The arcade stick is the beat‭ ’‬em up aficionado’s most important tool,‭ ‬and with‭ February’s console release of Street Fighter IV,‭ ‬players the world over will be hunting for the right controller to give them an edge over the competition.‭

Traditionally the best arcade sticks are built in‭ ‬Japan,‭ ‬by Japanese manufacturers using Japanese parts.‭ ‬So why is Mad Catz,‭ ‬a western thirdparty peripheral‭ ‬manufacturer of mixed reputation,‭ ‬now responsible for the official SFIV‭ ‬controllers‭?

And moreover,‭ ‬why is the beat‭ ’‬em up‭ ‬community so excited about it‭? ‬We spoke to Mark Julio,‭ ‬one of the fighting stick experts employed by Mad Catz to work on the hardware,‭ ‬to find out.



Edge:‭ ‬Beat‭ ’‬em up players seem to become as attached to their sticks as they do their in-game characters.‭ ‬Why do you think that is‭?
Julio:‭ ‬A familiar and reliable arcade stick puts you in a comfort zone,‭ ‬important for playing at your best.‭ ‬You want to stick with what works best for you with how you control your character.‭ ‬I have over‭ ‬70‭ ‬different arcade sticks,‭ ‬but when it comes down to serious competition I only use the one or two that I am most comfortable with.


How did you come to be involved in the Street Fighter IV stick project with Mad Catz‭?
I’ve been involved with the competitive fighting game community for well over ten years now,‭ ‬attending competitions and collecting,‭ ‬reviewing,‭ ‬and modding arcade sticks for my site sdtekken.com.‭ ‬I’d just started working in the customer support department for Mad Catz when a member of the product team heard of my‭ ‬expertise and approached me.


What are the main differences between Mad Catz‭’ ‬two official‭ ‬FightSticks‭?
Each is made for a different audience.‭ ‬The standard FightStick is the perfect choice for anyone who wants to get that same arcade feel from the official Street Fighter IV arcade unit.‭ ‬I think any massmarket player will be very happy with that purchase.‭ ‬If you want to take things a step further, ‬the FightStick Tournament Edition provides the‭ best home arcade experience available.‭

It was heavily inspired by the Viewlix arcade cab,‭ ‬uses the exact same parts and layout as the official SFIV arcade cabinet,‭ ‬and has all the same features the regular FightStick has plus some unique innovations of its own.‭ ‬Opening up the arcade stick will show just how much detail,‭ ‬engineering and research was put into the design.‭ It’s fair to say that the price difference between the two reflects this,‭ ‬so you really do get what you pay for.


Mad Catz is a company that has a reputation for cheap thirdparty peripherals‭ – ‬how did you feel when it first approached you about working on a stick‭?
We’re not oblivious to the reputation a lot of‭ ‬thirdparty accessory companies have,‭ ‬nor will I pretend that every product Mad Catz has released in the last decade has been worthy of design awards.‭ ‬But we’re now focused on quality and not quantity‭; ‬we’re a very different company today to that of a few years ago.‭


Are the sticks all made from Japanese parts‭?
The standard FightStick will use our own Japanese-styled parts and the Tournament Edition stick will use premium components from Sanwa Denshi.


Which component manufacturer do you think is better‭ – ‬Sanwa or Seimitsu‭?
It is purely a matter of preference.‭ ‬When it comes to arcade stick levers the Sanwa ones are traditionally the most popular as they have set the standard for precision and durability.‭ ‬Seimitsu has a different feel as the spring is tighter and the actual lever goes back to neutral faster.‭ ‬Both work well for fighting games,‭ ‬but overall Sanwa is‭ ‬usually the preferred choice amongst serious gamers.‭ ‬For the push buttons,‭ ‬the Sanwa ones are more sensitive and react better to the touch.‭

Seimitsu ones require more pressure to engage the actual input.‭ ‬Again,‭ ‬it is totally a matter of‭ ‬preference in how you want your stick lever and buttons to react while you play.


How do you feel going up against companies like Hori,‭ ‬whose products you’ve no doubt been using for many years‭?
It’s exciting.‭ ‬We knew going into this project that,‭ ‬in order to satisfy the hardcore fans,‭ ‬we needed to put something out there that was at a previously unseen level of quality.‭ ‬With no disrespect to Hori,‭ ‬I don’t think their range of sticks has evolved much beyond the new artwork variations in the last few years.‭ ‬You could say that their sticks are already so good that they don’t need to evolve,‭ ‬but I think that we’ve set our standards higher still.‭


How has Capcom’s Street Fighter IV team been involved in the project‭?
We’ve worked closely with Capcom’s Seth Killian and the game’s producer,‭ ‬Yoshinori Ono,‭ ‬on the designs.‭ ‬We’ve had direct feedback from the game’s team on the FightSticks and they’ve been extremely influential in helping us create what we think are the best arcade sticks on the market.‭ ‬It’s been a true collaboration.