Honestly, who didn't scoff when MadCatz announced they were releasing official, licensed, and "good" Street Fighter 4 peripherals? If you've been gaming for a while, you will know that MadCatz is synonymous with low cost (read: cheap) controllers and peripherals but no one in their right minds will tell you that they are known for their quality. But then something happened in 2008, when Capcom shocked the world with a highly stylized Street Fighter 4 trailer and the world went nuts. Flash forward the end of 2008 when MadCatz announced that they were releasing three types of peripherals for the release of the game: a regular edition arcade stick, a "tournament edition" arcade stick and a Sega Saturn style gamepad.

No one thought anything of it until specs were released to the media and prototypes were used during TGS and Capcom events. It was universally agreed by all who had used them that these were not your MadCatz controllers of old. But come launch time, with the economic downturn and extremely high demand, MadCatz was not able to deliver the goods and stock remained extremely hard to find - until now.

According to internal information released to GameStop, MadCatz was hit hard with the closure of three manufacturing plants in China and early orders of the controllers were not filled. Even the pre-orders consumers made directly through Capcom were being listed as "backordered" with no estimated shipping date. However, demand has subsided and eBay auctions have also died down and today, if you're a gamer with a passion for Street Fighter (or similar fighting games) and would like to buy a dedicated controller, you can find them in stock at most games retailers.

So then, what should you choose? Many online reviews have so far only touched on each individual peripheral but not many have been able to realistically compare (Read: actually used them for more than a day) each peripheral. I have been fortunate enough to have both the Tournament Edition FightStick and the FightPad. I have been using the Stick for over a month now while the pad has been played with for about two weeks. What I can say is that both products are of good quality construction and your decision comes down to controller preference and budget.

Tournament Edition FightStick

The Tournament Edition Fightstick boast the largest price tag in this family of peripherals. At $189 CDN, this is encroaching into Steel Battalion territory (minus the uber-geek factor). However, this price tag is mainly due to the licensing and use of official arcade components manufactured by Sanwa, one of the two most respected arcade parts manufacturers in the world. Long regarded as the preferred manufacturer for arcade sticks, Sanwa has gained popularity amongst enthusiasts who wish to build their own arcade sticks or cabinets and wanted the most realistic replication. Sanwa is also the company behind the parts of the official Capcom Street Fighter cabinets.

For the purists and collectors, this stick certainly boasts impressive specifications. Weighted with true MDF panels and authentic parts, this would normally cost much more to import from Japan, which was previously the only country you could purchase commercial grade arcade sticks. If you were in the US, it would have been easier to build your own but in other countries, importing and building was a toss up as cost after shipping and duties were often the same.

The stick itself is built solidly with machined parts and all corresponding buttons functioning as advertised. From the moment you open the box and see the authenticity certificate, to the first time you hook it up to your console (PS3 in my case) you know that this is leaps ahead of other MadCatz sticks and other currently available arcade sticks.

I had previously been using a HORI EX2 Soul Calibur stick for the 360 and while that wasn't a poorly made stick, it was also the North American version with generic buttons and parts. With the HORI, accuracy was an issue (comparing stick to stick) and button presses seemed loose. While playing with the TE FightStick, every movement of the stick felt precise and registered accordingly in game. Buttons were responsive without feeling hollow and did not posses the annoying "click" that many North American arcade buttons have.

So the $189 question is whether the arcade stick elevated my game. The answer to that is yes and no. I have never been a tournament player in Street Fighter and the only tournament I've ever joined and placed in (2nd place in a round robin of 32 players) was Samurai Showdown in the arcades near my school in the early 90's. But with the use of a stick on my PS3, I was able to learn all my arcade moves again. As any seasoned fighting game player will tell you, a fighting game is a completely different beast playing with a pad and a stick. However once you have accustomed to an arcade stick, you'll never go back to a pad again.

The TE FightStick is definitely not for everyone but if you're serious about your games and have always dreamed of owning a real arcade cabinet, then this stick is for you. It's not so large that you can't place in on a shelf or hide it away in a storage box (although the stick is a work of art and I have mine displayed prominently in the games room). The added benefit of having a USB cord that can be stowed into the cabinet itself is great for displaying. Also, the USB connector means that the stick works with Windows without drivers, meaning that if you want to play other emulated games with a real joystick, the TE will work just fine.

