Street Fighter IV Tournament Fightstick reviews

The Tournament Edition FightStick is fantastic. It uses arcade quality parts from Sanwa, the largest distributor of arcade joysticks and buttons in the world, which are exactly the same parts found in actual arcade cabinets all around Japan. The art is easily changeable, so customising the stick to your own tastes is very easy to do, and even changing out the buttons for a different brand like Seimitsu is a 5 minute task. It is truly the best arcade stick I've every used.

Having suffered trying to pull off moves with an old gamepad, I decided the time was right to purchase one of these to get that arcade experience and ease of use. One of the points to make clear right now, I have bought it for a PC, not a PS3. Why do I mention that? There can be compatibility issues.

For the stick itself? Starting out, it was difficult to get used to the button layout. I would have preferred the buttons to be lined up straight or to have the lower buttons angled to the right of the top buttons, much like how you'd lay your hands on a keyboard. But having spent a couple of hours on it I am now used to it and don't have any problems hitting the wrong buttons. The buttons are slightly convex and have a crisp, precise feel.

The feel of the joystick is great, not too loose and hearing the clicks as you move it gives you a sense of how precisely you're using it. It still will take some getting used to depending on what you've used before, but keep practicing and you'll be fine.

Its weight is sufficient enough to keep it in one place when on a table, most of the time anyway. Sometimes I still treat it harshly enough to mean I need to adjust it mid-round, but it certainly doesn't slip too easily.

Now the down side for PC users. If your PC is not equipped with either Intel or VIA USB ports (which make use of USB 1.1 via UHCI, other brands implement USB 1.1 via OHCI), it will not work! This is a link which shows some investigation into why. http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?…

I have an Nvidia motherboard in my main PC (the only one that plays SFIV), and so until I get an addon card this just won't work on that PC. If you want to get one of these exclusively for PC use, it's probably best to get the Xbox 360 version instead. A driver is available for the 360 version, which can be downloaded from the microsoft site. Instructions are here http://www.madcatz.com/faq/default.asp?…

This is pretty much one of the best sticks to play on with all sanwa parts to it, feels like playing on an actual arcade machine, great stuff

Once you get use to the arcade sticks its way better than the controllers. Its easier to do moves and faster, and if your just learning, its easier to button bash. Buying two is also better than just the one because your friends don't get jealous when your using the arcade stick and they are using the controller!

I had been doing some research about purchasing arcade sticks, and chose this one because it's got the best parts on it already. It's got a Sanwa joystick and Sanwa buttons that are super responsive, which makes it easier to pull of moves. I've read that usually people buy arcade sticks and if they don't have the best parts, they eventually mod the buttons and the joystick, but in this case no modifications are required :) The arcade stick came in great condition, no scratches or anything and was packaged nicely so that the box came in good condition as well.

I just bought this stick and it's even better than the ones at MY arcade. It truly does up your game and make you god-like in SF4 if your willing to put in the practice, i'm so good i can even beat WEAZZYEFFF now!!! Woo hoo.

The parts are the best and me and all my mates have been smashing the hell out of these buttons and their still mint as. Even if they were to break ( most likely after a few years ) their about 3 bucks each, and easily modifiable, so you can have blue ones or what have you.

If you loved the arcades back in the day and want to relive the experience or if you want to beast at fighting games BUY THIS stick now, it's pure awesomeness.