FIGHTSTICK
Qanba Q4RAF - Vanilla Tekken 7
This was a simple mod; just an art, lever, and button swap. The art was created by Umasuke Sankana, and used with his permission. I also drew in Gon myself matching his artstyle, since I felt I needed to fill in that negative space a bit. I wanted to draw Jun in there too, but couldn't think of a creative way to add her in without being covered by the lever, and without just awkwardly floating in mid-air.
This fightstick was modded around the launch of Tekken 7 on PC, which explains the characters being left behind; there was no DLC released yet for T7. The lever is a Sanwa JLF with a bat-top (hard to see from this angle). I also replaced the shaft with a Phreakmods Link for easy storage when travelling. The buttons are all Sanwa as well. All of these parts were purchased from Paradise Arcade Shop.
Street Fighter 15th Anniversary - Pi Arcade
A much more involved project. This is the first fightstick that I bought with my own money. The original PCB was compatible with only PS2 and Xbox, so I replaced it with a Reyann Zero Delay PCB. The parts were all soldered and glued in, so I had to use some elbow greese to remove them. I kept the original art (which is beautiful), but it was such a pain removing it to swap out the lever. I'm just lucky the art wasn't damaged since this fightstick was stored in a hot garage for over a decade.
The buttons were worn out and getting stuck, and the stick springs had become too loose. I replaced all of the buttons and lever with Suzo-Happ parts, purchased through Focus Attack. I've even added backside button for Home. And since I gutted the original PS2/Xbox components, I repurposed the hole for the Xbox memory slot to house a USB hub. This hub plugs into a battery-powered Raspberry Pi 3B running Retropie, which the fightstick is also connected to.
There are two outputs from the chastise, one is an HDMI and the other is USB. Plugging in the USB to PC, you can use the fightstick to play games normally. Plugging in the HDMI to a TV and turning on the Raspberry Pi will turn the box into a portable arcade machine, with up to 4 players.
For QOL improvement, I added some soft-grip material to the bottom and removing the rubber feet. Now it's much more comfortable to use on my lap, and lower-profiled on tabletop. And where there used to be a storage compartment for the cable, I cut it out completely, so the door opens to all of the internal components.
I will admit that using these American parts feels nostalgic, but also feels very stiff compared to Sanwa levers and buttons which I've been using since 2007. While I do use an Etokki for 3D games like Tekken, I won't use it for 2D fighters like SF or KOF. And I feel like this SF15A stick feels quite very similar to the Etokki, so it'll probably be reserved for 3D fighters and arcade emulation.
Powkiddy A13 - Astro City or MVS?
Coming soon.
Etokki Omni - Black and Gold
Coming soon.
Arcade Wall Kiosk
Coming soon.