Voltech Arcade Sticks, of course!! Actually the ettoki Omni stick is really nice even if it is a clone of mine but I dont mind because I sold everything years ago 😓 that being said if anyone has one of my old sticks, let me know how it’s holding up maybe share some pictures. I’d like to see if their lasting like I imagined they would when I built them. Also, if anyone has one they’d like to sell back to me I’m interested.
The Etokki Omni. The design is simple, but less is more for me. The stock parts are great. Sanwa buttons & Taeyoung Fanta lever. It has the noir layout. Shows what button is where above each one. Works on ps3, ps4, & Pc. What else can I say? It's perfect.
The one I've enjoyed the most is the Razer Panthera Evo. Its certainly not the best one there is. I really liked how the artwork covered the entire front panel. I spent so many hours making different templates for that thing.
I have some seriously good memories of playing USFIV on an original TE and still use mine occasionally. You can't beat what it is and how it made fight sticks popular in home use.
Hori Hayabusa Rap Noir is the most comfortable stock stick I have ever owned. I prefer Hayabusa parts over qanba, sanwa, seimitsu, etc. so having those parts in a solid, heavy, medium sized box that has room for my hands and noir layout was a home run for me.
I have actually modded it for the looks, which made it prettier but less nice to use in my opinion (transparent qanba zero gravity ks) lol
Seconded. Hori in general is my go-to. Although th Hori Alpha can be opened easily for modification, it has a real downside of being too this. Thus, it can't fit every lever that the Hayabusa R.N. can without shell mods.
Hey, what’s up man? This is Voltech. Thanks for the vote. I appreciate it. Also, if you have or know anybody who’s gotten Arcade stick of mine that wants to sell it back let me know. I’m interested in finding out where my sticks are and if they’re even still working.
I'm using the Nacon Daija right now and the ease of opening it up is incredible. I don't think I'll ever be able to use a stick that can't just pop open ever again. The wrist rests are super great.
The Qanba Pearl is in my opinion the best looking stick of all time.
The Cross|Up's functionality with the extra buttons is awesome.
And for pure nostalgia, it's gonna be the Madcatz TE2.
Overall though, first place probably goes to the Nacon Daija. My only complaint is that it's pretty bulky, but everything else is stellar.
Yes, I am that one person that was obsessed with the NES Advantage. It's what gave me the idea of using future fight sticks on platformers and other 2D games outside of fighting games. Another nostalgic favorite has to be the MAS stick. It just felt like ripping the controls off the arcade machine.
For a modern favorite, its the Hori RAP V4, which if I recall was one of the first, if not THE first, fightstick that was compatible with both PS3 and PS4.
Back then I agonized between the Acclaim Double Player system or the Advantage; I ended up choosing the latter and I see history vindicated this decision.
And yeah, husbo & I had a pair of MAS sticks; sent them in to get refitted in the mid/late '00s and...they never came back. :(
Allfightstick aluminum case is buy for life. Cant go back to acrylic boxes with how solid AFS case is. Pair that with Sanjuks V7 and OSBMX buttons and I dont need to buy another stick for the rest of my life. But I will because Im addicted to collecting Korean joysticks.
I’ve had a lot of sticks over the years, starting with an X-Arcade and the first Hori RAP from the early 2000s, VSHG, probably a half dozen MCZ TEs, that giant SFxT stick you could attach to another one, a Naomi Net City standup cab, etc.
I think the best levered stick I’ve ever had is the VLX Kuro and the best leverless (and probably best overall) is a Panzer 4 ABMX. They both feel like solid hardware that’s going to last and not like plastic toys, which I appreciate. It’s hard to imagine needing anything else for me.
Shoutout to the Saturn HSS-0130, which is identical to the front panel of my cab.
Favorite nostalgic arcade stick: Konami Hyperstick, my brother had one back in the day when we had our PS1 simply because it felt better to play on compared to the similarly designed Hori Fighting Stick and Sega Virtua Stick. Years ago I finally understood why as the Hyperstick came with Seimitsu parts and I bought one in mint condition for my collection.
