hihi,

So i finally got my grabby hands on one of these bad boys:


http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5789/img0433w.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/920/img0434e.jpg

and i was disappointed with 2 things:

1 - How easily you could scratch the art face (evidently by the swirls - this was a brand new product).
2 - How flimsy the plastic lid for the cable storage compartment is.

Minor setbacks as i'm sure you'll agree. Besides, the art face can be easily replaced with whatever you want and the flimsy plastic lid, well... who gives a s*** anyway really..

My point is, this stick is the holy s*** of awesome of the holy batman grail! it feels like playing another game altogether. To say this is a mere upgrade from the xbox 360 dpad is a massive inconceivable understatement of the Millennium, but i'm sure you all knew that already.

Here's a brief video i just put together (my 1st youtube vid) demonstrating a semi advanced combo i would almost never be able to pull off (with ease anyway) with that cursed xbox 360 of dog pad (and this was in the first 15 minutes of testing the stick - and im no stick expert by any means):



Watch this space for more videos comin at ya.

i aint scared

Its nice having a full turbo meter aye MatchFixer :)

Nice work, I best get my arse into gear & get my piece of s*** fixed

cant stop hiccuping

Nice work, I best get my arse into gear & get my piece of s*** fixed

Do it. Meanwhile i'll try and get a better internet connection :/

1 - How easily you could scratch the art face (evidently by the swirls - this was a brand new product).

Swirls are a combination of poor paintwork and buffing. (probably because its mass produced by machinery I imagine).

They're buff marks in the final clear lacquer/polish.
Not 'scratches' as such.

what's the build quality of the casing?? looks a bit cheapish plasticky from the pics.. no swirl marks on my hori stick, it's f***ing perfect sturdy, solid and heavy. only gripe I have with it is the lack of usb cable length, I have to push the coffee table close to tv so the thing can reach and plug into the PS3... I understand that the TE Stick cable is something crazy like 4 metres??

can you get usb extension type cables???

last edited by Martz at 10:10:48 31/May/09

Make your own ftw

It does look sexy though

i popped the biggest boner while readin this. just thinking of getting my hands wrapped around that perfectly engineered stick and doing the dp motion causing that mass of muscles to launch at his opponent is gettin me hot and bothered... thx for the review booyah.

The swirls are from Kat and Hashy rubbing themselves on it.

what's the build quality of the casing?? looks a bit cheapish plasticky from the pics.. no swirl marks on my hori stick, it's f***ing perfect sturdy, solid and heavy. only gripe I have with it is the lack of usb cable length, I have to push the coffee table close to tv so the thing can reach and plug into the PS3... I understand that the TE Stick cable is something crazy like 4 metres?? can you get usb extension type cables???

The casing may look plasticy from the pics but i assure you it's excellent quality. It's a very big n' heavy sukkah and sits perfectly in your lap, though i have it sitting on the table as you can see and it doesn't move the slightest (unless you're one of those balrog arcade players that physically lean back to forward when doing a charge move lawlz). It even has holes for you if you wanted to mount it into the table, much like the way i mount ya mum to the kitchen table and/or sink. Also yes the cable is super long. I'm not sure if you could tell from my 2nd pic but that's how far i sit back and there's still excess cabling left. I got a USB extension myself but i use it to plug i it into the keyboard, not into this baby.

Oh and i forgot to mention the packaging; looking at the box in the 2nd pic, those two white and black flaps open and close from the middle and magnets are used to seal it nice and shut. I must say Madcatz have gone into fair bit of effort not just with the packaging but obviously in making it feel like an authentic arcade stick.

i popped the biggest boner while readin this. just thinking of getting my hands wrapped around that perfectly engineered stick and doing the dp motion causing that mass of muscles to launch at his opponent is gettin me hot and bothered... thx for the review booyah.

Had to read that twice, cause first time i read it i thought you were being sarcastic. I just wanted to give my impression of it but I didn't actually review it in my initial post as such. I didn't detail anything about any of the turbo buttons, potential modding aspects and general look & feel of it but you can find plenty of reviews on youtube etc, and believe me, i know i did before committing to one of these. I was this *close* to buying a fightpad from CD Wow instead but now i'm glad i didn't.





last edited by MatchFixer at 11:40:19 31/May/09

oh yeah about the turbo buttons can someone exaplain to me what these do???

last edited by Martz at 11:50:53 31/May/09

Turbo buttons are just rapid fire I believe

Hopefully this week some time i should have it fixed. Might even fire up SFIII 3S when I get it, as I always wanted to do this move which is just impossible on the game pad :)

Might even fire up SFIII 3S when I get it

If you do it, so will I, because i have it sitting gathering dust. Backwards compatibility with xbox1 ftw!

oh yeah about the turbo buttons can someone exaplain to me what these do???

