No, you're much better buying a MadCatz TE line stick or a Hori stick. It looks nice but it was farmed out to PDP who farmed it out to Qanda and are a distant third in the stick game. If you were getting it for $50-60 then it's a steal but at $100 it's better to spend $70-80 on a much higher quality stick and pick the game up when it goes on sale.
Qanba's stock buttons are way better than either Hori's or MadCatz's. I agree with your price assessment, though.
Well I'm talking about the TE level sticks that come stock with Sanwa. Personally I don't like Hori all that much but their buttons, which are meant to be knock-off Sanwa, are about the same as Qanba's in my estimation. A moot argument though since most people won't like them as much as Sanwa or Seimitsu anyhow. Right now the TE sticks are back up around $100 but have been $60-70 several times in the last few months and a much better investment.
This is a little off topic but could you tell me the quality of the Mortal Kombat TE? I know the buttons aren't popular atm but what about the overall quality?
This one? http://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Kombat-Tournament-Edition-Fight/dp/B004XNVQHG
The overall cabinet is good, it feels like a real arcade top. Solid wood and fairly large like 2X the width of a MadCatz TE stick, has good weight so it works for table play. Also has velvet and some padding on the bottom so you can use it on your lap. It's has a latch that you can pop open to store stuff or mod the stick. Everything is easily accessible so if you need to mod it's not difficult but your options are kind of limited because of the button layout.
I did a review of this edition a while back. I show size comparisons with other popular sticks, show off the DLC costumes, give some basic modding tips, show some of the guts, and a bunch of other stuff. It's a decent enough stick. Much better than stock Hori or stock Madcatz, but definitely not as good as a stick using Sanwa parts.
I personally love it.... for Mortal Kombat. The button layout is the worst thing about the stick. It is also the main reason the stick is necessary. Anyway, there are two versions of the MK stick out there: The TE and the Klassic. They both have wood bodies with plexi tops and both use Happ (American Style) buttons and sticks. The TE edition looks much nicer, is slightly larger than the Klassic Stick, and has an accessible compartment. The Klassic stick, however, has the edge over the TE because it uses cherry microswitches instead of e-switches (though not a dealbreaker/maker as those are easy and fairly inexpensive to replace). I recommend both sticks for use with Mortal Kombat. Heck, at the price you can sometimes find these at, I recommend them for someone just needing spare parts.
Thanks, it was actually the Klassic not the TE. I picked it up at GS for $40 and has been sitting in its box unopened, I am not much of a video game fighter person but figured to take the chance.
