RoboKrikit said: ↑
 
    I picked up a TvC stick yesterday and played with it a bit. I really like the matte control panel label on the stick itself. If you've been lucky enough to play on a naked arcade control panel without any plexiglass protecting it, this is what it feels like, and it's nice. Seems like a Lexan label (polycarbonate)? If this is the same stuff mamemarquees is using for their prints I may be making an order soon...
 
    There've been a lot of general impressions posted so I'm going to mostly focus on the stick and buttons. This is really more of a review of the new MadCatz Sanwa clone components.
 
 
    The Buttons
 
    The buttons are Sanwa OBSF-30 clones. They're more of a neutral white than the Sanwas. The button casings are virtually identical with a couple differences.
 
    * MC buttons have little cutouts on the bottom of the button casings
    * MC buttons have slightly less material on the nubs directly underneath the rim
 
    The cutouts are pretty much irrelevant, though they may make button presses slightly louder. This is sort of like the difference in sound between screw-ins and snap-ins, where the sound of screw-ins is a little more muffled.
 

 

 

 
 
 
    The new casings are branded with the MadCatz logo.
 

 
 
 
    With the switches disassembled, we can see the primary difference between the two is the size of the spring. MadCatz has a similar but longer spring inside the switch. The functional pieces of the casing are essentially identical, as are the steel balls. Aside of the gold connectors the fundamental difference is the spring, and this is what lends the MadCatz button to have a slightly stiffer feel than the Sanwa.
 

 

 
    Note the difference in alignment in the contacts. Sanwa seems to manufacture with a pretty low error tolerance and the contacts are virtually always very well-aligned. The MadCatz variants are sometimes slightly off, though this seems to make no noticeable difference in the behavior of the switch.
 

 

 

 

 
 
    The little piece in the switch plunger that holds the spring in place is situated a little differently between the two; the MadCatz has it centered in the center of the spring hole, while the Sanwa has it off-center of the hole, which actually puts it closer to the center of the switch. This isn't due to difference in camera angle, they're actually like this.
 


 
 
    After seeing the insides of these switches, it should come as very little surprise that when I swapped only the springs between the MadCatz and Sanwa and reassembled the buttons, the MadCatz button felt like a Sanwa and vice-versa.
 
 
 
    The Joystick
 
    The joystick is a Sanwa JLF clone. MarkMan posted previously that they were unable to get rights to the Sanwa TP-MA PCB/switch assembly that the JLF uses, so MadCatz built their own using similar (the same?) Omron microswitches and a compatible connector.
 
    The gates appear to be functionally identical; the 8-way/4-way selector in the center is also the same. Since the casings and components of the two sticks are so similar, pretty much anything from the JLF should be able to be used as a replacement.
 
    I accidentally swapped left and right in a couple of these pix, but they are labeled correctly.
 
 

 

 
 
    The spacing between the actuator and microswitches (the "dead zone" ) seems the same.
 

 

 

 

 

    The microswitch contacts look decentered here due to the way they are wired to the PCB; when the stick is assembled they are firmly centered.
 
 
 

 

 
 
    The D3V-16-3A5 microswitch up close.
 

 
 
    The shafts have the same dimensions; the slot at the bottom used to unscrew the balltop is deeper on the Sanwa.
 
 
 
 
    Again we get to the important difference between the two sticks, and the one that makes the biggest difference in the way the stick feels and operates: the spring. This is again a little longer in the MadCatz part with its extra coil, which creates some extra stiffness. Those who dislike the looseness of the JLF may like this, and those who feel their TvC stick is too stiff have an easy option: replace the spring with its JLF equivalent. Is your shaft stiff enough?
 

 
    As for the actuators, they appear almost identical; my MadCatz sample is slightly tighter around the shaft (either shaft, they are the same). The bit that actually actuates the microswitches seems to be the same size.
 

 

 

 
 
    The spring covers are the same. The MadCatz stick came with an over-generous application of grease, which is what you see here and all over the shaft, actuator, spring, enclosure, PCB, washer, etc.
 

 
 

 
    So what's the upshot of all this? The stick feels like a stiffer JLF. The buttons feel like stiffer Sanwas. If you could get an individual pack of springs for the switches, in theory you could 'upgrade' to Sanwa for a few bucks and some spare time. But if a JLF and Sanwa buttons that are a little stiffer than normal are more to your liking, you may as well keep what it comes with.
 
    Good shit MadCatz! Hopefully we see these components in future sticks (new SE for Super?).
 
    Please post or PM me any corrections.