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1102/img0436a.jpg

Turbo buttons are basically like rapid fire. You got 8 squares and each one represents the position of a button on the board. I've got Light Kick set to the A button (bottom left) so if i wanted that set to turbo then i just hold the turbo button and press the A button, which causes the bottom left square to light up, indicating that it's now set to turbo. Turning it off works in the same way. You could have multiple buttons assigned to turbo if you wish as well. Anyway, that's how i was able to get 3 crouch light kicks as part of my combo in that video of mine. All i did was simply hold the A button down without having to manually tap 3 times with precision timing. I always wondered how the pros did it every time, and what do you know, it's the turbo button that does it all for you. I think i read somewhere that you could set the speed of the turbo somehow, but maybe that was for the SE one? not sure.

I'm not sure if you can see but they've also put turbo lock switch there, in case you somehow accidentally press any of them during play. By the way, the Start and Back button are located at the top of the board (not on the face of the board), designed to stay as far as possible from the button mashers.

There's also another switch that lets you swap between Left Stick, Dpad and Right Stick, in case some of the games you'll play require these. Not very useful if you ask me. As if play anything other than fighting games with this thing though (excluding maybe scroll type spaceship/beat em up games). Having said that, it's all the lil thoughts in design that make it a great product.

Somehow I think i went overboard with my explanation of it all. I guess you stopped reading at "rapid fire" :/ but here's a prize photo (taken from the inside flap of the original box) for those that persevered:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7295/img0439j.jpg


last edited by MatchFixer at 16:24:59 31/May/09

can you get usb extension type cables???

Yes you can.

edit: In case you're too lazy to search.

last edited by whoop at 16:24:16 31/May/09

ta whoop, would I need the one with power? or plain extension sufficient? i heard the longer the cable, the more it affects the signal?

Forget the one with power, just get the normal one. I've got a normal one and it works fine, unless you're gonna be sitting in your backyard or something.

Thats pretty phat match. Beats chubs one.

I got mine hooked up for Tony Hawk 2 killer combos.

It pwns you :D

I suggest getting one with power. I find the latency increases from 1/100th of a second to 2/100th of a second with the usb extender.

Trust me on this, I know my s***.

so where can buy this stick from??

Ebay. It's about the only place you will find this now. Also expect to fork out a small wad too because if you can even find them they'll be selling for much higher prices. That or you may be extremely lucky and manage to find 1 in a store.

well the chepest i have seen is around $300 aus and that is acutally buying it from capcom store in the US and then for them to ship it...

i sent umart and gamedude an email to see if they could get them in but they couldnt

You'd be just as well served going to play-asia and looking for a Hori Real Arcade Pro 3, which works out around $260 or so AUS. Thats pretty much considered top of the line.

Here for an Xbox one or this for the PS3 version

last edited by DM at 13:21:50 14/Jul/09

The HRAP3 is just as much in demand as the Madcatz TE stick, so you really need to be on your toes quick in ordering one.

I'm a mad keen Street Figher and Resident Evil fan, so recently I picked up the Limited Edition RE5 X-Box 360 Elite Bundle. It came with a code for SSF2T HD Remix as well.

http://www.djdais.com/files/X-Box.jpg

As you can see I also bought Street Fighter IV and the Mad Catz Official SFIV Fightstick, the baby brother of the Tournament Edition version.

http://www.djdais.com/files/X-Box-Stick.jpg

I can only say good things about this stick. It plays well and looks great. The weight and size are good too.
One thing it really has going for it is durability. I have slapped the s*** out of this thing and it still feels like new. Big thumbs up!

The HRAP3 is just as much in demand as the Madcatz TE stick, so you really need to be on your toes quick in ordering one.

Guess i'm a lucky bastard, i went to play-asia like 2 weeks ago and ordered a hrap3.. got it like ~10 days later lol :D

Good work dias. Nice lil capcom bundle you got there. I wonder why they dont include that character moves list card with the TE stick..

Hopefully the fight stick will stay in good shape for ya cause i'd imagine it's gonna take a beating. If worse comes to worse you can always mod it with Sanwa Parts because the base is very solid and makes a good base for modding.

I've got both SF4 and RE5, add me to xbl as per sig.

I will do that Match Fixer.

Top pics here. Always liked arcade sticks, never owned one at home though.

...getting my hands wrapped around that perfectly engineered stick...

You mean the hard plastic ball on top of the straight solid mild steel cylinder? Maybe I'm missing something. Perfectly engineered to me is more like a Ferrari or something.