After 4 months since the arrival of Street Fighter 4, Play-Asia finally has Madcatz products in stock along with some arcade joysticks from Hori.

At the time of this post, the products posted below are available in stock. If you haven’t pick up any arcade joysticks, here’s your chance to do so now.

Links Updated 22nd August 2009

Xbox 360

Hori Blazblue Fighting Stick (available)

Hori Fighting Stick EX 2 (pre-order for September 2009 restock)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightStick Tournament Edition (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightStick (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightPad Ken Edition (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightPad Blanka Edition (available)

Playstation 3

Hori Blazblue Fighting Stick (available)

Hori Real Arcade Pro Stick 3 (pre-order for August 2009 restock)

Hori Fighting Stick 3 (pre-order for September 2009 restock)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightStick (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightPad Ryu Edition (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightPad Chun Li Edition (available)

Madcatz Street Fighter IV FightPad Ken Edition (available)

King of Fighters XII Arcade Stick for Playstation 3

Joytron The King of Fighters XII 3in1 USB Pro Stick (White) (available)

Joytron The King of Fighters XII 3in1 USB Pro Stick (Black) (available)

Exar The King of Fighters XII USB Stick (available)

Other Playstation 3 arcade joysticks that might interest you (cheaper than Madcatz or Hori)

Mayflash Universal Fighting Stick, Saulabi 4k Arcade Joystick, R4 Ready4 Fighting Stick

These guys have been around since the launch of Street Fighter IV but us folks in Asia were having an impossible time grabbing one. Even the reliable Play-Asia has met its match when it comes to getting stocks for the FightPads & FightSticks. I pre-ordered one since January and come early May with nothing to show

I was getting fed-up of waiting and decided “Oh screw it, let me just grab one from E-Bay”. After two weeks of waiting, it finally arrived last Friday.

So what was my first impression? It felt cheap, in terms of its build. The best word to put it would be light or fragile. Perhaps it has been a long while since I held onto a “Saturn” controller, without the weight of batteries.

That aside, how does it perform for Street Fighter IV? Thankfully it has the best overall performance compared to Microsoft and other 3rd party controllers. Note that I said “best overall”. The FightPad is of course not without its issues. While the d-pad works great when performing special or ultra moves, it has some problems registering diagonal movements. Instead of jumping forward or backwards, your character will just jump in place. Emphasizing on the “cheap” build, the d-pad doesn’t feel that solid. With complains about the d-pad giving way after a few weeks, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Let’s see what else … buttons no complains, 6 face and 2 trigger buttons work great, turbo function and mic port could definitely use some extra work. Using my Earforce X1, I could hear Neko clearly but apparently my voice seem muffled to him. Problem solved by using the original Microsoft controller for voice chat.

Conclusion? Only get it if you wish to move on to the next level in fighting games (heck, having 6 face buttons and a working d-pad is definitely a level higher than MS controllers). I will do another post a couple of weeks from now to show how the Fightpad is holding up.

Other controllers you might want to check out : Cyborg Rumble Pad, Hori Pad EX Turbo