Game Room Guys Happ Red Ultimate Joystick 8 Way with Switches

If you are one of those people who bought an X-Arcade console and are not happy with the included “leaf switch” joysticks, these Happ competition “square actuator” joysticks are for you. They are essentially drop-in replacements that will enable you to perform all the classic Street Fighter styled moves. The circular motion is not quite as smooth the Sanwa’s or IL sticks (hence the 4 stars), but it gets the job done. These are a must-have if you are going to be playing fighting games on the X-Arcade consoles, and you prefer the American style sticks.

One of the original sticks (Happ Supers originally manufactured by IL) in my HotRod SE went bad, and I got one of these as a drop-in replacement. Used the 8-way actuator & its comparable to the super. I'm no expert & can't really tell a big difference between the original sticks and this one, aside from the fact that it works flawlessly.

Over the course of time my joysticks in my X-Arcade Dualstick wasn't giving me the responsiveness and accuracy I needed in games like Super Street Fighter IV. Simple sweep patterns with the original sticks was nearly impossible because you couldn't feel a definitive click or gate when performing that quarter circle. So unless you're God you just didn't know when you were actually at 100% in any specific direction.Installation of the sticks was easier than I had anticipated. The most difficult part was attaching the C-shaped metal clip that goes on the bottom of the stick to keep it from flying out under the pressure supplied from the spring. Using the right clip makes all the difference. I didn't realize it until it was too late, but I first installed the wrong clip on the end. I installed the original clip from the x-arcade stick, and because of this the stick wasn't floating correctly and I would hear/feel a crunch when the stick was moved. I installed the correct clip and the problem went away instantly.For those wondering, the gate is technically square but the hole in the X-arcade board is round and restrictive, maintaining technically a circle gate.Well recommended. Switch quality is great, build quality is solid.

These things live in my office's Mortal Kombat now. They're not as good as they used to be, but they sure aren't bad.If you're a hardcore arcade nerd you're probably not reading this because you know, but if you're trying to replace some old sticks from say the 90's with the closest thing you should look for sticks made by IL. They used to make sticks that happ would rebrand and import to America. After a falling out between the companies Happ went on to make their own sticks in China.The Chinese made sticks are fine, though they use lower quality switches, and the actuator is cheap black plastic instead of slick nylon. Some go as far as moving the switch locations because these sticks are not made to the tight specs of the old ones.Buy em if you don't care about any of that and probably never even notice any of it.

Works perfectly, is easy to install. This is a professional joystick that's built for arcade style games. The shipping was fast and easy.