Looking for a good fight stick

[Dirty Hipsters]

Hey all, I'm new to the fighting game genre. I've been trying to get into fighting games for a while now but I've never had the time nor the patience to really get used to the controls, and have always been bad at doing motions.

The only time I've ever been able to get moves out consistently has been in arcades, and so I realized that if I ever want to get at least passable at fighting games I'm going to need a proper stick. I don't know anything about arcade sticks though, so I need the help of you lovely people.

So here's the deal, I want a stick that works with both a PC and PS4. Cost isn't a problem, but I'd still like to keep it under $150. That's pretty much my criteria, have at it.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Your probably better off asking on Shoryuken or somewhere or just looking at some threads there as I am sure there would be some about fightsticks.

I am hardly well versed on sticks having only owned 2 but I have been happy enough with both. The first was a Madcatcz tournament edition stick got it with SCV cost me about 130 GBP I believe. The second and one I mostly use now is a Hori one with the Dead or Alive faceplate. The first one only works with PS3 and PC the second works with those and PS4.

The Madcatz one feels slightly more solidly constructed and has a better feel on the buttons but the Hori one has better stick action and better layout at least as far as I am concerned anyway.

I expect you will be able to get them slightly cheaper in America than I can here in the UK but a good one is not cheap going by exchange rate I payed about 200 dollars for mine each. I have tried a few budget ones before (luckily had a chance to try before I bought) and my advice is dont waste your money on them they are absolutely horrible in my experience. Spend the money get a good one or dont bother and stick with pad.

Most will come with a square gate which while being the gate you want (imo) can take some getting used to most arcades I played in when young had circular or octagonal gates so it was very strange. I actually had to buy an octagonal gate and swap out the square one for a couple of days to get used to doing Hadokens again on stick but really once you have got the feel down you will almost certainly want to put that square gate back in its just overall a better pick.

I also have a hitbox which is great but im terrible when I am on the right side of the screen with it. My fingers just dont work fast enough that way its definitely a nice bit of kit if you can get use to it however. Layout wise its my favourite.

One last piece of advice is dont expect to suddenly get ok at fighters just because you have a stick. You may find you actually get worse at least initially sure you may find special move motions easier maybe but things like jumping, blocking and moving may feel weird if you are used to a D pad as sticks have a lot of throw in comparison. Although I can use sticks ok for 2D fighters now I cannot use them in 3D ones I just much prefer pad and honestly I am unsure if I prefer stick or pad for 2D really at least on ones without 6 buttons.

 

[PurplePonyArcade]

I happen to be an expert on that subject! One good starting stick that should not be too hard to find as a decent price is the Madcatz Pro stick for Ps3/360 and of course PC. That most that one is now is like $110 minus the re-skins from Street Fighter X Tekken that people sometimes decide to jack up just for that. I got mine for $80 on a tournament sale. Speaking of which if you have a tournament you can go to I highly recommend it for a big number of reasons, but lets just keep things simple for now and say that tournaments always sell sticks and often may discount for the event. Even if you can't bigger tournaments, especially in the west, often lead to website discounts and discount code give-aways. Hori has a number of good budgeted sticks just beware of which you look out at. Til Exempel do NOT get the Hori mini, but there are a number of other good Hori sticks and enough of them that. I think most of the RAP(Real Arcade Pro) older models can be found at around the price range you want. If you are on PissPoor or Xbone you probably won't be going for less that $190 unless you are a good haggle because while there are a handful of new sticks for them they still need time to get more and age before their prices start to dip. On the otherhand most Ps4 sticks now are marketed to also work on Ps3. Most Xbox sticks don't offer this but I the Mortal Kombat X one might since I know the fightpad doubles for 360 and Xbone.

Whatever console stick you choose should do fine on PC as well. Sony sticks like all Non-Microsoft controllers are not as guaranteed, but most(not all, but most) fighting games on Steam at least at this point support whatever controller you use.

The PissPoor(Ps4) version of Skullgirls also supports Ps3 sticks. Off the top of my head for Ps4 there would be the sticks for Ultra Street Fighter IV(madcatz), Persona 4 Ultimax(madcatz), and the latest Hori RAP stick all of which also work on Ps3. There are others like the Guilty Gear Xrd stick for example but are MUCH more expensive at this point.
I know this is a bit late, but I really hope I have helped. Do not hesitate to ask me something else fighting game related if you have the need! Good day.