This question has probably been asked before, but here you go:
I'm not a too proficient player, but still I feel an arcade stick will serve me better on certain genres than a gamepad. So I'm planning to get one for Playstation. Unfortunately, most of the games I want to play are on PS2 (Gradius3/4, Metal Slug 3, Virtua Fighter 4, Tekken 4/5, Capcom Classics Collection etc.). Later I plan to switch to PS3 games. I own both consoles, the PS3 being a slim model.
The stick need not be high end but has to be durable and accurate. I'm willing to pay accordingly, but I don't seem to find a suitable product. The better (more renowned) sticks I can find are for PS3 only and multi-platform sticks tend to be crappy (at least I fear them to be). I was thinking of getting a good PS2 stick and an adapter for PS3 later but I can't find such a thing at first sight, at least not in Germany. Or perhaps there's a good multiplatform stick but I have difficulty filtering out the crappy ones. So I need advice.
For example I stumbled upon this stick:
http://www.lioncast.de/Playstation3...3-Arcade-Fighting-Stick-auch-fuer-PS2-PC.html
It was rarely reviewed (although favorably), but it's suspiciously cheap at €20. Crappy or not? I really can't say.
Please help!
I would recommend not buying that stick, but to be fair I'm judging it solely by appearance and don't know anything about it. Your fear of multi-platform sticks is unfounded, and it is possible to have fully compatible lagless sticks that work on 360, PC, PS3, along with even legacy consoles. For retail sticks, your best bet would be a Mad Catz or Hori stick with Sanwa/Seimitsu parts (the Sanwa/Seimitsu part is very important). Since you are looking for PS2 compatibility, an older Hori Real Arcade Pro is probably what you're looking for. Otherwise, perhaps the old Playstation 1 Namco stick if you can find one. I don't know the market in Germany for arcade sticks so perhaps you might need to find an online retailer, or find someone in America to help (I probably wouldn't mind doing it) if you're willing to pay the high shipping fees.
Outside of that, your options are custom sticks which come with a bit of a premium; this will vary tremendously depending on what exactly you want out of a custom. Eightarc is out of stock at the moment but sell quality 360/PC/PS3 compatible sticks with Sanwa parts, and there are many talented custom stickmakers at SRK's Tech Talk sub-forum if you want fancy things done. Getting a custom stick or a stick modded with a MC Cthulhu (
http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.ph...mp-thread-try-our-new-dreamcast-flavor.46572/) would give you the native PS3 compatibility you are looking for, along with support for PS2, DreamCast, Xbox, Gamecube, NES, SNES, 3DO, Saturn, and PC-Engine.
Oh, and if you opt to go for the PS2 stick + PS3 adapter path, I believe that the iNPiN converter is considered the standard:
http://etokki.com/Playstation2/iNPiN-PS2-to-PS3-Converter. However, if you have any interest in 360 at all, be aware that it is much easier to add PS3 (along with older consoles) support to a native 360 controller than it is to add 360 compatibility to a PS3 stick.
Finally, I have a modded Tekken 5 HRAP (was for PS2) stick that I gutted and swapped in Sanwa parts, an MC Cthulhu, and an ArtHong plexi for. I fitted it with an RJ-45 port for detachable cables, and made cables for PS3/PC, SNES, PS2, and DreamCast. I might be willing to sell it, but given the fact that you're in Germany and this is your first stick, it would probably be more than you're looking to spend. Here's what it looks like if you were interested:
http://i.imgur.com/OWpzm.jpg. I actually have one of the Namco PS1 sticks lying around and would probably be willing to sell that as well, if you're interested:
http://www.comicsclub.net/store/images/P/namcoarcadestick.JPG (not my pic).
I can remove that last paragraph if buy/sell isn't ok in this thread, I typed all of that stuff and then thought, hey I've got these sticks lying around, maybe this guy might be interested.
