| paleface [sys=DC; cat=Hardware; reg=JPN] |
| | | I'm not sure if that's the exact official name of this stick, but it's gotta be close. ASCII released two color-themed versions of their arcade stick to coincide with the release of Capcom vs SNK on the Dreamcast (see entry 813); I got two of the blue-and-white SNK ones, since the yellow-and-black Capcom ones looked rather ugly to me.
They're pretty good sticks, with big slappy buttons, convex, Japanese-style, and a nice big, heavy base. The sturdy sticks themselves aren't perfect, as the top knob can unscrew itself rather easily, and the stick protrudes from an octagonal hole, giving jarring corners to circular stick movements. I've heard people say that the stick movement detection is optical rather than via contacts, and the soundless movement supports this theory--it's usually said as a bad thing, and I suppose it does feel a little funny not to get the little clicks as you move the stick around, but then again if you'd started out playing games with these sticks, you'd probably think clicky sticks were even weirder.
Other minor nitpicks: the front part of the base slopes steeply downward, making for a poor wrist-rest; the memory card protrudes at an awkward angle; the vibration mechanism is ultra-sucky--make sure you turn it off. |
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| | | | Note that the Z and C buttons on this stick are purely digital, and will not function as L/R triggers in any games. This is kind of a bummer--you'd think they could have made them on/off, at least--but oh, well. |
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| | | Coming back to these after years of not using them was really painful: the famed optical sticks are all stiff--according to some internet places, they need to be broken down and re-lubricated--and the buttons are wobbly, depressing stiffly and irregularly; I think the buttons were always like that, actually, and I see those issues now after having got used to fancy Sanwa arcade buttons on more recent sticks.
As a side note, I went and got Agetec's "official" Dreamcast Arcade Stick as an attempted replacement, and it wasn't much better: the lever feels sludgy and dry--not as stiff as the ASCIIs, though--and the buttons are again wobbly and depress irregularly. I understand that if you can use a dremel and solder, you can put Sanwa parts into these; alas, I have no such skills, and my DC will rest back in storage until I somehow acquire one that a talented person has modified--which seems pretty unlikely at this point! : o |
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