"X-Arcade's sticks are perfect for your MAME machine."

[fjl]

"X-Arcade's sticks are perfect for your MAME machine."


How dare IGN say that? 

They're giving some bad info to the general public about quality parts.

http://au.retro.ign.com/articles/867/867066p1.html?RSSwhen2008-04-16_135600&RSSid=867066

Hey congrats delusional for getting your Vid on IGN.

[wbassett]

I have a TankStick.

I wouldn't say it's a bad unit.  It also does fill a niche.

I definitely am not a pro with building arcades systems like some on here, but I have played my share of them growing up.  The parts may not be the 'best', but they're not bad and not the worse.

Where it has its strengths is you are up and playing immediately.  For some that's not a big deal, but designing and making the cp can take some time, especially if you are engineering a modular cp or a large cp with every controller conceiveable, and you are still gathering your parts.   For instance I know my final cp is going to take several months to design, tweak out, and finish... but I can play games right now and enjoy the arcade.  Even my wife likes playing it, and if it was just sitting there for months taking up space, I know she'd be through the roof!

I haven't found any play issues with mine.  All the buttons, sticks and trackball are very responsive, and it has a lifetime warranty.  If something breaks, XGaming will send a replacement button or stick.  From my experience, lifetime warranties really mean for the life of the company, but XGaming has been around for awhile and even this site does recommend them.

Like I said, they do fill a niche and really aren't as bad as I've heard some on here say they are.  Now for the cons...

There's nothing worse than building and designing 'the ultimate cab'- totally customized with personal artwork and your own creative flair... and then have a controller that screams prefab.  The big 'X' on the top can take away from the overall look, and the box itself doesn't exactly look like an integrated part of my cab. 

I had one stick that was a bit sticky when moving to the right, but after one game it works fine now. 

There are some control buttons on the back side of the unit that to me are worthless, especially if you build a box to set the controller in.  I can't see any easy access to these buttons for a permanent setup, and one in particular actually has a usable function...  it disables left/right on the track ball for certain games that only require an up/down roller.  How many games need this?  I honestly don't know, but say one happens to be one of your favorite games, you wouldn't want to pull your controller out everytime you want to change modes.

I also don't like all the buttons being black.  It would have been nice to have some color and I'm used to the fire button being red, things like that.

Other than that, I haven't had one play issue with it.  Oh... this isn't a play issue as far as something not working... My wife did complain about playing Pac Man with an 8-way stick.  For my final custom cp, I definitely will have a dedicated 4-way installed just for games like that.

Hook up is a snap... you plug the trackball into a USB port, and the other controller cable either into the keyboard port or you can connect that to a USB port as well.  There is a keyboard pass-through on the unit so you can have a keyboard connected as well.  The cables are very long too, so you can move the unit around- not something really important for a cab, but it is easy to place anywhere.  You can also hook it up to just about anything, not just a PC.

So my assessment and opinion is it really isn't a bad controller.  The tank stick may be a bit pricey at $200, but it is solid and everything works and responds very good.  Since I will be ultimately building a modular cp, I'll be using different parts.  I can do several things with the TankStick...

• Use the parts for some of my modular panels
• Use the trackball since it does work good and it's USB and an easy setup
• Take the TankStick upstairs and use it on my secondary PC in my office for both some quick game play, or for game testing and setup before moving the game to my main cab
• Give it to my son who would kill to have it!
• Sell it and re-coop some of my expenses

I'm not an X-Arcade fanboy or anything like that.  It isn't perfect and I can see where some people may not like it (mainly due to its looks), but it isn't bad either.

For the casual to intermediate player, and those that either aren't good at building their own setups, it's definitely worth a look. 

[Fozzy The Bear]

"X-Arcade's sticks are perfect for your MAME machine."
How dare IGN say that? 
They're giving some bad info to the general public about quality parts.

Actually it's not bad information.... I have sticks made by X-Arcade in my panel and they work very well thanks!

They work much better now that I changed the microswitches out for Cherry Red ones. But they're not a bad stick. Not perfect but not bad either. So if somebody doesn't have the inclination to build their own (and a lot of people don't want to) and just want buy a set of sticks, they're really not a bad choice.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[whatzcrackn]

Yeah I have a Tank!  Do not know if I like or dislike.  It is just sitting in the box it came in.  I already have a CP with cab so........ dunno what to do with it.

