Before I go on to the review itself, I want to be very clear that your controller is just a tool, and a tool won't automatically make you the best fighting game player in the world. Sure, better tools help by giving you specific advantages, but they won't magically make you better. That said, the 8BitDo Arcade Stick does have features that will make it easier for you to win, at least online.
The main attraction of the 8BitDo Arcade Stick for me was the fact that you can connect it to your PC and Switch through a number of methods - Bluetooth, a dongle, or via a cable. Now some people are going to scoff and say "wHy wOuLd yOu cHoOsE tO cOnNeCt viA bLuEtOoTh hrrr drrrr latency hurrrr durrrrr" because that's been the common perception of Bluetooth for a while (even though DualShock 3, DualShock 4, Xbox One controllers all use Bluetooth). However, in my testing, that doesn't seem to be the case, at least for the 8BitDo Arcade Stick. But before we get to those results, let's go over the review section by section.
Packaging and Accessories
All 8BitDo products are packaged as if they were top-of-the-line premium accessories. They're packaged better than some expensive Razer and Nacon peripherals. As for accessories, you don't really need much, so they don't add a lot to it - it comes with the dongle, a long USB-C cable, a user manual, and a little card with cutouts and labels that mark what each button does in different languages.
Build Quality
8BitDo products are always top-notch when it comes to the materials they use and the build of their designs. The 8BitDo Arcade Stick is no exception. The body feels solid, and there's very little give when pushing down on it. It weighs 2.1kg, which is nice and heavy because you don't want that stick to move around when you're using it. Most of the weight is concentrated on the metal plate fixed onto the bottom of the assembly. And yes, I've dropped it, and it's still alive.
Comfort
One of the few shortcomings of the 8BitDo Arcade Stick is its size. Because it's smaller than a more mainstream fight stick, there's a little less room for your palms to rest, making long gaming sessions a bit uncomfortable. Also, sometimes, there's a tendency for the entire arcade stick to flip upward. And if you wanna put it on your lap, you're either gonna have to rest it on one knee or you'll have to put your knees together and squish your balls (if you have 'em) together just to keep it steady.
Buttons
Each button, designed to feel like a Sanwa, does a good job of emulating the feel of the popular fighting stick button, although they're not exactly the same. If you have no idea what a Sanwa feels like, then you won't mind one bit that the 8BitDo Arcade Buttons feel the way they do. The feel of each button is good. They're clicky and responsive, and they spring back quickly. However, for someone who does know how good a premium fighting stick button feels like, they'll be able to pick up on the difference quite easily. As for me, who isn't too picky with arcade stick buttons, these feel just fine.
The Stick
While this might not be such a big deal to those who aren't used to playing on fight sticks, mainly because you wouldn't have a point of comparison, I thought the stick was a little lackluster. If you've tried even something as basic as a Hori Hayabusa lever, you'll find that, while this is comparable, it is a little loosey goosey. It doesn't snap back into neutral as quickly as it should but it's totally usable regardless.
Connectivity
Like I mentioned at the start of the article, this is what caught my eye initially. And I'm happy to report that regardless of the method you choose, you'll get comparable latency across the board. Here's what I did: I shot a DualShock 4 wired and wireless as my control at 120 frames per second on two games - Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V. Then I did the same with the Razer Raion, and the 8BitDo Arcade Stick wired, wireless via dongle, and wireless via Bluetooth. I counted the frame when the button depressed as frame 0 and then counted the frames between frame 0 and the first frame of animation to get the number of frames of latency. I did it a number of times to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Here are my findings:
Dualshock 4 wired on Tekken: 5 frames (at 120 fps)
Dualshock 4 wired on SFV: 4 to 5 frames
Dualshock 4 Bluetooth latency on Tekken: 4 to 5 frames
Dualshock 4 Bluetooth latency on SFV: 4 to 5 frames.
Razer Raion on Tekken: 4 to 5 frames.
Razer Raion on SFV: 4 to 5 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick wired on Tekken: 5 to 6 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick wired on SFV: 4 to 5 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick dongle on Tekken: 5 to 6 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick on dongle on SFV: 4 to 5 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick Bluetooth on Tekken: 4 frames
8bitdo Arcade Stick Bluetooth on SFV: 4 to 5 frames
Software and Macros
Let's get one thing straight - using macros is cheating. It completely removes any executional requirements from moves that were designed to be unusable by unpracticed people. If you do wanna cheat though, the 8BitDo Arcade Stick has two macro buttons and they work really well. Want to pull off an electric with a press of a button perfectly and consistently every single time? Done. Want 'Gief's super with just a button press? Done. Want Raging Storm with no execution whatsoever? Done and done.
Ultra-Moddable? Sort of.
While yes, the body can host a large number of fight sticks, and the buttons are easy to replace, the pin header on the motherboard is very, very unusual. Instead of having a regular 5-pin header (or even a 6-pin header), it has a weird as hell 8-pin header. That's because there's one wire for each cardinal direction (up, down, left, and right) and one ground wire per direction. Normally, the ground wire is daisy-chained so there only really needs to be one. Thankfully, there are a number of ways you can mod the lever of your choice into the body.
If you fancy soldering, the option is there. You can solder wires into the U, D, L, R, and G soldering points. But that's such a hassle - it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Instead, you can just plug a 5-pin connector into the 8-pin header, or do what I did and use DuPont cables! The ground cable right next to my directions was busted so I needed to skip one to the left to get it to work.
Conclusion
As a beginner stick, you can't really beat the value. You can get it today for ₱2,500 or so, or around $50. It's an amazing stick for that price! And should you decide to level up and replace the lever and buttons, you can totally do that with the right knowledge. Too bad you can't make it bigger.
8.5Score