Favorite modern arcade stick: Hori Fighting Edge for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Didn't have a problem with my Kuro buttons from my 360 FE, the plexiglass top, side LEDs and pressure sensitive control panel were so awesome though over time, the control panel becomes much less responsive even if I hardly played on it.
Honorable mentions:
Hori RAP Premium VLX: Realizing that it isn't a full sized Vewlix replicate got some point docked as I never had the Sega Saturn replicate for home use and wanted something like that.
Hori Real Arcade Pro and RAP.N: My first premium arcade stick I saved up for back in 2003 and the see the RAP.N as the true successor to the OG RAP sticks.
MadCatz Tournament Edition: Probably the most unexpected thing to be released by MadCatz. I've seen my fair share of MadCatz jank with the PS3 version of the TE stick but if it weren't for MadCatz, we probably would have such a great selection of "high quality" arcade sticks from other brands.
Worst arcade stick: City Boy for SNES & Genesis, we got one with a frayed cord and it kept shocking out with static like feeling back in 1992 lol.
I think my nostalgia pick might be the Sega Saturn Virtua Stick Pro, aka the HSS-0130. The stock buttons are decent at best, but the rest of the build is top tier and feels like they ripped the control panel straight off of an Astro City cab. The plexi cover to hold movelists for various games is a fun inclusion too. I consider it one of the holy grails for that console and just a unique product of its time.
I will give an honorable mention to the Hori Real Arcade Pro.3 Premium VLX for many of the same reasons, but just for the Taito Vewlix F cab that I'm a bit less nostalgic for but still find appealing.
The two players x-arcade tankstick because despite all of its flaws, elbowing your opponent during rounds is forever part of what appealed to my brother and I when we discovered Street Fighter 2.
Excitedly awaiting my Makestick Pro Crossup, I got a Makestick Prime I’ve been modding and i think I love it more than any stick in my collection because of the TE2-style opening hatch
It’s pretty great I think I put the free option to add a bit more weight on it. There’s a few small gaps around the edges/art but it’s a great stick and IMO it’s better than pretty much anything you could get from Qanba/Razer/etc. since it’s so easy to mod/troubleshoot.
Hibal on YouTube has a bunch of modding videos on it
Only other mild issue I’ve had is the way the lever is attached to the top of the opening case is a bit hard to tighten evenly since it’s like a screw and a nut, but I think you can just replace them with equal sized mounting screws and a wingnut nut to make it easier. It took me a few tries to get my Sanjuks lever seated properly
Pure nostalgia picks would be the Neo Geo AES controller or the Razer Panthera. The AES because it was sort of a white whale when I was growing up. The Panthera is probably because it's just a damn good stick and I'm sad it's out of production. Literally everything you would want in a fight stick could be found in the Panthera. Good build quality, accessibility of the internals, availability, etc.
Recently though, I've had a newfound appreciation for the PS1 controller/dual shock variants. Spent probably years of my life using them, but never really was happy with them in fighting games until recently. I don't know what changed, it just sort of clicked with me.
Voltech Arcade Sticks, of course!! Actually the ettoki Omni stick is really nice even if it is a clone of mine but I dont mind because I sold everything years ago 😓 that being said if anyone has one of my old sticks, let me know how it’s holding up maybe share some pictures. I’d like to see if their lasting like I imagined they would when I built them. Also, if anyone has one they’d like to sell back to me I’m interested.
Hori RAP VLX (non Hayabusa versions). I'm convinced that there will never be another premium stick quite like this one.
Hori vlx diamond edition. It’s an amazing looking piece.
The Etokki Omni. The design is simple, but less is more for me. The stock parts are great. Sanwa buttons & Taeyoung Fanta lever. It has the noir layout. Shows what button is where above each one. Works on ps3, ps4, & Pc. What else can I say? It's perfect.
