Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks Reviewed!
- January 15, 2009 15:46 PM PST
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GamePro reviews three Street Fighter IV branded controllers that'll take your fighting game skills to the next level!
Most high-profile titles have their hardcore following. There are Halo players who practice for hours on end to perfect their craft and Madden players who break down plays and opponents in ways that would make an ESPN analyst's head spin. Fighting game fans are no different--they take the art of virtual combat seriously. But there's just one problem: console control pads are just not that great for fighting games. The stock D-pads and analog sticks just don't cut it when it comes to games like Street Fighter that require precise motions to pull off special moves. Gamers just looking for a couple rounds of digital fisticuffs can make do, but serious fighting fans have had to invest in dedicated fighting sticks in order to hone their craft.
But again, there was a problem: the quality of home console fighting sticks just weren't that great. So what's a dedicated fighting game junkie to do? Well, you can start by sending the fine folks at Mad Catz a big fruit basket as a 'thank you' for answering your prayers. The third-party peripheral maker has teamed up with Capcom to produce what might be the best controller for fighting games ever created. GamePro was hooked up with one of the first review samples and after putting it through its paces, we walked away bruised and battered by its awesomeness. So read on for our exclusive review of the Mad Catz Official Street Fighter IV Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition! Then stick around for Round 2 when we review the standard edition, as well as the FightPads!
The Tournament Edition might be pricey, but it's solidly built and has some amazing features.
Tournament Edition
For the ultra-mega Tournament Edition stick, Mad Catz basically ripped the arcade cabinet's control layout and shoved it into a wide base. The Tournament Edition uses the same joystick and button components as the actual arcade machine (Sanwa components) and the layout is identical, meaning it faithfully recreates the arcade experience at home. It also has some sweet features that demonstrate the careful thought and planning that went into the stick's design: there's a turbo function where you can assign two levels of turbo--fast and medium--to each of the eight buttons. The Start and Select buttons are housed at the rear of the base, to eliminate unnecessary interruptions, and there's a little switch that lets you turn off the Home button so you don't accidentally bring up the 360 and PS3 menus during play. There's also a slider that lets the joystick mimic either the Left Analog stick, the D-pad, or the Right Analog stick, which means you can use the unit for things other than fighting games like classic arcade shooters downloaded off the PSN or XBL marketplaces.
Mad Catz used the same hardware found in the actual arcade machines for the Tourney Edition. The quality's pretty obvious.
There's also a small compartment in the rear where you can store the USB cable; the 360 version also comes with a headphone jack so you can plug in your headset and trash-talk your opponents online. We let our resident Street Fighter IV junkie, McKinley Noble, take the stick for a test drive and this is what he had to say:
The Tournament Edition Stick has to be the most solid piece of arcade home hardware I've ever seen. Even better, it's about five times quieter than most other sticks you can buy (no more crappy Hori gear for me!), which means that you won't have to yell over the CLICK CLACK of the controller. Despite its size, the stick is pretty heavy, too. One of the worst problems we've had at GamePro is trying to keep our old Soul Calibur IV controllers from flying out of our hands during a fight, and the SFIV Tourney Stick is just weighty enough that it won't budge, even under some of our most severe button mashing. Hardcore players should have fun lording this sleek piece of Street Fighter gear over their competition during local SF tournaments (those lucky jerks).
The Tournament Edition impressed us with its quality and useful features; it really is the ultimate controller for fighting games and should pair up nicely with Street Fighter IV (as well as any other fighting game). If you're serious about your fighting games or you want to faithfully recreate the arcade experience at home, then this is the stick to buy. There's just one caveat: you'll pay a pretty penny for them, as it retails for $149. They will also be hard to find--Mad Catz did an initial run of 3000 units but received over six times that number in pre-sale orders alone--so if you can get your hands on one, do it.
GamePro Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5
(EDITOR'S CHOICE)
$149.99
www.madcatz.com
The control module lets you assign turbo to each button, switch off the 'home' button and emulate different joystick configs. It's pretty spiffy.
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- Jan 15 2009 at 03:06:00:PM PST
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I agree I'm scared of mad catz products but that's a sweet ass joystick
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3rd party periphs do have a bad reputation but after handling these things, I can tell you they're pretty solidly built. It helps that the producer of SFIV signed off on each unit. And Wesker00, remember that the $149 version is for the high-end tournament stick that's meant for hardcore players. Average players can stick to the just as sweet $69/$79 versions.
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Sweet looking arcade sticks. but i already have a fighting Stick from Hoei since they made an arcade stick for Soul caliber4.
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i can buy three games for the price of that big ugly and you would have to stand to use it cuz i dont see it sitting on my lap sliding all over the place. and mad catz products dont even work all of the ones i used dint work or the buttons got stuck. but whatever flots ya boat go az super bowl.
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To those who says 150$ is "too expensive", it's clearly not aimed for you.
If you want to make a stick, it'll cost you:
Decent arcade box the quality of the TE stick: 50$+
All Sanwa Buttons and Stick, quick disconnects, wiring: 50$
PS3/PC PCB: 50$
Then you have the mounting of everything, the paint job, the art work, construction, etc as well.
150$ is a steal compared with the 200~300+ that a -normal- custom stick goes for.
As they mentioned, the thing's sold out on preorders alone. That should really give you an idea of if it is "worth it" or not to those people.
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