Monoprice Arcade Fighting Stick Controller, Retro Gaming, Arcade Joystick, USB Port, Compatible with Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Android - Dark Matter Series

Actual arcade stick for entry level priceI grew up on an arcade stick, but It took me so long to get one. Why? Mainly the price I guess, but Monoprice put up a sub $100 stick with all the features I need, so I decided to bite.About this stick:This is based on the OEM of MadCatz ego used in PRO fighting tournaments, so its been road tested.The Sanwa JLF lever is amazing. For any premium arcade cabinet, these are standard out in the arcades.Performing a difficult 360 degree Zangief pile-driver was done the first time and every time. i found this nearly impossible on the Sony d-pad, even harder on the analog sticks.Jumping and diagonal downward Kamehameha fireball motion is so easy in one swift motion.Outside of fighting games, I tested lots of 2d brawlers, the retro games I grew up with. The light clicking sound is actually fun feedback to use, and definitely not loud. With headphones on and no sound, you can no longer hear it, the feel is great! The gate is a 4 way, which I thought would be harder for 360 movements but I find this thing so easy as mentioned I don't know If I want to switch to an 8 way.One thing about me is I have oily, not sweaty hands and the ball can get slippery, but thats something I can fix, more below.As for the buttonsThese are Sanwa, in the Viewlix layout, which is similar but slightly different than the Namco design. Overall you adjust to this layout fine and is far superior than a straight layout (unless you re a robot).At first I bottomed out the buttons, which I thought were long action and fatiguing, but later realized that the actuation is actually halfway down or level with the button rings. I'm like why don't these click with feedback like the stick?After I went with a lighter touch, all was good. So I was doing it wrong!the buttons are quite fast if you press them lightly, rapidly and halfway down. I still think I'll buy some aftermarket mechanical buttons for the feedback click, but only if they are quiet. The Sanwa buttons are very quiet which unlike other sticks won't disturb everyone in the house. Because this is Sanwa, I know they will stand the abuse, the mashing for many years so its not something I'm eager to change out of necessity, more for preference.. Speaking of whichModding:The great thing about this stick is that its a modding platform. As I mentioned, Sanwa lever might get slippery for some but a new ball top with more grip can be screwed out and those are cheap. The buttons are standard size 30mm and can be swapped out for whatever concave, convex, mechanical, long throw, short throw , click feedback or color that you want. There's something I crave for the clicky buttons so I may swap in the future.. The top part you can change out art and there's a good standard site for it called "focus attack" , google that, it happens to share the OEM with Madcatz EGO. I'll surely get a couple inserts and store them in a portfolio for my stick.Weight and base:Not too heavy not too light. Perfect size. With other sticks in the same tier or lower u will get a smaller base that doesn't have the ability to stay upright on your lap and may get flipped on your desk , depending how light it is. There's also a couple of sticks out there that have no business being so heavy.This isn't a problem with this stick and is just right for weight and size.Other:Sound. The buttons are quieter than most keyboards and the stick has a nice click but won't disturb anyone. Pretty quiet overall!PS5 compatibility can be added through an add on stick for $50 at Monoprice.Overall play-ability:If you grew up in the arcades, this is a no brainer. If you never used a stick before, well try to go through the learning curve before tossing it. Be sure to pay attention to how many days you have on your refund policy if it isn't for you. I did a lot of different tests for reaction time and despite the stick looking like it has a longer travel time than a d pad,.I found it just as fast when doing blocks compared to a D pad. The buttons you will need to get used to using all 4 of your main fingers and thumb, you will be too slow if you rely onl you index finger and try to travel all the way to the right side buttons. For me, this is an advantage, not a handicap.Conclusions and comparisonsI think its difficult to fault this stick for anything at this price point.Can't say there's much cons for the money. I mean i could list what features it doesn't,but not right when those sticks cost 3x as much.For example yea it doesn't have the quick hinge to open the whole unit like Hori Alpha, but that is 250 usd. Hori buttons and lever arerivals to Sanwa and Hayabusa. For the same price, we can compare this to the 8bitDo stick, the Monoprice Dark Matter doesn't have wireless capability and 100% compatibility like 8bitDO which I considered, but that stick sacrifices going for generic and cheaper sticks and buttons, which don't have the feel and control of the 3 big dogs. You also are getting a small base and much lighter, which has its pros and cons. The moddability is much more difficult and very few levers are compatible with some buttons too big and long for it.The final point is that this stick has all the ergonomic needs of an arcade fight stick, it may lack convenience features but you still can do everything on it, even fully mod it and decorate the artwork, and get it to be compatible. I think if you end up not enjoying it, then sticks aren't for you. I have used MONOPRICE since 20 years now, they have become my favorite brand.Games testedDragonball FighterzTekken 7Soul CaliburRiver City GirlsUnder Night IN Birththe Punisher arcadethe Simpsons arcadeTMNT the arcade gameFinal FightStreet Fighter vs X-menStreet Fighter 3Marvel Vs. CapcomMortal Kombat 3

