After I bought a new chair, I decided that I needed a smaller arcade stick. I thought about buying a DIY kit from Norris but it would have cost $150 for the pre-painted kit, the PCB and the wiring. Instead, I opted to purchase the Standard Edition FightStick from Mad Catz for $70. It's not that good of a stick on its own, but it can be top notch when modded.


My SE stick after the mod. I used cyan blue Sanwa buttons and a Sanwa JKF stick with bright green ball top.

The stick ships with knock-off Sanwa parts for the stick and buttons. The stick itself is pretty decent but the buttons felt hollow and fragile. Despite this, the stick is worth it for modders. It uses the same PCB and internal wiring as the Tournament Edition stick which is a top-notch stick by all accounts. The casing feels great. It's ABS plastic on the sides with metal plates on the top and bottom. The Start and Select buttons are on the part of the stick that faces the television so you don't accidentally press them during a match. On the upper left of the stick is the turbo panel. It has a turbo button, a light grid to let you know which button is set to turbo, a home button and, most importantly, a lock button. By locking the panel, you don't have to worry about accidentally hitting the home or turbo buttons during a fierce match. The stick also features a very long USB cable, much longer than the HRAP3 cable. It's a nice feature. The inside of the stick is also very impressive. All of the buttons use quick disconnects which are covered with rubber caps. The PCB has a label for each button, making this stick a modder's dream.

While the stick and buttons are questionable, the other parts of the stick are very nice. The wiring is clean and easy to work with. The body is nice and heavy and feels very durable. The bottom part of the casing has a slope to it which feels very comfortable. Once the stick is modded with Sanwa parts, it becomes a mini TE stick. I really like the smaller size and the feel of the Sanwa JLF. In fact, I find this stick to be better than my Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 AE, which sells for $150. The modded SE cost me a grand total of $125. I elected to not change out the 3 Punch/3 Kick buttons. I prefer to play arcade style and would have plugged the holes if not for the game requiring those buttons in some menus.

Final Verdict: As a stand alone product, this kit gets a 5. It's average and probably not quite as good as the Hori FS3. Once modded, the product's rating goes up to a 10. I really love the form factor and heft of the casing and getting to know your hardware is easy due to the labels and clean innards.

How to mod up
On Saturday, I received my Sanwa JLF stick and 6 cyan buttons. The SE is easily opened by removing the 6 screws on the bottom. Replacing the buttons was simple since the buttons are snap-ins. All you have to do is squeeze in the locking mechanism and gently push it through the front of the stick. I used needle-nose pliers to remove the quick disconnect clips and then slid them onto the new button, lightly crimping afterward to ensure a snug fit. Then simply push the new button into place. This was an easy process that I completed in about ten minutes.



Changing the stick can be challenging if you're not careful. Your first step is to use a flat head screwdriver to pry up the red good on the mounting screws. Once the goop is loosened, use the needle-nose pliers to gently pull the goopy stuff out. This takes a little while but it's time well spent. Once the goop is removed, use a philips head screwdriver to remove the four screws holding the mounting plate in place. Take notice of the direction the PCB connector faces. Next, remove the four screws holding the JLF stick to the mounting plate and rotate the mounting plate so that the connector is facing the same direction as the stock stick. Place the JLF stick in the position the stock stick was in and finger tighten the four screws. Once you've verified that the positioning is right, tighten these screws and refasten the connector. Test the stick before replacing the bottom panel since it's a pain to put it back into place. Once you know the stick is functional, place the metal plate on the bottom and finger tighten the screws. I found that the plate needed a thump to pop back into place on the bottom of the stick. Finally, tighten the screws.