Changing sticks for my Qanba

[Flagg]

So i've had the Qanba about a month now, and I love it. The button layout is so much superior to the Fightpad I was using before. The only problem I have is the stick still.

The most infuriating part, is how I cannot dash or walk and then hit a nuetral jump. I seem to always jump forward or back. The same with hitting a uppercut or low poke on reaction, I always seem to hit diagnal forward or back instead, which of course can result in a special move.

So first of, I think im going to replace the lollipop with a baseball bat and see how that feels. When I played MK II in the arcade years ago, of course, I never had issues like this and they had baseball bat tops (im aware that this is many years ago).

I'm also wondering if the Gate is an issue. The Qanba is 4 way, but I hear you can get sticks that come with a device that lets you switch from 4-8 way, like the Mag-Stik. Are these any good? Or is there better dual gates I can purchase? Some reviews say that the Mag Stik and Mag Stik Plus "throw" is too stiff, but right now I find the stick for Qanba too sensitive.

Does anyone know what kind of gate system the MK arcade cabinets used, as I can't seem to find any information on that. Thanks.

 

[Sasuga]

I'd go with replacing the gate first.

http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/sanwa-gt-y.htm

You can easily replace this in your qanba stick. Just open it up, remove the 4-way gate then put this in. I can highly recommend it!

If that doesn't solve all of your (stick related) problems, you can try stretching the spring in the stick. There's plenty of youtube videos that show you how to do it.

 

[Satan1]

Oldskool IL-sticks have a square actuator (they don't really have a gate like the sanwa/ seimitsu's do), I think a square gate is best for MK as the game doesn't have any charge characters like SF does. An octagonal gate will only make it more difficult "feeling" the directions.
Edit: But this is again, personal opinion, it looks like it worked out for Sasuga. So just try it out (the modding is the fun part of joysticks)!

I think most of your problem has to do with the spring tension of the stick. If you don't have extra springs, try stretching the spring that's inside the joystick. Do this gradually untill you have the tension you want.
A tutorial on spring stretching:

Another option is to order different kinds of springs and play around untill you have the one you like, they are quite cheap (they're aprox. 1 dollar a piece) so order different kinds and play around with them.
Just order the Seimitsu LS32 (soft) , LS33 & LS55 (hard) springs and test them out. You can even combine the springs for extra tension, just try some out and decide what's best for you. Some people like the LS32+33 combo, other just the LS55+JLF-SP, it's all a matter of personal opinion.

Battop - balltop is personal choice/ playstyle.

[MENTION=6085]Sasuga[/MENTION] : lol, had the page open for to long, didn't see that you posted...

 

[Sasuga]

Oldskool IL-sticks have a square actuator (they don't really have a gate like the sanwa/ seimitsu's do), I think a square gate is best for MK as the game doesn't have any charge characters like SF does. An octagonal gate will only make it more difficult "feeling" the directions.
Edit: But this is again, personal opinion, it looks like it worked out for Sasuga.

I actually wasn't too happy with stick altogether for MK. But not because of the gate. I think pad is better for MK. Or hitbox.

 

[Satan1]

I actually wasn't too happy with stick altogether for MK. But not because of the gate. I think pad is better for MK. Or hitbox.

Yeah, lot of people think the same.
Playing on pad just makes my fingers cramp up after a while, with stick it just feels more comfy.

 

[Sasuga]

Yeah, lot of people think the same.
Playing on pad just makes my fingers cramp up after a while, with stick it just feels more comfy.

I had trouble with combo's that require you to double input a direction in it. Like reptile's forceball juggle combo's.

 

[Verstande]

I have no problems with my Qanba Q4, it takes time to get used to.

 

[Satan1]

Stretching the spring made double taps easier for me, as the stick travels faster to a neutral position. With the standard spring it felt like you had to move the the stick back to neutral yourself, resulting in lots of execution errors.
I still have a lot to learn though, but I guess it's just a matter of practise, practise and more practise.

 

[Badboy Takuma]

So i've had the Qanba about a month now, and I love it. The button layout is so much superior to the Fightpad I was using before. The only problem I have is the stick still.

The most infuriating part, is how I cannot dash or walk and then hit a nuetral jump. I seem to always jump forward or back. The same with hitting a uppercut or low poke on reaction, I always seem to hit diagnal forward or back instead, which of course can result in a special move.

So first of, I think im going to replace the lollipop with a baseball bat and see how that feels. When I played MK II in the arcade years ago, of course, I never had issues like this and they had baseball bat tops (im aware that this is many years ago).

I'm also wondering if the Gate is an issue. The Qanba is 4 way, but I hear you can get sticks that come with a device that lets you switch from 4-8 way, like the Mag-Stik. Are these any good? Or is there better dual gates I can purchase? Some reviews say that the Mag Stik and Mag Stik Plus "throw" is too stiff, but right now I find the stick for Qanba too sensitive.

Does anyone know what kind of gate system the MK arcade cabinets used, as I can't seem to find any information on that. Thanks.

i think that is a problem of input engine, not the stick

 

[Flagg]

Thanks for the input guys!

@ Sasuga, Gremlin Studios is awesome and it's where I got my Qanba from in the first place. I was having a look on there earlier at custom parts. A bit unrelated, but me and my sister have got my dad a PS3 for christmas and I might get the logitech steering wheel which is only about 30 pounds on Gremlin! As for the spare parts, yeah, I don't mind spending money on stuff...i mean it's relatively cheap, like that restrictor plate is only 5 quid. If I buy a bat, and don't like it, I can simply go back to the ball top....

@ Satan's Haze, which brings me to what you said! I'll try the thing with the spring out. It might just be that I need the stick to be a shade stiffer. And you're right, Modding is half the fun! Even though I love how the Qanba looks, i've been thinking of doing something with this like....:

It's not games related, but im the biggest Punisher fan and I thought something like this would look cool on my Qanba stick.

I play the game completely fine on my Madcatz pad. The only issue is, I get desyncs with my pad, which is really, really annoying. Plus, I WISH they could do fightpads with the button layout that you get on TE sticks:

And instead, virtually ALL 6 button fightpads have button layouts like:

I probably could mod a pad to resemble where the buttons are located on the face on a pad, but for now i'll concentrate on the Qanba. It's just that for years, since I picked up a SNES pad, i've always plinked moves with my fingers, even on pads, rather than using a thumb like a lot of pad players do.

Like Verstande and Shura have said, it could be just me..but having a play around wont hurt.

@ Mapusa, im not sure what you mean by the input engine? How the game registers? It cant be that, it's me. However, on the Qanba, I can move the stick from down, to downforward (like a half dragon punch) and the game registers this as a down - forward. This for me, feels completely unnatural however, and it's also why I need to do something because i hate going for a low poke on reaction, doing a df or db by mistake and a special comes out instead.