I've been a gamer for 40 years and I still remember the old arcades where you can go in and actually play the person right next to you. Those days are long gone but if you grow up in that era like I did having an old school arcade stick is a great way to play. This particular stick has performed exceptionally well and for reference I play a lot of Tekken. The stick is responsive the buttons are maybe a little too sensitive but as a whole it's incredibly reliable and definitely worth the money. If I had any bad takes on this it's that the insert graphics are a very odd size so it's a little difficult to print out your own and use it. I did try a few times but since I had to use two pieces of paper half and half I always had a seam somewhere but it's a moot point and not really that important to me. I would recommend this stick to anyone who wants to save a little money and still get a great stick. The only other suggestion I would have is to also get a hexagonal restrictor plate as this one only comes with a square one which definitely makes it harder to play those intense fighting games but in the end it's all your choice.

In terms of overall quality, this stick feels very solidly made. The body is primarily a durable-feeling plastic, with a clear front and replaceable art on the face. I couldn't feel any deck flex (bending of the face plate when buttons are pressed or hands rested on it) whatsoever. It has a solid suite of function buttons, including a Key Lock button so you don't accidentally pause and get DQ'd during tournaments, but the buttons are placed far above the actual lever and attack buttons, so I don't think it'd be much of a problem with this stick; however, it's still a nice feature to have. The bottom plate appears to be metal, and it gives the stick a really nice weight that stays planted in my lap even when I'm really tearing away at it.I replaced most of the internals almost immediately, so I can't comment as to their quality (they're apparently legit Sanwa parts, but imo most of that comes down to personal preference). I *can* however say that replacing those parts was fairly easy - the bottom plate comes off with 7 hex screws, which can be removed using the hex driver stored in the cable compartment in less than a minute. The button contacts took a bit more effort to disconnect than I would've liked, and a few of the snap-ins had strange orientations that made it hard to get my fingers in to press the tabs, but overall not too terrible. There is a sticker on the inside with a key denoting which color wires go to which button, which is helpful. If you're using screw-in buttons, you should have less of a problem (even less if you use one of the 3D printed hex tools for screw-in assistance you can get on Arcade Shock or Focus Attack).I replaced the lever with a korean lever (specifically an IST Alpha 49S), and overall it fit quite well, although I had to bend the topmost switch contact to get it to fit into the case, and needed to remove that switch entirely to reach one of the mounting screws, since there is a very tight clearance between the top of the lever and the back of the cable compartment. A bit inconvenient, but overall not so bad (and it's nice that it fits the lever at all). The Alpha works because it's no-collar and built for Japanese stick housings, but if you wanted to use a k-lever with a collar you'd need to do some drilling, most likely. As for mounting, I'm not sure if they'd fit, but it doesn't have any protrusions you'd need to sand down like on something like the Nacon Daija.My only main complaint with this stick is that on the bottom plate, rather than having rubberized pads so that it sits flat and grips, the rubberized pads are on raised feet. This might work just fine if you play on a table, but for someone like me who plays almost exclusively with the stick in my lap, these feet can make it really uncomfortable after a while as they dig into my legs during a longer session. I'm a bit of a bigger guy, so my thighs kind of cushion it a bit, but I can see someone with less cushy legs finding this to be a bit of a turn-off.Overall, I think this is a really solid stick, especially for the price. If you're a beginner, you'd probably be choosing between this and something like a Mayflash F300 or F500. Between this and those, I think it depends - if the uncomfortable feet on the Dark Matter are a bit of a dealbreaker, the Mayflash sticks have flat bottoms that should avoid that issue, but they're overall smaller in form factor and can be harder to upgrade. If you want something with weight, a nice wide form factor, and a *really* easy upgrade process, I'd go for this Dark Matter stick.TL;DR - Wide, weighty, *super* easy to upgrade. Only downside is protruding feet on the bottom that can be a bit uncomfortable in the lap.