I received my TvC Fightstick yesterday and thought I’d give my initial impressions of it. (Full disclosure: I am a stock owner, lol.) As for the stick itself, I’m pretty much loving it. I’ve read reviews that said it was light, but it’s heavier than they lead me to believe. The construction feels great, and it has an all-around sense of quality to it that you wouldn’t expect from Mad Catz. A lot of people replace the buttons and stick with japanese arcade Sanwa parts. Perhaps as I become accustomed to the finer points of arcade controls I will decide to upgrade, but at the moment I don’t see any real need.

Anyway, product specifics aside, the real change here is that I’ve switched to arcade-style controls. As I mentioned earlier, I knew my execution would take a huge hit for a while until I got used to it. Well, I am actually quite surprised by the small amount it’s off. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bit away from being up to par on it, but I’d say I’m playing at maybe 80% capacity right now, which is really not that bad. That being said, it’s pretty damn frustrating to lose to a mediocre player just because you can’t execute a launch (df+C) or a dragon punch. But I definitely see potential for better execution in the long run with the new controls. There’s also something that’s just really fun about playing with arcade controls. Hopefully those launches and DP’s will fall into place quickly.

Also, yesterday I ordered another video game accessory.