The arcade stick of your (expensive) dreams [update 1]

Do you love Street Fighter II? Tired of getting owned by noobs because of crappy D-pads? Are you also rich? Well, then we have the arcade stick for you! Brought to you by GoPodular, these massive beasts were ripped straight from the arcade cabinets of yore. Made from the same sturdy materials, GoPodular promises an unparalleled gaming experience. Even better, the sticks support almost any available system, including the 360.

So, anything this good will have a catch, of course. These suckers weigh in at US $225 before you plunk down another $75 for the 360 adapter cart. Ouch Town, population you, buddy. Unless you have a serious jones for true fighting game control, we suggest you wait for the cheaper -- and more well-known -- X-Arcade stick to come out with a 360 adapter (presumably coming soon). Then again, we'd love to be proven wrong. Your move, GoPodular.

[Update: The GoPodular guys cleared up some confusion in the comments. The standard PC cart can be switched with the 360 cart, thus making the actual cost $245. Still pretty steep, but much better overall. Also check out the comments for some clarification on the differences between X-Arcade and GoPodular.]

Reader Comments (10)

"Its gotta be the DodgeBall quote Cotten! You just dont see quotes like that these days! Cheesey and Funny!"

I love Dodgeball the Movie! "Razer, Lazer, Tazer, and all kinds of 'azers!"
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If you are tired of EB Games/Gamestop ripping you off, goto: http://iTradeVideoGames.com !!!

i don't understand this whole controller vs. old school joystick fiasco. people are crying out everywhere about the ineffectiveness of the d-pad on the 360 controller, and that they want a joystick. what's wrong with the analog stick on the controller. it IS a joystick. i just don't understand. is there a difference between the two?

A joystick is something you hold in your HAND or can get more than a thumb on it. If Mad Catz joystick is HALFWAY decent, I'll buy it.

As a perennial Street Fighter player, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that is there is a significant difference between playing on a pad and playing on a joystick. For one, a joystick should allow the player to use one of their hands to *fully* control the movement of the character, whilst the other hand can *fully* control the attacks (punches and kicks.) Competitive players who want to play the game to their best ability will want to have all of the attack buttons at their disposal. There's no such thing as a "worthless attack" in Street Fighter. Players who follow this sort of mentality are typically the same people who cry about people throwing or other "cheap" tactics then pull out of the game.

If you opt not to get the included Playstation 2 adapter and just get the Xbox 360 adapter, you'll only pay $15 more than the list price (cost of PS2 adapter, $60).

I would strongly advise against the X-Arcade. Even if they manage to get an Xbox 360 adapter, there have been complaints about input lag when using the X-Arcade stick over Xbox LIVE (at least on the original Xbox).

Furthermore, the X-Arcade uses cheap Chinese-clone arcade parts, whereas these sticks uses real Happ or Sanwa parts (depending on which style you buy).

As for Mad Catz's stick, don't keep your hopes up. It doesn't look good. You either are going to have to build your own stick, get one of these , or mod the DOA4 stick if you want true (and good) arcade control on the Xbox 360.

I would give anything just to use my old Virtua Stick. One of the best console joysticks ever made. $225 is just too steep for one fighting game. Unless the fiance wouldn't mind getting me one for Christmas :)

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-k8-49-en-70-1e9z.html

@Footlong

"it IS a joystick. i just don't understand. is there a difference between the two?"

Nope, it's a thumbstick. As Deezul says, a joystick you can wrap your hand around. It really changes the dynamics of play, especially with arcade-style buttons; the placement of the hands is entirely different than with a controller, and most arcade fanboys (myself included) will tell you that you have much better control (over arcade games at least) using a genuine arcade layout than you do with a controller.

Hi guys,

Just to clarify, the Swappable Cartridge Encoder (tm) contains *all* the electronics needed to run the panel on that system. If you wanted it *just* for the 360, you can deduct the $55 PC cartridge and add the $75 360 cartridge. Then it weighs in at $245 for the model shown above. (The PS1&2 cart is now the same price as the PC cart, so no charge for switching to that)

It's more expensive to construct this way, but it allows us to support systems that other manufacturers can't. (Plus there's no lag or button translation like you get with adapters.)

Hey... ummm... why does the x-arcade stick need an adapter for the 360? The thing is USB by default.

"Hey... ummm... why does the x-arcade stick need an adapter for the 360? The thing is USB by default."

The same reason you can't hook up any USB controller to the Xbox 360--a third-party controller must have a Microsoft license for it to be verified and played on the Xbox 360.

The verification code is built into the hardware of the controller, which the X-Arcade and other USB controllers don't have.

This will obviously change once Microsoft gives the X-Arcade guys the license to create a special Xbox 360 adapter, but there is no indication that it will happen anytime soon.

The arcade stick of your (expensive) dreams [update 1]

Reader Comments (10)

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 11:35AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 11:58AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 12:49PM Deezul AwT said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 1:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 3:06PM Cowdisease said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 4:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 4:27PM AoE said

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Posted: Aug 22nd 2006 8:23PM Cowdisease said

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