There's also the official Mad Catz Street Fighter IV "Tournament Edition" sticks which were available for USD$150/AUD$250 - but a ridiculously small number of them were made, and they're all long gone. The X-Arcade Dual Joystick is currently USD$129.95 from XGaming, and AUD$269.95 from Arcade Gaming Australia.Ī widely accepted alternative is the Hori Real Arcade Pro sticks, which start at US$99.90 from Play-Asia (when they're in stock), and that's before you've even thought about shipping to your country. ![]() Which means the input latency of an X-Arcade joystick is equivalent to approximately one third of a frame at 60fps, and one sixth of a frame at 30fps - so even the very top tier fighting game players who count frames of animation and wait for the exact moment to strike should have no issues playing with the X-Arcade.Īs to why so many of them claim to? My guess is as good as yours - but until game console and joystick manufacturers start utilizing FireWire or USB 3.0 connections on their devices, I'm not sure latency is going to get terribly much better than 5ms. If a game runs at 60 frames per second (fps), which Street Fighter IV does on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, each frame is displayed on the screen for 16.67ms. It's worth noting that anything under 10ms is fast enough to be classified as "realtime" in the computer music world. Whether the X-Arcade was plugged in to my PC directly with the included USB connection, or via the PS2 and PS3 adapters, I was getting between 5ms and 6ms lag. So with a combination of two freeware applications, Joy 2 Mouse (to turn the PS3 signal into a mouse click) and InputLagTestor, I set about testing the input lag. The thing is, even with the signal travelling through a PS2 adapter, into a PS3 adapter, and into my PS3, I couldnt notice any lag whatsoever - and I'm not the only person who couldn't. Which is a given, as USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 are master-slave architectures with an inherent latency. I've heard countless reports of the X-Arcade exhibiting lag between a button press and the command executing on the connected computer/console. Ultimarc's Mag-Stik Plus will also do the trick, and give you the ability to switch the stick from 8-way to 4-way without opening the X-Arcade, allowing you to play games like Pacman and Donkey Kong without the issues that arise when doing so with an 8-way joystick.Īnd if you're not scared to make permanent modifications to the inside of your X-Arcade, it is possible to add Sanwa sticks. There are two popular choices to replace the sticks in the X-Arcade that don't require any modifications.įirst up is the iL Eurojoystick, available from Lizard Lick. If you do feel so inclined, you can open up the X-Arcade and replace the sticks and buttons with the authentic versions, and a number of other options. Many people familiar with both the X-Arcade replicas and the authentic Happ parts will tell you that the replicas are inferior, but I haven't had an opportunity to A/B them. The parts used in the X-Arcade are replicas of Happ joysticks and buttons, which are the parts most commonly used in North America, and will be familiar to many gamers from Australia and Europe. It looks, and feels, like it's been ripped off the front of an arcade machine. ![]() The official line of "It's built like a tank" is a bit of a stretch, as I'm not sure how many tanks are built from wood, but it's big enough and solid enough to not move around or jump off the table. The X-Arcade has been on the market for over seven years, and you're not likely to find anyone whinging about the build quality - and why would you when it comes with a lifetime warranty? X-Arcade has tried to add Xbox 360 compatibility, but the fate of that adapter lies in Microsoft's hands, who have been dragging their feet for over three years for reasons known only to them. It comes with a USB adapter for use with a PC/Mac, and there are adapters available to connect to a Dreamcast, Xbox, Gamecube/Wii and PlayStation 1/2/3. The X-Arcade was designed to be future-proof. We've spent some quality time with an X-Arcade Dual Joystick - read on for our full review. ![]() With the release of Street Fighter IV, millions of gamers are coming to terms with the fact, and clamoring for a quality arcade stick to complete their home arcade experience. FebruThe dual-analog controllers of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have their moments, being particularly suited to first-person shooters, but certain arcade games like shoot 'em ups and fighting games just aren't the same without the six buttons and a stick of an arcade machine.
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