Sega Gear: ASCII Fighter Stick SG-6

[Melf]

You're playing Mortal Kombat 3 or Street Fighter II CE and you just can't take the controller's unsuitable D-pad. What's a gamer to do? Why, get himself a real fighting stick, that's what! There are plenty of candidates available (as evidenced by our Accessories & Peripheral Guide), so which to choose? There's the stellar Sega Arcade Stick, but those can be hard to find and are sometimes even pricey. A good alternative is the ASCII Fighter Stick SG-6, which gives you plenty of options to get the best out of your fighting game experience. Check out our Sega Gear review and see if this is the stick for you!

[Rusty Venture]

ASCII made great controllers back in the day. The quality rivaled that of what both Sega and Nintendo put out.

[Joe Redifer]

The Genesis was not good enough for true ASCII products, so we got the cheap ASCIIWARE instead.

You're playing Mortal Kombat 3

NEVER!!!!!

you just can't take the controller's unsuitable D-pad.

Then perhaps I should be using an official Sega 6-button pad. Can't be beat.

[Flash1087]

Isn't this the joystick in those "HOW I SAVED THE WORLD FROM CROCODILE PEOPLE" (or something similar) ads?

Always wanted one as a kid so that maybe I too could fight crocodile people. I never actually owned any Genesis games that would be any better off with an arcade stick, at least not at that age.

[Rusty Venture]

Yup Croc people ad.

I have a ASCIIPAD SG that i bought years ago and still use to this day. Solid as a rock and my weapon of choice when playing SOR2.

It's a shame they never made a 6-button pad that *WASN'T* using the SNES button placement, the SG d-pad is far better than the stock Sega 6-button controller.

[Thierry Henry]

Got me one of these just the other day. They don't go for a whole lot nowadays. Mine cost the equivalent of $15.
So far I reckon it's a great stick. Very responsive and the whole unit feels very solid to me. That's always a plus in my book. I mean you get these really great looking arcade sticks but that don't have that arcade type feel because there's no real "weight" to them. This one is different. Thumbs up!

[GohanX]

Does this thing use real microswitches?

[Thierry Henry]

^^

AFAIK, the Japanese version of the stick does use actual microswitches.

[GohanX]

But the US one doesn't? Meh. My quest for the Capcom Genesis stick continues...

[Zz Badnusty]

I purchased the Capcom Stick and hated it. Returned it for the ASCii stick. The capcom stick had a really loose stick with a wide swing angle iirc. And the whole capcom unit felt hollow, light, and cheap.

The ASCii sticks are my default Genesis/Sega CD controllers.

The opical sticks they made for Dreamcast are some of the best home joysticks ever imo.

The joysticks they made for Saturn were cheap and junky though.

[LinkueiBR]

This ASCII 6 Button Arcade Stick it's a really great Arcade Controller option for the Mega Drive!

Played a lot of my favorite games with it and it works GREAT!

I only got a problem with Mortal Kombat (the first one). The game simply don't detect it!
Only works with the MODE trick, but like a 3 button controller... Ouch!
Now i don't know if it's a problem with my Fighter Stick SG 6 or with the game.

Someone with this same Arcade Stick have this same problem in MK1?

[Barone]

This ASCII 6 Button Arcade Stick it's a really great Arcade Controller option for the Mega Drive!

Played a lot of my favorite games with it and it works GREAT!

I only got a problem with Mortal Kombat (the first one). The game simply don't detect it!
Only works with the MODE trick, but like a 3 button controller... Ouch!
Now i don't know if it's a problem with my Fighter Stick SG 6 or with the game.

Someone with this same Arcade Stick have this same problem in MK1?

This is an issue with MKI.

Both this and the ASCII PAD MD-6 use a bit different protocol than the original Sega Arcade Pad.
OTOH, WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game even has a proper layout dedicated to the ASCII Pad.

[LinkueiBR]

This is an issue with MKI.

Both this and the ASCII PAD MD-6 use a bit different protocol than the original Sega Arcade Pad.
OTOH, WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game even has a proper layout dedicated to the ASCII Pad.

Ouch! So i will need to fix this for my MK1 Arcade Hack...
I'm playing WRESTLEMANIA other day with it and i see the layout for ASCII PAD in the options. Never seen other game doing that.

Thanks for the clarification!

[Iced Snowman]

This ASCII 6 Button Arcade Stick it's a really great Arcade Controller option for the Mega Drive!

Played a lot of my favorite games with it and it works GREAT!

I only got a problem with Mortal Kombat (the first one). The game simply don't detect it!
Only works with the MODE trick, but like a 3 button controller... Ouch!
Now i don't know if it's a problem with my Fighter Stick SG 6 or with the game.

Someone with this same Arcade Stick have this same problem in MK1?

Yup, I have the same problem w/ MK1. I have 4 each of the ASCII Fighter Stick SG-6s. Bought them "like new" years ago, in their original 90's boxes and they are solid.

There is a company on eBay which is still selling ASCII Rhino Pads brand new. I picked up 2 each recently and they work great. If I had a complaint about them, it would be that they are a bit small for my hands. I just tried them out on MK1. Its so weird, on the Player 1 port, when you hold down the Start button it blocks but randomly unblocks, blocks, unblocks, etc. B and Y don't do this, they just block. When pressing the Start button through the menu screens, you really have to press down hard for it to register. Also, the C button is spotty when you press it. It either works or it doesn't. If you hold down the C Button, it will randomly kick like a turbo feature. The turbo and auto were off on the Rhino Pad, so this was strange. On Player 2 port, the Rhino Pad worked flawlessly. I swapped the identical controllers on the ports and the same results occurred. I then held down the Mode button before I powered MK1 on. It switches the controls to 3 button and the Start & C buttons work flawlessly.

I doubt that my Player 1 port on my Model 1 is malfunctioning because my other games are working fine. It has to be that MK1 does not like ASCII.