Mad Catz Street Fighter V Arcade FightStick Alpha for PlayStation4 and PlayStation3

I was a little wary at first, after reading the reviews for the fightpad pro, but this little fightstick actually feels pretty great. I love everything about this stick, with the exception of the lack of grip on the bottom. You also have the option to switch out the balltop and buttons, though the buttons require soldering knowledge. Another word of advice, there's a seventh screw under the sticker at the bottom, should you choose to mod the stick later on.To sum up, the stick is FANTASTIC for the price and really good as an entry level stick, but the grip could be better

Budget fight stick, good for newbie or those who want a small fight stick for easy keeping/mobility. Don't expect too much from it though. The stick is not smooth and in one of the 2 that I bought, it has funny sounds near the diagonal direction. The 6 buttons travel way too far (double the amount of travel in standard arcade button like Sanwa). After 1 week of using this, I ordered Sanwa JLF stick and Sanwa OBFS buttons. After swapping those useless cheap parts, now all is good. I love it, as it's small and easy to keep. My 8yo boy love it, as it's more manageable for him.(Warning: as many people has pointed out, the cables to the buttons are soldered. You need some skills to swap out the buttons)

Bought this thing a while back, and it has never worked. Square button is unresponsive, and it never reads dual button presses. Stick worked fine for a while, but now it just pulls right, and won't read up or down. It's just such an unimpressive piece of hardware, and I wish I never bought it.

The reason I buy fight sticks is because pads just don't feel right to play fighting games to me. They never have and I am unable to adapt. I played Street Fighter in the arcade in '89. On a cross-country road trip in June 1990 our motorhome broke down in Claremont, Oklahoma. Stranded, my brother and I discovered a local convenience store that had a brand new Street Fighter 2 machine. My brother and I spent hours pumping quarters into it while we waited for the local mechanics to fix our ride. Man, that game got its hooks in deep. When we got back home we were full-blown addicts and spent all of our allowance down at the bowling alley fighting each other and mastering the intricacies of Blanka and Ken. My brother is a grown man with a full-sized Street Fighter 2 Turbo arcade machine in his garage.Let the record state that I am a scrub. I will always be a scrub. I am not elite, pro-tier, or any of that stuff,. Spending over 150 (x2) dollars on a pro-grade fight stick would be a total waste for me. But I can't play fighting games on a controller. So, I usually buy a decent stick and get my fix that way. For over 2 years now I have been waiting for a mid-level fighting stick with decent components. They had these for the Xbox. They had them for the 360. They had them for the PS2. They had them for the PS3.For some unfathomable reason there aren't any for the PS4. The market has totally split and your two choices are the $150+ tournament sticks or the 50 dollar Hori Mini. Imagine if cars worked this way...Either you get an decently-made but undersized VW Beetle budget stick or a Fighting Game Pro Rolls Royce-Class lap crusher.So I was very happy when Mad Catz announced a mid-sized fight stick! I pre-ordered it. It said it had the "look and feel" of it's bigger brethren. Yes! Finally I could get a fight stick without breaking the bank.Guess what? It's a freaking garbage mini stick. Check out the attached photo comparing it to my Hori Fighting Stick Ex 2 - a perfectly good fighting stick that I bought in 2008 for 60 dollars - to the Alpha. The Hori has a stamped metal base that gives it some weight. The Alpha is all-plastic and feels like a cheap toy. The Hori has good spacing on the stick and buttons. The Alpha is a cramped mess. My thumb was about an inch from the stick. I played with it for about an hour and it just felt terrible, terrible, terrible. This is exactly the thing to rub me the wrong way.I spent another 20 bucks and I really feel I got an inferior product to something I bought 8 years ago for a previous generation's consoles. What is happening? Why can't I get a couple good quality 70 - 100 dollar mid-sized stick for a current gen console so that my brother and I can crush each other's heads in style?The buttons and stick seemed of good quality. Two stars. No stars for the undersized base, the flimsy lightweight feel, and the cramped layout. People with small hands or kids will probably be ok with this stick, but I can't speak for them. I can only speak for myself.

For it's small size this fight stick is pretty impressive, don't let the mini form factor turn you off. I don't play fighters too seriously, so I wasn't looking for a high quality tournament style stick.It is quite light though the all plastic construction is solid, the case does not give to pressure or feel like it will break from easy use despite initially using it.Buttons are full size and personally I never use more than the 6 buttons so losing the extra 2 bigger sticks have was actually preferred. I have average sized hands so it never felt like I had no space to be efficient with the stick, just can't spread out as much until you get accustomed to the size.I have mainly been using this on Street Fighter 5 on PC, and came across no functionality issues. After a dozen hours the buttons still feel responsive, while the stick sometimes seemed at times to not always respond. Could be my still getting used to the game or being in the panic of a match that I just don't input correctly. I find it best to set the controller on a pillow on my lap or wedge between my knees, just need to find what works.While the stock buttons still felt passable for casual play I decided to upgrade everything. I installed all Sanwa buttons and joystick. It did require some extra work but still wasn't too tough. To keep it simple I just cut the existing wire and crimped on quick connects and reattach, no soldering mess all for under $40.All told I'm happy with this stick for arcade games, shmups and fighters even if I didn't customize it. If you have big hands or take fighters real serious then I'd suggest the higher end models, otherwise give this one an honest chance.