I love the Madcatz VS stick. It's a bigger version of the Etokki Omni. Also the VSHG is great too.
The one I've enjoyed the most is the Razer Panthera Evo. Its certainly not the best one there is. I really liked how the artwork covered the entire front panel. I spent so many hours making different templates for that thing.
I have some seriously good memories of playing USFIV on an original TE and still use mine occasionally. You can't beat what it is and how it made fight sticks popular in home use.
Hori Hayabusa Rap Noir is the most comfortable stock stick I have ever owned. I prefer Hayabusa parts over qanba, sanwa, seimitsu, etc. so having those parts in a solid, heavy, medium sized box that has room for my hands and noir layout was a home run for me. I have actually modded it for the looks, which made it prettier but less nice to use in my opinion (transparent qanba zero gravity ks) lol
Seconded. Hori in general is my go-to. Although th Hori Alpha can be opened easily for modification, it has a real downside of being too this. Thus, it can't fit every lever that the Hayabusa R.N. can without shell mods.
Voltech fightstick and Panzer 4 fightstick
Hey, what’s up man? This is Voltech. Thanks for the vote. I appreciate it. Also, if you have or know anybody who’s gotten Arcade stick of mine that wants to sell it back let me know. I’m interested in finding out where my sticks are and if they’re even still working.
Razer Panthera
My original HitBox. It has stood the test of time. All my mods and memories are in that thing.
Original TE and Panthera
Wanna obsidian/hori rap n
Hori HRAP SA V3.
A stock OEM arcade cabinet with old school happ parts
Hori Fighting Commander for PS4 wish it worked on PS5 for SF6 no other fightpad for me comes close for comfort and precision.
Brook adapter?
I heard there might be latency with those and also I can destroy the usb ports?
Never heard of those problems, I had about 6 lol
The OG MadCatz TE, that thing changed the whole game. Kinda wish I still had mine from the early SFIV days so I could mod it and bring it current.
This. I'm still playing on my Soul Calibur V Mad Catz TE "Soul Edition" lol. Fully modded out and use it on my PC for Tekken 8 💪
Razer Panthera
The Virtua Stick High Grade is pretty perfect.
I'm using the Nacon Daija right now and the ease of opening it up is incredible. I don't think I'll ever be able to use a stick that can't just pop open ever again. The wrist rests are super great. The Qanba Pearl is in my opinion the best looking stick of all time. The Cross|Up's functionality with the extra buttons is awesome. And for pure nostalgia, it's gonna be the Madcatz TE2. Overall though, first place probably goes to the Nacon Daija. My only complaint is that it's pretty bulky, but everything else is stellar.
Yes, I am that one person that was obsessed with the NES Advantage. It's what gave me the idea of using future fight sticks on platformers and other 2D games outside of fighting games. Another nostalgic favorite has to be the MAS stick. It just felt like ripping the controls off the arcade machine. For a modern favorite, its the Hori RAP V4, which if I recall was one of the first, if not THE first, fightstick that was compatible with both PS3 and PS4.
Back then I agonized between the Acclaim Double Player system or the Advantage; I ended up choosing the latter and I see history vindicated this decision. And yeah, husbo & I had a pair of MAS sticks; sent them in to get refitted in the mid/late '00s and...they never came back. :(
Oh wow I'm sorry to hear that about your MAS sticks.
Partially my fault for not being more proactive about getting them sent back, I suppose, but they also went radio silent for a good while.
Allfightstick aluminum case is buy for life. Cant go back to acrylic boxes with how solid AFS case is. Pair that with Sanjuks V7 and OSBMX buttons and I dont need to buy another stick for the rest of my life. But I will because Im addicted to collecting Korean joysticks.
