SFIV Arcade Cabinet (SM Megamall) Impressions

Went to Timezone SM Megamall over lunch break today to check up on the news that yes, we finally have SFIV arcade machines here in the Philippines. Upon arrival, I was happy to see that not only where there two machines (on system link), but that there was no line yet. So after getting my credits I sat in the vacant machine and challenged the guy next to me. Long story short, I racked up 3 wins before losing upon which I decided to follow the Japanese rule of not continuing (to let the player behind me play).

The game itself has been out for awhile so I'm not going to talk about that, instead I'll focus on the hardware and setup of the cabs. The cabs themselves are not Taito Viewlix cabinets but seem to be custom built cabs that mimic the Viewlix setup. The machines seem to have come from Korea and have Korean markings and instructions however the game itself is in English.

The main issue that I had with the machines however is the sticks used. Instead of the traditional Japanese ball-top stick (usually a Sanwa JLF), it has an American style bat-top that felt weird, loose and dare I say, spongy - surprising since the bat-top Happs sticks that I've tried before were usually tighter and more precise. Other than the slight sponginess, the thing that really threw me off was that the gate wasn't the traditional square gate which means that the corners weren't as defined as I would like.

The buttons themselves, flat topped coloured ones, while not the usual convex Sanwa/Seimitsu buttons worked fine, requiring only light action. However, the true test of buttons is in their durability over time, something which I cannot give comment on.

Finally having Street Fighter IV in local arcades is big news indeed. Those of us who are tired of the endless show of Tekken can finally have a proper 2D fighter to sink our teeth into. The choice of sticks for the custom cabs is a bit disappointing for those who prefer Japanese style ball-tops but in the end, I'd rather have SFIV with those sticks than no SFIV at all.

EDIT: Now with a couple of blurry cellphone images.

Viewlix clones, seem decent enough... until you see the sticks.

Those sticks are atrocious.