. I just bought one to play SFII on Live Arcade and it's awesome. Couldn't live without it.

[s1lence]

I have the DOA stick and I'm not a fan of the stick and its "clickyness".

[GM80]

Well, I picked one up today with a little Christmas money just for the experience. What a strange little device

First, a tour. The main stick is a little larger in each dimension than a standard 2600 stick. It transmits as the Left Analog control, and is a very stiff analog mechanism which centers itself diligently. There is a duplicate "A" button on top of the stick. Interestingly, the stick will also click down to give you the L3 function.

The Right Analog stick is in the opposite corner, with R3 click as well. It is surrounded by a 360 degree spinner control. I'm not sure exactly how the 360 would recognize the spinner, or if any games will ever support it, but it's there. It can be turned on or off by a switch near the top of the controller.

There's a true crosshair D-pad, but it's all mush.

The A, B, X and Y buttons are large and flat with a standard modern controller feel.They have adjustable turbo functions.

A pair of analog triggers occupy the front corners of the controller, with the matching shoulder buttons above.

Back, Start and Guide buttons round out the standard features, along with a headset jack.

In use, this thing gets even weirder. For starters, the main stick is not positioned centrally. It's WAY off to the left, meaning that you WILL play this thing with your left hand controlling your primary movement.

There are two ways to use the controller. It is wide enough and heavy enough to sit on a flat surface and use like an arcade console. There are rubber feet on the corners for this purpose.

You can also hold it in your hand, due to the curvy molding on the underside of the controller. It's actually quite comfortable to hold the main stick in your left hand and curve your right hand around the front right corner, giving comfy access to the RT+RB buttons, as well as the face buttons and the right stick.

I'm still not sure what I think about it. It's not very classy, obviously, or even classic. But it is unique and not terrible. I'll post more after I've put some playtime into a few different games.

[Half Japanese]

Does Mad Catz even try anymore or is their modus operandi to put out shit that's $5 cheaper than the official controllers? That thing looks "classic," for sure, but not in any way even remotely approaching good.

[diskoboy]

I have the DOA stick and I'm not a fan of the stick and its "clickyness".

Same here. Mine is in the corner, gathering dust.

I wish MS would make one... One that doesn't click when you move it.

Maybe they'll let X-arcade start making sticks for them.

[ubersaurus]

If no one wants these DOA4 sticks I'll buy one :P I rather like the clicky sticks, ever since getting one for the Dreamcast.

[Ed Oscuro]

Does Mad Catz even try anymore

Their regular 360 pad is just as good as the regular ones, perhaps even a bit better. No, they were MUCH worse during the 64-bit days. They've come around pretty nicely. This stick still can't be as bad as much of the crap they put out for the N64 (like this piece of garbage), although to be fair some of that was due to the N64's death-prone analog stick...

[norkusa]

Same here. Mine is in the corner, gathering dust.

I wish MS would make one... One that doesn't click when you move it.

Maybe they'll let X-arcade start making sticks for them.

Besides the Hori DOA stick, I've got the Dreamcast Agetec, PS1 Tekken, and the PS2/Xbox Street Fighter Anniversary sticks and they all make that clicking sound. I thought that's just how they make all sticks now?

[Half Japanese]

Their regular 360 pad is just as good as the regular ones, perhaps even a bit better. No, they were MUCH worse during the 64-bit days. They've come around pretty nicely. This stick still can't be as bad as much of the crap they put out for the N64 (like this piece of garbage), although to be fair some of that was due to the N64's death-prone analog stick...

I think I have one of those but I really only picked it up for the price (it was $3 on clearance at Wal-Mart, no shit, and this was about a year ago!) and I haven't had the need to try it out yet. I had completely forgotten about the pad they made for the DC though, I have a friend that would play with nothing else BUT that pad and I thought it was a pretty good one too. I was referring mostly to their lack of any distinguishable design. Nothing Mad Catz makes stands out really from a design standpoint, that 'classic' stick included.

[evil_genius]

Me gusta "the click."

[Ed Oscuro]

I was referring mostly to their lack of any distinguishable design.

I couldn't tell. Well, that's a good thing, anyway. And there ARE some differences in the 360 pad over the stock one, check out their item description somewhere. I've spent a lot of time with mine, I'm glad I got it instead of the MS stick. Cheaper too!

[GM80]

I'd like to say that the spinner control on the MadCatz stick works beautifully when playing Tempest, Breakout, and Warlords in the backwards-compatible Atari Anthology for Xbox.

I'd like to say that, but it would be a lie.

Instead, the spinner does almost nothing, aside from jittering things around a little bit, in any game playable on the 360 that I can tell. Does anyone know what exactly this "spinner" control is sending to the system? I thought it would just be L-stick left and right, but apparently I was wrong. Must a game specifically look for input from the MadCatz spinner control? Good luck with that ever happening.

[agbulls]

I will never ever forget what the President of MadCatz told us when he presented to the first ever meeting for the combined EB Games/GameStop organization last Feburary in Dallas, TX when I still worked for that crooked organization. I will try to keep this as close to what I remember as possible.

"You see those little light up key-fobs there on the tables with the GameStop logo? Those are for you guys, as a present from MadCatz (Side note: these are plastic pieces of shit that have a .02 cent LED). We have the ability to keep costs very low through our production facilities in China so our product has a MUCH higher margin for your company compared to first party accessories. We try to make sure that our Chinese workers are of age when possible and we pay them a fair amount compared to other companies who operate long mass production lines. In fact, I think the kids like working for MadCatz."

This actually happened guys. No SHIT. Needless to say I don't buy any of their plastic knock-off garbage. I am 100% sure this "arcade stick" is a piece of crap too. I know EVERYONE makes EVERYTHING in China. I'm not an idiot. Do we need it advertised in my face? Hell no.

[Leo_A]

Games have to be programmed to take advantage of the spinner, you'll be seeing that happen with some upcoming Xbox Live Arcade titles like Tempest.

[googlefest1]

i actualy have no problems with that controller - i like it.
i just wish it was a little more sturdy. I guess the big thing for me is the nostalgic feel of it - bringing back the memories of the ol' point master days.

maybe i just happend to get a hold of a decent one. It has been my past experience that some third party controlers acted diferently (for example the pelican glowing controler and the gamestop N64 controlers which i had a few of and one of each did not function correctly)

edit: actually out of all third party controlers - i have had the best experience with MadCatz

[njiska]

Yeah, just spend $20 more and buy a DOA stick off Ebay. I just bought one to play SFII on Live Arcade and it's awesome. Couldn't live without it.

Yeah but for any other arcade game the button layout royally sucks.