[10/9/2007] QuasiCON 2 Player Arcade Stick Review

[9tendo]

FPS on an arcade stick.. very challenging. That all I'll say about that

 

I have a Quasicade 2 and that exact Quasicon stick. I've had it for about two years now and it's been beat up by hundreds of customers. I haven't had one problem with it. It's very durable and well built. I like the range of motion on the digital stick better on the Quasicon. On the X-Arcade it's a smaller circle so in fighting games you tend to jump when you don't mean to. In all fairness it could just be a matter of getting used to. For example GC mentioned he had problems doing a Hadoken on the QuasiCON, for me its the opposite - Range of movement is great on the Quasicon but do a hadoken on the X-Arcade and I sometimes jump instead. Like I said it could also be a matter of what you're used to.

 

The Quasicon's pressure sensitive buttons are useful and nice to have. Especially if you're playing a racing game or something that requires it. Oh and XBMC fast forward and rewind sensitivity. You've got ALL the buttons here, even the analog stick clickers (there are separate buttons for those) which X-Arcade is missing. Think of all the Xbox emulator defaults configured to use this. You don't have to worry about crazy and repeated reconfiguration. The extra analog sticks are great for N64 emulation. I was just playing Starfox just now with full controls . Try that on an X-Arcade. Oh and it's nice being able to turn XBMC volume up and down with the right analog available.

 

The button colors and layout were kind of too much for me at first but you get used to it. The colors help differentiate your buttons and the lit up legend helps tremendously too. On the X-Arcade, you've got less buttons but they're all black and no legend to tell you whats what. I see customers adapt pretty fast to the Quasicon and XBMC interface because of this. On the newer sticks they ditch 1 button used only for PS2. The main 6 buttons you'd use for fighting games are similar to a slanted 6 layout you see in neogeo or custom arcade sticks - it's just a reverse curve, not to big of a deal and easy to get used to. I am not fatigued at all when using these buttons. At first I was but all it takes is some breaking in and the buttons are not hard to push at all.

 

I think the controller gets alot of flak because of all the extra stuff on it but it's really in a different class. The stick caters to wider range and is meant to be fully compatible with game consoles. And the mention of 'Handicap friendly' on their site is just a selling point. It's not like there's a big wheelchair symbol and handles on the thing If all you play are 2D fighters then maybe the stick isn't the absolute best choice for you. But if you want wider compatibility and a better d-stick (in my opinion) go with the Quasicon. The Quasicon 2P is gigantic though and is best experienced mounted to your custom arcade cabinet or a Quasicade.

 

Finally in this forum I don't even have to tell you guys about Xbox Emulation. Xbox emus are built for Xbox1 controllers. The Quasicade translates nicely right into this. I have a Quasicon 1P (single stick) at home and man it's great being able to play on all of those emulators on a solid stick like this. It feels really genuine. My cousin was just at my place last week and was tripping out on the controller. He hasn't played killer instinct in over 8 years but was busting out ultra combos or whatever like he just played it yesterday. With this controller, a cabinet, and tricked out Xbox with all the trimmings you can't go wrong.

Edited October 11, 2007 by 9tendo

[9tendo]

P.S. The "clicking" in joysticks, is due to the use of cherry microswitches. I prefer to hear that click, and know that my switches are still in good working order. No click, me need new switch.

 

Both my Quasicon 1P and 2P joysticks click. 8 clicks in full rotation

[L.S.D]

Look like you are an arcade owner When are you going to open one in Malaysia?

[9tendo]

Look like you are an arcade owner When are you going to open one in Malaysia?

 

Nah just have it in my waiting area in a computer repair shop. But that's a good idea! Quasimoto actually designed a coin-op panel called the Timecade which stops the controller from working after a certain amount of time until you put more quarters in. Pretty cool, but on the other hand, it would really suck to be halfway through a level or boss and have the stick cut out on you. It would be nice just to tie a slot to one of the buttons but you're only getting functionality of that through MAME / doX / eoX / X.

[2eyez]

A lot of elbow rubbing is going to occur.

[Shibathedog]

yeah there is a program that makes joystick buttons into keyboard presses. I forget what its called though. IJTF is right, there are some things that dont make sense about it, but same for the X-Arcade, i mean it should be alot cheaper :/

 

they should sell a DIY kit or something

 

I think i might pick this up over the X-Arcade though, 9tendo brought up alot of points that answered a few questions i was kinda wondering about, What do you use for the insert coin key? I was going to configure them as the pinball buttons on the side, but is there some special button for that somewhere?

[9tendo]

What do you use for the insert coin key? I was going to configure them as the pinball buttons on the side, but is there some special button for that somewhere?

 

For the XArcade/Xbox/MAMEs you got two Starts at the top. Coin (back), I configured them for the side buttons yes. If you go X-Arcade make sure you get the tank stick since the first X-Arcade has 1P and 2P too close together.

 

QuasiCON/Xbox/MAMEs - Coin (back) is top blue and direct to the right of it is Start which is the orange button. Same thing on the 2P side. No pinball buttons on this.

[Gryph]

Nicely written review, GC. This sounds like a damn fine joystick. I'm glad there is some major competition to X-Arcade now. The compatibility for this one is astounding so if I had to get one it'd definitely be this.

[BlackKnight]

Great review but I can tell I won't like this product.

 

The handicap-friendly design doesn't interest me but it's really the pressure buttons and stick that annoy me. Pressure sensitivity? Personally I'd only buy an arcade stick to play arcade style games on- ones that maybe were designed with a stick in mind. Analogue buttons just become a nuisance not only because of the tiring you mentioned but also because of the inherent delay involved. For something like Street Fighter you need to have a button press register in split seconds - struggling to fully depress a button can be a problem as I see it.

 

The same goes for the stick. I've seen a lot of solid bat sticks but really if they don't let you get off quarter circles quickly and easily then the durability doesn't matter at all. I'd much rather bash my way across 5 or 6 Hori Fighting Sticks for that price than use something durable that makes the basic motions difficult.

 

Not that I'd necessarily buy either but insofar as you're comparing the QuasiCON and the Tankstick the latter suits me far more. Buttons on the side and a trackball would be useful in emulating some of the more eclectic arcade games out there. On the other hand I can't see any real use for the analogue sticks unless you're playing a console game... in which case I'd imagine you'd either really be disabled or should be using a gamepad like the developers intended instead.

 

The layout cards are about the only things I do like about this stick.

[Agozer]

Great review GC. Like BlackKnight, I wouldn't buy this product for a few reasons, still:

 

a) I don't have the money for it, nor would I never blow that much money on and arcade stick thingamajig, and like mentioned above, the pressure sensitive buttons become a hindrance in fast-paced arcade games. They are OK for casual console gaming I'd imagine, but then again, I wouldn't find it very enjoyable using an arcade-style stick when playing say, MGS2.

[9tendo]

In regards to the analog buttons, full depress is not required to register actions that don't require analog sensitivity so it's really quite easy and very responsive. Same goes for your D-stick, there is no delay. In fact, D-sticks vary from cab to cab, game to game, console or stand-up. Having actually used it and having the opportunity to use many different D-sticks out there, QuasiCON has that part down no doubt about that. I actually have a Hori for Xbox1. The button layout and feel is great but the stick is limited in motion and it's range is in a small box instead of a circle so it's very hard to pull off moves in fighting games even though it does say "Fighting Stick" on it.

Edited October 14, 2007 by 9tendo