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Qanba Q4 RAF Black Black Version

Qanba Q4 RAF Black

The Qanba Q4 RAF lacks tournament-level chops, but it's a premium arcade stick for those who want to street fight on their PCs.

Qanba Q4 RAF Black

Fighting game aficionados know the need for finely crafted equipment better than most gamers, as they frequently forgo conventional gamepads and the imprecision that comes with thumbsticks. For these warriors, the arcade stick is their sword, and the Qanba Q4 RAF Black ($149) is a very good blade. The arcade stick may not be as tournament-worthy as Mad Catz Killer Instinct FightStick Tournament Edition 2, but it's a very good choice for fighting game fans who want a high-quality, multi-platform stick for their local and online rumbles.

Platform Compatibility
The Qanba Q4 RAF Black has been on the market for some time now, which is directly reflected in its listed system compatibility. The arcade stick—also available in Ice Blue, Ice Red, and White + Red—is designed for use with PC, PlayStation 3, or Xbox 360. A switch located on the Qanba Q4 RAF Black's upper-right corner lets you place the stick in either Xbox 360 or PC/PlayStation modes. This triple-threat, multi-platform flexibility is one that isn't available in every arcade stick; the Mad Catz Killer Instinct FightStick Tournament Edition 2, for example, is for use with PC and Xbox One.

If you have a Windows 10 computer, it will recognize the stick regardless of the mode. The Qanba Q4 RAF Black also worked well when connected to a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. I didn't test the Qanba Q4 RAF's compatibility with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but a device such as the ControllerMAX CronusMAX may prove useful in getting the stick to work with current-generation video game consoles. Note: If you want arcade sticks designed for current-generation consoles, check out the newer offerings from Hori and Mad Catz.

Home, Mode, Select, and Turbo buttons also grace the upper-right portion of the stick. Home is the button that you press to register the stick with a PlayStation 3. Mode lets you set the joystick to behave like an old school D-pad or a modern left analog stick. Select lets you bring up options or cycle through menus. Turbo is, well, turbo; it adds rapid fire to all buttons, which is great for shooters like Mushihimesama (not so much for fighting games).

Qanba Q4 RAF Black

Built to Last
The 2.5-by-16-by-10-inch, 9.5-pound Qanba Q4 RAF Black feels good in use. Its ABS plastic body has enough heft to feel substantial when sitting on a desk or lap, yet isn't cumbersome. In fact, Qanba built a handle directly into the top of the stick's casing, so you can carry the entire thing like a briefcase. The handle is a nice feature, but it looks cheaply made compared with the rest of the Q4 RAF Black's construction.

On the plus side, the Qanba Q4 RAF Black has a feature that all future arcade sticks should adopt: a felt-covered base. This small-but-vital addition gives the stick's bottom extra grip, and prevents it from sliding about when you're making aggressive inputs. A useful compartment built into the left side of the stick lets you easily store the Qanba Q4 RAF Black's 8-foot USB cord. Sadly, the cord isn't designed to cleanly disconnect when tugged, and the flimsy door easily falls off. The quick-disconnect cord is a feature that Mad Catz wisely implemented in the Killer Instinct FightStick Tournament Edition 2, so that you don't send your PC or console crashing to the floor if the stick's cord gets yanked.

A headphone jack is also built into the stick, and an inexpensive pair of headphones are included.

Pushing the Buttons
The Qanba Q4 RAF Black's guts contain the same Sanwa parts that you'd find in a Japanese arcade machine: a square-gate JLF joystick and OBSF-30 buttons. That may sound like technobabble to those new to the world of arcade sticks, but those in the know will appreciate the use of these components. They're designed to handle extensive wear and tear, just as if they were handled day-in and day-out by hundreds of gamers at an arcade.

The buttons are convex and arranged in a two-row Vewlix-style. In my tests, this proved the perfect arrangement for a game such as Street Fighter V, which maps the light, medium, and hard punches and kicks to the first three buttons on the top and bottom rows, respectively. I was able to pull off Shoryukens and Spinning Piledrivers in a way that I could not using the Razer Wildcat or standard Xbox One controller.

Besides the eight aforementioned Sanwa OBSF-30 buttons, another relatively small button graces the arcade stick's face: a Start button that you use to start or pause gameplay. It lives just to the right of the eight main buttons, which makes it incredibly simple to reach. This is good if you're the average gamer, but potentially bad if you're a pro player. When a game's on the line, you don't want to accidently hit pause and thus disqualify yourself from a tournament win. The Killer Instinct FightStick Tournament Edition 2's Start button is on its back wall, so you need not worry about accidental presses.

Qanba Q4 RAF Black

Mod Bod
The Qanba Q4 RAF Black isn't as easy to open up as the Killer Instinct FightStick Tournament Edition 2. Mad Catz's stick has a latch that lets you easily pop up the top panel, but Qanba's offering requires a screwdriver and the application of some wrist action to close to a dozen screws to get it open.

Once you're inside, the components are all exposed so you can maintain, repair, or customize them as you see fit. Sadly, the Qanba Q4 RAF Black's artwork is bound to its plexiglass protector, so you must purchase a new piece of cut-to-size plexi if you want to apply your own custom art. It'll run you approximately $10 from Amazon and other online stores. Note: modding the Qanba Q4 RAF Black voids the stick's 90-day warranty.

The Stick of Truth
Qanba's offering lacks a few ultra-premium essentials, so it isn't the tool you'll wield in a tournament setting. For that, you'll want a high-end stick from Hori or Mad Catz. That said, the Qanba Q4 RAF Black is the weapon of choice for gamers who want to brawl with their buds using a quality, reasonably priced stick that's compatible with multiple platforms. 

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

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