Since the arrival of Street Fighter IV a few months ago… The arcade stick business has boomed to new levels! This year is an excellent time to be a fighting and shooter game fan as publishers have made sure that gamers will be equipped with all the controllers they’ll need to get a premium experience for their favorite games! Click below for an overview of new and upcoming arcade sticks!
There have been quite a few arcade sticks released as of late… And many more down the road. 2009 is definitely a comeback year for arcade styled shooters and fighting games.
Japanese companies Hori and Exar have stepped up to bring some hot new arcade sticks to compliment some immensely popular titles.
Fate/Unlimited Codes was released on the PlayStation 2 late 2008. Hori released a specific Hori Real Arcade Pro styled fighting stick that revived the HRAP1 button placement but with the game’s specific mapping laid out.
Also on PS2 is the recently released Sugoi: Arcana Heart 2 arcade stick by Hori. The stick follows the same HRAP1 button placement and styling found on the Fate/Unlimited Codes stick, again with the game’s specific mapping. It is evident that the licensed Hori sticks have become less mod friendly since the first licensed game stick using the HRAP style was released (Capcom Fighting Jam).
For the Xbox 360, the immensely popular Death Smiles has shot it’s way into Japanese homes recently and Hori again stepped up to the plate by releasing an ultra limited HRAP EX styled controller. The stick features quick disconnects unlike the PS2/PS3 licensed sticks using the existing HRAP tooling. It is very hard to find for a decent price, so if you’re looking for one, GOOD LUCK!
One of the biggest fighting games in Japan right now is Arc System Works’ BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. This title currently reigns supreme as Japan’s #1 2D fighting game and Hori will once again be providing two arcade sticks just in time for the game’s release in June. The BlazBlue sticks will prove to be very limited… Import shops have already issued warnings that supply will be in short order. For those of you unfamiliar with the pictures above, the PS3 BB stick will be essentially the same as the official JPN version Street Fighter IV arcade stick while the Xbox 360 BB stick will be the tried and true Hori Fighting Stick EX2 (Dead or Alive 4, Street Fighter IV JPN, Virtua Fighter 5, Soulcalibur IV).
Rounding up this season of arcade sticks is the latest entry from Exar. The King of Fighters XII was released in Japanese arcades last month and the console version is already slated for a July release in the US. The stick pictured above is based off the Tatsunoko vs Capcom sticks Exar released in Dec. of last year. The Exar stick was met with a somewhat negative outlook due to the build quality and lack of sturdiness, hopefully the KOF XII sticks will be reworked for the PS3. No word yet on an Xbox 360 version of the stick.
It is interesting to see all the action coming out of Japan for the upcoming games. What’s even more interesting is what will Mad Catz do for future fighting game titles? It’s obvious that Mad Catz is the rookie when it comes to fighting game sticks, but they have made it very clear, they are in the arcade stick business and won’t be going anywhere for a long time.
Arcade sticks have never been more popular. People are buying arcade parts and modding sticks all over, the business has never been so fresh and welcoming as it is now. For more information on arcade sticks, please visit our Tech Area section!
Expect more arcade stick news as it comes!
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first one here and how much do they coast
Quit with the first memes
I’m glad that the arcade sticks are more popular than ever. Maybe one day they won’t cost the price of your first born… “Sorry son daddy really wanted that TE, hope you could understand” ha
lol
The MSRP for a stick is fine. Don’t add in what resellers are doing to what companies are asking.
i only use arcade sticks
i dont need a dpad
Interesting update.
Yo MARKMAN WTF!?!?!?! why is the KOF stick covered by the BB and shootem up stick…I know you do this shit on purpose man ,LOL.
see this is how i know you hate KOF.
hell you were probably debating if you were going to show the KOF ARACDE STICK or not . LOL.
I FUCKING LOOOOVE KOF !
AM i THE ONLY GUY IN HERE THAT LOVES THAT GAME TO DEATH !?!?!?!?!
SNK : THE FUTURE IS NOW !
Blindghost,
Seriously man, you just made a very idiotic statement about Markman hating on KOF. First off, he’s a Tekken player just like I am and he has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING against SNK or any other fighting game company since he contributes heavily to the fighting game community. Seriously man you are such a troll, and probably have never ever contributed in any way to the fighting game community whatsoever.
Fucck, damn it, anyway its funny as hell, watch it, you’ll fuking laugh your ass off.
Thai comedy is fucking hilarious man, im not evne joking, if anyone in here watched ONG BAK 1 they know that shit is hilarious.
<param
Found this via Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5248640/the-king-of-fighters-xii-getting-two-sticks
Wow, blindghost is so sad, lawl.
Nice work Mark!
OK someone edited what i said as soon as eddierang wrote that, who ever removed it, is prety fucked up and is clearly trying to make me look like im an asshole.
but i’ll repeat what i said to eddierang, i said chill the fuck out im just joking with markman, its not to be taken seriously im just teasing him.
then i wrote ,here, watch a commercial: and then i posted the video, if you pay close attention you can see that it makes no sense for him to say that and for me to just post a video and not reply to his comment.
who ever deleted my original follow up comment is the real asshole..which in this case im beting its eddierang.
im bored i need tekken 6
they need to stop working on the psp ver.
then when T6 has been out for awhile they could release it.
i bet majority of wait is the wii,dsi,iphone ver. they want to release at the same time too jk.
btw has anyone heard anything about death smiles dropping in the us?
I didn’t edit anything of yours Blindghost, but it was hard to tell whether you were joking or not
ya bro i was only joking , thats cool, whats done is done, no need to go back to the past.
tekken 6 will be featured on x play tonight in the all access part just to give you guys a heads up at 6:30 and 8:00
thnks bro, i dont have cable, but i’ll check it out.
How about Mad Catz release a driver for their PS3 sticks on PC? All the Hori sticks usually work right out of the box.
They do work with with most PCs. There are issues with Nvidia chipsets at the moment. Something Mad Catz is looking into.
They’ve been looking for like 3 months lol.
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?p=6714355#post6714355
^^ I’m aware of that thread. Trust me it’s being looked into. Future runs of PS3 sticks/pads shouldn’t have an issue. I don’t know when those will start rolling out yet though.
As far as drivers are concerned, I don’t have any info on those yet.
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