Volume 1 – X-Arcade's Joystick vs. MAS Stick

With the fighting game scene growing due to the evolution of the gaming market from arcade to home console, the demand for a quality arcade stick is increasing more than ever before.

Within the U.S. Market, two names normally comes to mind when asked which arcade stick a fighting game fan would either want to buy, consider buying or having already purchased: X-Arcade’s Arcade Joystick and MAS’s Arcade Stick.

Like anything else, there are certain features of a product that make it more appealing than one another, but generally the main aspect of a good joystick is sturdiness and the gameplay experience, so we’ll list the pro’s and con’s, along with a brief summary of what we find as important, as well as listing the flaws along the way. In the end, it is you, the consumer, who will decide which stick suits your need’s best.

If you haven't bought or tried out one of these sticks yet, deciding to buy one of these sticks could be based on several factors. We’ve been lucky enough to have used each of them for the past two years, so our ‘testing’ stage didn’t last just a few hours or weeks, but with rigorous usage, with thousands of hours clocked on each stick.

In the next few paragraphs we hope to help you make a decision on what's important to you in choosing an arcade stick.

X-Arcade

Pros – Sturdy, high quality parts used, universally compatible (with interchangeable adapters), wide distribution (can be purchased at many locations), available in 2-player and 1-player layouts, lifetime warranty, great product/customer support.

Cons – Button layout/joystick/graphics not customizable. Start button on both sides of 2-player stick (also on 1-player, as shown above) gets in the way and often accidental “pausing” occurs during game play.

Subject Dissected

We’ve tested X-Arcade’s stick for the past two years, primarily battling opponents on Capcom’s Capcom vs. SNK 2 on Xbox Live. At first glance, this stick is all what it claims to be, heavy duty, well constructed and universal (allowing you to use it on different console’s or PC with the proper plug-in adapter). Our test subject was the two-player version, allowing head to head combat on the same joystick cabinet. We would recommend this set up for two people that aren’t so large, since the spacing between the first and second player is extremely limited, which could cause some inevitable elbow knocking.

Quality of Parts

X-Arcade uses Happ quality joysticks and buttons. We can’t say if they are authentic Happ parts, but the quality is definitely along the same level, using a similar (or exact, we’re not sure) Happ Competition style stick with concave buttons (buttons that slope inwards, the buttons that have been used in the majority of arcades for over 17 years). In terms of quality, these parts are unmistakebly high quality, but not necessarily considered top notch in the industry anymore.

Testing Stage

Over the years, we’ve read many reviews or claims that this stick wasn't responsive and suffered from lag. We didn’t find this to be the case, during our tests, in either on-line or live (not Xbox Live, but with a real opponent) vs. player mode, so response time was not an issue for us.

In the first few hours of utilizing the X-Arcade, we ran into a problem that many other gamers who used this stick has run into as well…placement of certain buttons. In our two player set up, on the first player side, you’ll notice how close the fierce or far top right button is to the 1-player start button. In the heat of action, because those two buttons are so close together, we’ve accidentally hit the 1-player start button a few times, which causes the game to either pause or more annoyingly, on Xbox Live, pull up the OPTIONS screen during gameplay. It’s already bad enough that we were getting our a**es handed to us on Xbox Live, but it’s simply frustrating to know it’s because of a design flaw. This problem was addressed to X-Arcade 23 months ago, at the time we spoke to one of their engineers who was aware of this problem and said it would be rectified within the year (2003). During this time, the designer we spoke with said it would be modified for (newly introduced at that time) their single player stick (see pic above, which is representation of their current single player stick). As the current picture shows, that problem still has not been addressed.

Furthermore, the second player in the 2-player set up has a similar issue as the one explained above. The 2 player joystick is relatively close to the 2 player start/pause button, so those with large hands might find it tough to execute moves without pausing or pulling up the option's screen accidentally.

Miscellaneous

Because X-Arcade focuses on the mass market, what you see is what you get. In terms of buying convenience, it's great, as you can purchase this stick at numerous locations, but for the hardcore gamer, it would be nice to be able to customize the stick to your specific liking.

The Competition style joystick (which is what X-Arcade seems to use) was at one point considered the best stick on the market, but with advancing technologies, the preferred and more responsive stick has turned hard core gamers to the Perfect 360 Electronic Joysticks, which uses optical sensors for not only more responsive, but more precise controls as well.