I think it is well construted.  I did not pay $250.00 but got it when it was $99.99, I think it was a steal for that price!

[wbassett]

They work much better now that I changed the microswitches out for Cherry Red ones. But they're not a bad stick. Not perfect but not bad either. So if somebody doesn't have the inclination to build their own (and a lot of people don't want to) and just want buy a set of sticks, they're really not a bad choice.

I haven't had any problems with the micro switches yet, but I'll probably order Cherry's since they so seem to be the best.  My son was amazed at his dad's arcade skills!  (I used to be my home town Defender and Star Gate champ when I was growing up).  I was able to fire off shots in Defender like Jessie Ventura and his mini-gun in Predator!  Let's put it this way, the buttons are responsive enough that in Defender I can shoot a pod and then blow away all the little orange flying saucers that come out of it without ever losing a beat!

The main thing is I don't like everything black.  Some people may, but I want some colored buttons...

[severdhed]

i have an x-arcade 2 player unit that i purchased many years ago, and since removed all of the components and installed them into my own panel.  yeah, they may not be top of the line components, and maybe not the choice for arcade purists, but for many people, they are just what the Dr ordered.  they are light years beyond most of the "arcade sticks" you can buy for home game consoles, which are usually mostly plastic and cheap feeling, and they also introduce people into this hobby.  I bought my x-arcade for use with my dreamcast/ps2/gamecube/xbox.  it was mainly used for fighting games like soul calibur for several years.  then one day i decided to hook it up to my PC and play MAME on it.  after about 2 days of this, i realized that i could have my own full size arcade cabinet, and therefore i built my own panel and used the components from the x-arcade.  they are working just fine. i think the sticks feel ok, and so do the buttons.    i have played alot of the local arcade games and i can't say that my controls feel any worse than the ones in the arcades.  my friend just built his first control panel using happ competition sticks, and happ horizontal pushbuttons, and once again i can't say i prefer one over the other.   the only real negative thing i can say about the x-arcade is that the wiring on the encoder can be a pain in the butt if you are transplanting it into your own box.  the wires are very short.  the lack of color is possibly a negative, but i like black too.

i am going to be building a new panel here probably in the next month or so, (making it a little wider to make more room for my 4way stick and spinner) and i dont' want to mess with the x-arcade wiring again, so I am going to buy an ipac and all new sticks and buttons, so i can get some color.  at that point i will put my x-arcade back together and use it for playing Metal Slug anthology on my Wii, and possibly on my one other PC that i do alot of mame testing and stuff on.

my point is, x-arcade makes a great product, it isn't top of the line, but it definately isn't bottom of the line either.  it is a great starter panel for anyone thinking of building their own.  it is also great for console gaming. (if only they would get an xbox 360 adapter working...).  And i believe that it is one of those products that will get more mainstream attention and introduce people to the world of building your own arcade controls.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Yeah, I saw that IGN used my video.  :-)  Pretty darn cool of them, although it would've been nice if they gave me credit somewhere and mentioned my name.  Oh well...

Anyway, thought I'd chime in.  I originally ordered the Tankstick XXL from X-Arcade when they had the pre-order "special" back in September of 2007 for $99.  But since then (it was taking forever to get here) I canceled the order and used the $99 towards building my own 4 player panel.  I'm glad I did.  Yes, it was a bargain at $99 (especially for the XXL version for full size arcades), but I'm glad I didn't order it, since I'm much happier with my unit that I built myself.  It just felt good to know that I built it MYSELF.

A friend of mine who always sweared by X-Arcade, ended up building his own quad panel recently and hasn't looked back at X-Arcade since.  He bought the $99 unit too and ended up selling it on e-bay (didn't even open the box).  He also sold his other dual unit and two trackballs that he used on his MAME arcade.

So to sum it up, X-Arcade is relatively inexpensive, is a quality product and is a great beginner joystick for those who don't have the time or money to invest to build one on their own.  But for serious enthusiasts, it is only a stepping stone to greater glory:  building your own.

~ DeLuSioNaL

[amadama]

I just picked up a used Tankstick right by my job for $80. I love it! For that money I was not going to build it myself!