Xbox360 Fighting Stick EX 2

 (69 customer reviews)

let us make something clear, if you aren't going to play fighting games, you should not buy this stick. i tried it on pacman championship edition and pacman was acting like a drunk. It works just fine for DoA4, Virtua Fighter 5, and Street Fighter, but don't even think about trying anything else with it. The one thing that it does have going for it is the fact that it is the only fighting stick on the 360, unless you want to cough up a couple of hundred dollars for one with a picture of kokoro on it. And there is one other matter that needs to be considered. it clicks. the stick itself clicks like a card trapped in some bicycle spokes. Some people love it, some people end up in padded cells because of it. A good indicator of how you would react is how you feel about the strum bar on the guitar hero controllers. Finally, if you have been playing fighting games with a controller for some time, prepare to be practicing for some time in order to be competent. it is worth it in the end,...Read more

Overall, I am happy with this stick. Just so you know, the VF5 edition is this same exact stick with a sticker sheet in the box and VF5 sticker on the front. Once you open it up, it is clear that it's the standard FS EX2 repackaged.

I would have preferred a face button layout that mirrors the actual 360 controller, but reassigning buttons is hardly a task. The joystick has a square box to work in (if you're not sure what I mean, I am referring to the track beneath the surface that the stick traces), which might feel strange to some, but I don't really mind at all. I have used it to play SF2:Turbo and SF3:3S on Live. I was more successful with 360 degree motions and super combos in 3, but I think this is the result of a more forgiving input system for later SF titles. The joystick sat comfortably on my lap while playing with the headset plugged in. It may be an issue if you use voice while playing, but the clicking sound can get rather loud in the heat of battle. It...Read more

Keep in mind that this is not quite the arcade stick you are probably used to from back in the day. It's a Japanese-style stick with a ball top instead of a bat top, and convex buttons instead of concave. The main difference is that the stick is much more sensitive: a light touch is all that's needed to set the stick off, and this in turn makes the kind of movements that advanced fighting game players need much easier to make.

An entry-level stick like this isn't going to compare in feel to a proper arcade setup or the premium-grade Hori sticks, but it's certainly going to do the job that you need it to do. If the special move doesn't come out on this stick, you can be assured that the problem is not with the controller. That said, this is still a world away from the awful 360 d-pad and the best quick solution for 2D arcade games. The stick will serve you suitably until, one day, it breaks. It doesn't break easily, but heavy play-- mine went out after about 2000 Virtua...Read more