Overall Rating: 7/10

The X-Arcade is a solid, quality stick overall, with the nice features of allowing you to use it on virtually any console or PC system with the switch of an adapter. Wide distribution and overall great product support makes this stick a great commercial stick, the best we’ve ever tested.

As noted above, the one flaw in an X-Arcade stick is a major one, the button placement for the 1st and 2nd player start/pause buttons. These buttons just get in the way during gameplay and given how seriously some of us take our gaming, this definitely interfered with some great matches. If X-Arcade would fix this issue, we’ve give them a 9/10, but with this current button layout, they dropped two notches to 7/10.

If you’re not too concerned with cosmetics or picky about button colors, joystick preferences, have small hands that don’t push your opponents buttons or accidentally pause the game (only do this when you’re losing), then this stick will work for you. If you’re thinking about purchasing this stick, given their flexible return/exchange policy (even if you buy from Fry’s Electronics), give the stick a test drive and make sure you don’t encounter the issues that we did.

Systems Supported

PSOne/PS2
Xbox
Game Cube
Dreamcast
Apple
PC Computers

Places to buy (U.S.)

Fry’s Electronics (Retailer)
www.x-arcade.com (On-line Direct)

MAS Stick

Pros - Sturdy, high quality parts used, completely customizable down to the color of button, joystick, button layout and graphics layout of the joystick. Six month warranty, great product support/customer service.

Cons – Limited distribution, stick not completely universal. PS2/Xbox work together, all others are console specific.

Subject

We’ve used many variations of MAS’s sticks over the years, varying from Neo Geo dedicated to our current, which is a PS2/Xbox single player, 6-button format. For this review, to make the comparison equal, the parts used in this stick is similar to that of the X-Arcade, equipped with a Competition joystick and concave buttons.

Quality of Parts

MAS uses only the best components (optional parts from HAPP), which at every level is customizable, from the color, style (convex/concave) of buttons, type (Competiton/Perfect 360) joysticks, to the style (soft, medium or hardspring), you are at full command of creating the stick that suits your style of gaming best.

Testing Stage

Six-button SF style MAS Stick with a Competition joystick and concave buttons.

Once again, most of our gaming came from on-line battles on Capcom vs. SNK 2 on the Xbox. Unlike the X-Arcade, the start/select buttons are spaced far away enough that you don’t accidentally push them during game play. This is uber important, as there is no disruption, especially in heavy, heated game play.

Like the X-Arcade the response time of the MAS Stick was on par, with no lag evident in our testing, whether it be playing a real person in versus mode or on-line battles (lag here depends on internet connection speed, not the stick in particular).

So for the past 14 months (using the MAS Stick) we haven’t encountered any problems in terms of malfunctions or the controller itself falling apart, which are both good signs of a well-built stick and quality control. We haven’t tested the single player X-Arcade stick in terms of finding out it’s weight, but we must say, their 2-player version is nice in that it holds in place quite well without any movement.

The only improvement we can see in the MAS Stick would be it’s weight. The stick is definitely sturdy, however, a little more weight added to it would really make it a stick well above the rest. Because of this minor set back, the MAS Stick barely missed a perfect score.

Miscellaneous

MAS Sticks is family owned and operated. The downside to this is the lack of distribution and each stick takes time to make, generally within a day or two, which means that you can’t go down to your local retailer to pick one up. They do have a number of distributors across the nation, but they're normally small mom and pop online or video game shops.

If you're patient and can wait for stick, the upside has great benefits. Their sticks are completely customizable, down to the control panel overlay graphics. Before shipment, each stick is tested individually, one button at a time to ensure everything is functional. According to MAS, returns are rare, well under .5%.

On seldom occasions, customers who request personal customizable layouts, and graphics, which MAS will entertain and can be done at an additional cost. We will release some photos a little later down the line when we receive the images.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Almost everything about the MAS Stick impressed us, allowing almost endless options, along with the most important element of all, excellent overall gaming performance.

If you’ve used the MAS Stick before, then you understand what we’re talking about. If you haven’t and want that true arcade gaming experience, give MAS a try and you won’t be disappointed.

Systems Supported

Super Nintendo
Neo Geo
Genesis
Saturn
Dreamcast
N64
Playstation One/Two
Game Cube
Xbox
PC

Places to buy:

www.massystems.com
www.arcadeshock.com