Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks Reviewed!

Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks Reviewed!

It's not as sturdy as the Tournament Edition but the Standard stick has all the features and is more comfortable for extended sessions on the couch

Standard Edition

It's basically the Tournament Edition but smaller and without the arcade quality buttons and joystick. It still features the turbo, the slider switches to deactivate the home button and mimic left stick/D-pad/right stick functionality, though. Of course, the Start and Select buttons are still housed in the back and the layout is still the same. There's no cubby-hole for the controller wire and the overall build quality is less impressive, but it still gets the job done. McKinley gave the Standard Edition stick a whirl and had this to say:

"I'm just going to say it right off the bat: the Standard Edition is more comfortable than the Tournament Edition stick. It has sturdy quality and sound muffling on par with its bigger cousin, but I like the Standard stick mostly for the fact that it's one you can rest on your knees or lap. You're not going to be using that glorious Tournament Edition controller while sitting on the couch, but this smaller stick is perfect for a more relaxed fighting environment. Also, I like having the Turbo system directly above the joystick, as opposed to its slightly leftward placement on the Tourney controller. Oh, and the artwork on this one, featuring the original eight SFII cast, is just plain awesome."

Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks Reviewed!

The control module gives you all of the features from the Tourney version plus it's easier to reach for manipulating Turbo settings on the fly.

The price point is far more agreeable as well--the PS3 version clocks in at $69.99 while the Xbox 360 version will set you back $79.99--making it far more viable for the intermediate level fighting fans. It should pair up nicely with other fighting games like DC vs Mortal Kombat, Soul Caliber 4 and the upcoming Tekken 6.

GamePro Rating: 5 Stars out of 5
(EDITOR'S CHOICE)

$79.99 (Xbox 360), $69.99 (PS3)
www.madcatz.com


Fight Pads

If the Tournament Edition stick is Batman and the standard edition is Superman--sorry kids but Batman is better than Supes--then these pads are the Green Lanterns of Mad Catz' lineup. They're nowhere near as impressive but for the casual fans who just want a no-muss, no-fuss controller, it's pretty snazzy. Let's face it, the D-pad on the 360 and PS3 controllers suck for fighting games. The Mad Catz features a floating, 8-way D-pad that makes pulling of special moves a breeze. We took it for a quick test drive and were impressed by the responsiveness; best of all, the controller features the familiar six-button layout that fighting fans want--it reminded us of the special Genesis controller they released with six buttons--and it even has the Turbo and Left-stick/D-pad/Right-stick emulation. The quality doesn't feel as good and the turbo functions have been shoehorned in, but it's a great compromise for fighting fans who don't want to invest tons of cash into a dedicated controller. McKinley's thoughts?

"If the pads have one huge advantage over the arcade sticks, it's definitely the shoulder buttons, which make executing Ultra and EX attacks a walk in the park. It's a good fit for people used to controller setups, and the simple layout is perfect for those who aren't used to the advanced arcade setup. I'm actually not too crazy about the 8-way D-pad--it's still way better than the stock D-pad on the regular 360 and PS3 controllers though--but at least the Xbox and PS3 Home buttons on these controllers have been moved out of the way of the button layout. Trust me: that minor-but-smart design element alone is reason enough to ditch your standard controllers for these babies."

GamePro Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

$39.99
www.madcatz.com

Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Arcade Sticks Reviewed!

The FightPad is a good compromise for casual fighting fans, but the best part is that it has all the features of its bigger siblings. Plus, the art's pretty cool.

Comments [17]

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TKK

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.

Gixman

Sweet looking arcade sticks. but i already have a fighting Stick from Hoei since they made an arcade stick for Soul caliber4.

sbomb

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.

306301
Nyawu

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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