See HERE for the un-boxing video for the MadCatz Tournament Edition FightStick

FightPad

The history of fight pads is certainly not as detailed as that of the arcade stick but there have been a few designs gamers have regarded as reference for fighting pads. In 2005, NubyTech licensed the rights to Street Fighter and produced a number of special edition controllers for the PS2 and XBOX. There were arcade sticks available at the time but those were made with HAPP parts instead of the aforementioned Sanwa stock.

NubyTech decided to go with probably the best fighting pad ever made - the Sega Saturn controller. This featured a floating D-Pad, a six face button layout and an oblong boomerang shape. The pad was comfortable while being responsive and the six face buttons meant every important move was accessible without having to relocate your fingers to the shoulder buttons.

MadCatz decided not to mess with perfection and went the similar route and retained the Saturn layout but made a few adjustments. For the PS3 pad, MadCatz went with a wireless dongle connection (which had issues) while the Xbox360 version went with USB wired (the version that I have). What MadCatz did change slightly is the size of the pad as compared to the Saturn pad and the NubyTech pad. It's now a little bit larger with a more pronounced palm grip. The FightPad features a very responsive floating D-pad that's basically a micro-joystick with a D-Pad top. The buttons are nice and low so gliding your fingers over them will not make your thumbs bleed. The only complaint I have is that the FightPad does not have rumble support and feels a lot lighter. This isn't much of an issue since the FightSticks also don't have rumble support but the added weight of rumble in the pad would have made it feel better.

So then at $50 CDN, is the FightPad a worthy investment? For players of fighters on the Xbox360, this is a definite purchase. But if you're a PS3 fighter, the Dual Shock 3 does a decent job that you probably won't notice an extreme change in performance with the FightPad.

See HERE for the un-boxing video for the MadCatz FightPad

Final Word

At the heart of either of these peripherals is the insane price tag for what essentially is a limited use controller.  Even though you can mimic the analogue sticks with either the joystick or the D-Pad, it's not the same and you will never have the same level of usability than the standard controllers.  But the point isn't to have a controller that can do it all.  These special controllers are meant to do one thing and one thing well - play fighting games.  And at that, both the FightStick and the FightPad receive high marks.

The decision then comes down to a few distinctions.  If you play your fighting games on the PS3, there's really very little reason to buy the FightPad as the improvement over the standard Dual Shock controller is minimal.  And that tiny bump in performance doesn't warrant the $50 CDN price tag.  So you are left with either buying the regular edition FightStick (which we did not compare) or the Tournament Edition FightStick.  After speaking with tournament players and those familiar with specific arcade parts, it turns out there is a difference between the sticks, but it depends on how familiar you are with the specific manufacturers.

When MadCatz designed the regular edition FightStick, they made sure the parts were drop-in replaceable - which means that a user could easily swap out the guts of the stick with actual Sanwa parts.  Sanwa parts can be found online at most arcade cabinet parts stores and a full set of buttons and stick would set you back about $50 USD after taxes and shipping.  With a retail price of $109.99 CDN for the regular edition stick, adding Sanwa parts doesn't really make sense considering the TE FightStick would be about the same end cost.

Between the FightStick and the FightPad, the winner will have to be the FightStick for a few key reasons:

Cost: The asking price of $50 CDN for the FightPad is just too high.  Even though the D-Pad is the best for current generation of consoles, there's really no reason for the pad to cost more than an official controller.  The high price of the FightStick can be justified by the construction materials, elaborate packaging and more sophisticated function.

Accuracy: The FightPad is still a controller pad which ever way you cut it.  But owning the FightStick means that when you step up to the platform at your local arcade (do those still exist?), you can be sure that every Hadoken will feel the same as the one you threw at home.

Geek Factor: There's absolutely no doubt that by displaying your FightStick proudly in your games room, you are announcing to the world authenticity is worth $200 and money is no issue when it comes down to your fighting games.

Even though the FightStick ultimately wins in the showdown, the FightPad is still a very worthy controller for the gamer on a budget.  That's personally why I decided to pick one up for my backup system (Xbox360) and keep the FightStick with my main PS3 fighting machine.  Both of these peripherals come highly recommended and the bottom line, buy within your budget and you won't be disappointed.