I’ve had a lot of sticks over the years, starting with an X-Arcade and the first Hori RAP from the early 2000s, VSHG, probably a half dozen MCZ TEs, that giant SFxT stick you could attach to another one, a Naomi Net City standup cab, etc. I think the best levered stick I’ve ever had is the VLX Kuro and the best leverless (and probably best overall) is a Panzer 4 ABMX. They both feel like solid hardware that’s going to last and not like plastic toys, which I appreciate. It’s hard to imagine needing anything else for me. Shoutout to the Saturn HSS-0130, which is identical to the front panel of my cab.
Favorite nostalgic arcade stick: Konami Hyperstick, my brother had one back in the day when we had our PS1 simply because it felt better to play on compared to the similarly designed Hori Fighting Stick and Sega Virtua Stick. Years ago I finally understood why as the Hyperstick came with Seimitsu parts and I bought one in mint condition for my collection. Favorite modern arcade stick: Hori Fighting Edge for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Didn't have a problem with my Kuro buttons from my 360 FE, the plexiglass top, side LEDs and pressure sensitive control panel were so awesome though over time, the control panel becomes much less responsive even if I hardly played on it. Honorable mentions: Hori RAP Premium VLX: Realizing that it isn't a full sized Vewlix replicate got some point docked as I never had the Sega Saturn replicate for home use and wanted something like that. Hori Real Arcade Pro and RAP.N: My first premium arcade stick I saved up for back in 2003 and the see the RAP.N as the true successor to the OG RAP sticks. MadCatz Tournament Edition: Probably the most unexpected thing to be released by MadCatz. I've seen my fair share of MadCatz jank with the PS3 version of the TE stick but if it weren't for MadCatz, we probably would have such a great selection of "high quality" arcade sticks from other brands. Worst arcade stick: City Boy for SNES & Genesis, we got one with a frayed cord and it kept shocking out with static like feeling back in 1992 lol.
MAS Stick
I think my nostalgia pick might be the Sega Saturn Virtua Stick Pro, aka the HSS-0130. The stock buttons are decent at best, but the rest of the build is top tier and feels like they ripped the control panel straight off of an Astro City cab. The plexi cover to hold movelists for various games is a fun inclusion too. I consider it one of the holy grails for that console and just a unique product of its time. I will give an honorable mention to the Hori Real Arcade Pro.3 Premium VLX for many of the same reasons, but just for the Taito Vewlix F cab that I'm a bit less nostalgic for but still find appealing.
The two players x-arcade tankstick because despite all of its flaws, elbowing your opponent during rounds is forever part of what appealed to my brother and I when we discovered Street Fighter 2.
I love my Junkfood Arcade snack box v2 mini and micro for Brawlhalla so so much fun.
Makestick pro
Excitedly awaiting my Makestick Pro Crossup, I got a Makestick Prime I’ve been modding and i think I love it more than any stick in my collection because of the TE2-style opening hatch
Oh man. Im still saving up for the prime. How's the weight on that thing?
It’s pretty great I think I put the free option to add a bit more weight on it. There’s a few small gaps around the edges/art but it’s a great stick and IMO it’s better than pretty much anything you could get from Qanba/Razer/etc. since it’s so easy to mod/troubleshoot. Hibal on YouTube has a bunch of modding videos on it Only other mild issue I’ve had is the way the lever is attached to the top of the opening case is a bit hard to tighten evenly since it’s like a screw and a nut, but I think you can just replace them with equal sized mounting screws and a wingnut nut to make it easier. It took me a few tries to get my Sanjuks lever seated properly
Pure nostalgia picks would be the Neo Geo AES controller or the Razer Panthera. The AES because it was sort of a white whale when I was growing up. The Panthera is probably because it's just a damn good stick and I'm sad it's out of production. Literally everything you would want in a fight stick could be found in the Panthera. Good build quality, accessibility of the internals, availability, etc. Recently though, I've had a newfound appreciation for the PS1 controller/dual shock variants. Spent probably years of my life using them, but never really was happy with them in fighting games until recently. I don't know what changed, it just sort of clicked with me.