Famicom ASCII Stick // LEGENDARY ARCADE STICKS 

Additional information not covered in the video: The original Family Computer Ascii Stick was introduced as a high-end luxury accessory in late 1986, originally retailing for 8,800 yen whereas other Famicom controllers were sold for well under half that. It indeed does use actual seimitsu arcade parts. The original 1986 model of the Ascii Stick for Family Computer used concave 24mm buttons, but by mid 1987, they were replaced by convex buttons like the example shown in the video. Near the end of 1987, Japan's bubble economy era was beginning to come to an end, and Asciiware discontinued the Ascii Stick in favor of the Ascii Stick II Turbo, which was a plastic stick with only a few metal parts and turbo fire that is much more similar to the western NES Advantage. This too was shortlived, then being replaced with an all-plastic design called the Ascii Stick Jr. Because of the original price, the Ascii Stick didn't sell amazingly well and are somewhat uncommon. As a result, prices for these sticks are still quite high, even domestically within Japan. It's also worth mentioning that the stick shown in the video is atypical. Every original Ascii Stick I've seen including the three that I own are all rusting to some degree, as are the screws. If you are looking to buy an Ascii Stick for Family Computer, the first thing you should do is disassemble it, clean the parts, and treat the rust.

That's pretty damn cool. Great video as always. Production is just, well, stellar. Love that you include footage from some of the games too. Keep well, and keep up the great work!

This is definitely the best looking famicom stick (and nicest looking to mod). However, the 'stock' Ascii Stick II Turbo, though plastic and slightly crappier looking is a more functional stick (requiring zero modding if using on a Famicom). With the 'Stick II Turbo' you can select between 4 or 8 way (very useful for Tengen's Ms. Pacman etc) and it has a dialable turbo function. It also has LED's (so you know, you can see your inputs and they flash at your turbo rate). It still uses (proprietary) Seimitsu parts. Much cheaper too.

Impressive video , as always. I love your production entirely, the arcade sticks shoots, your detailed descriptions, the music, the CRT's shoots while playing too......, very satisfying. Only one suggestion, maybe in the future if you let me say: It would be awesome if you included a little section of the video of you using the stick while playing, with clear sound of the stick while playing just to let us hear how satisfying the casing is and to understand more where your hands rest while playing. That would be an add to your absolutely perfect videos. As always, thank you

That stick is gorgeous! Excellent production value as always. Thanks for the info, effort, and good vibes!

Back in the mid 80s they made the inside of a stick look that tidy but 20+ years later Hori was still making a giant mess inside their sticks.

Great video! It would be cool if you included a section of the video where it’s an overhead view of you using the stick while playing a game, with clear, no music audio. Just to let us hear how loud and satisfying the casing is and to understand more where your hands rest while playing. Maybe in the future.

The insides blew my mind. Hella clean

Wow this is a gorgeous device. I like the exposed screw heads and silver metal top. The grid on the overlay is beautiful. Thanks for sharing it!

I just found your channel by accident this morning and binged all of your videos. I loved them all! It would be cool to see some footage of the sticks being used in gameplay, maybe in like a vertical split screen format or something? Keep up the good work man.

LOL, so you actually picked one up! I left a comment on one of your other videos telling you about this stick. It is an all-stock custom Seimitsu. Lift up the dust washer and you will see "Seimitsu" imprinted on the green part. Great video!

That looks waaaaaay different than the NES stick I remember. Very nice

Another awesome video, dude your B roll shots are top tier!

never heard of this stick cool upload

I NEED IT. I love my twin famicom!

You did this stick justice. Another thing about the panel which I think is really cool--art seems to be based on Jaleco Pony Mark III.

At 2:27 it's so ridiculously clean that the reflections on the button rims make it look like the buttons are holding stationary to the camera while the rest of the stick rotates.

I have the MSX version of this - it's so good.

I have recently discovered your channel and the contents are what I have been looking for. I would appreciate a NeoGeo controller episode with original and legacies such as X, PS2 and Wii. Thank you so much!

Awesome stick!!

Great to see ya scanline! Love your videos as always also, plsss upload more my guy! Anyways great stuff and keep up the good work!

I'm a NES/Famicom fan, and didn't know this stick existed until now. The only other Famicom stick I've seen is one with the same color scheme as the Famicom console.

Great video ! Now I want to play double dragon and Ninja Gaiden...bring back great memory :)

Glad to see you back, third time rewarding all of your videos including this one. You look healthier than previous videos... maybe it was the hats?

Had no idea this existed. I love my NES Advantage, but the lack of micro switches makes it feel cheap. Like you said, downside is not having turbo buttons (which are a must for some shooters) but that could probably be modded into it fairly easily. Great video BTW. I don't know anyone else on YT doing this level of content on just sticks.

You went through the whole video without ever using the controller. Speechless.

These videos are awesome dude, great presentation hope u get into making different content like gameplay vids or show off your collection and highlight games u love. Not to mention twitch streaming Id def follow you.

Loved Kung Fu as a kid...am 40 now and still fire it up...big big nostalgia. I would say for nostalgic sticks the Amiga zip stick would be big for Europeans...its not exactly an ls32 but you could deffo try it and a copy of Apidya 😎

didnt know about that one. thanks for the info as always!

Hi there. I know this is an old video, but it was fantastic to watch as I’m super keen to buy one of these. I have an Australian NES. I have a few questions. Are original NES control universal across the world? Ie if I was to buy one from America, will it work in my NES in Australia? And the second part of this question relates to the adapter for the cable that you have recommended. If I was to buy this controller will that adapter work for me in Australia? Thanks so much for your help and the excellent video.

i have two of these boxed, the second joystick actually plugs into the side of the first, not sure if they were originally sold in packs of 2

Actually it's a positive that this one doesn't have any turbo, as all turbo controllers do not seem to work correctly on NES via adapter cables... Makes this stick the go to gone!

Review the Hori Fighting Edge for the PS4.

Yeah really like that simplistic design, would love for you to review the Super Nintendo shika stick

What is the music? Description only has intro music

Have one for msx Thanks to my friend over Japan

Can I change the gate on this to make it 4-way?

Semitsu? So it was a stiff as hell button with a clicking sound. One of my favorites buttons

What's the rear port for?

will you make a video about your sony bvms sometime?

Any chance one of those Micomsoft XE-1 Pro sticks is on the video horizon?

Get a brooks board on your stick it’s awesome!

Like this videos!

Very cool

this stick comes in with 2 buttons and 1 deal breaker

Has anyone mentioned you look a lot like the UFC fighter Chael Sonnen?

Bruh, he still calls it ninja "gay-den" lol

After searching for it on ebay I found another pretty big downside :)

The inside of the lever's gate is classic Seimitsu style. Looks a lot like LS32. This is one hell of a hidden gem.

Talk about taking production from a 10 to an 11! Incredible work as always!

Pretty damn stylish. Like you said, definitely looks like seimitsu buttons. Dust washer looks like sanwa. Stick looks like it would be good for Tetris players, too.

Wooooo ASCII time!

Dude your production value is phenomenal

I just found one of these at a thrift store here in Japan for 500 yen. I love the hell out of it. I've been playing Crisis Force with it.

I have this and love it. Got the ascii stick ii on way in mail. . The build quality doesnt look as robust but has turbo. You tried it?

nice stick

Cool stick! I need to get one for mine.

I love video shots of real CRTs!👍🏼

And all we got was the Advantage. Damn.

You're back! Posting before watching

1:29 Not Seimitsu buttons. They are similar to Seimitsu PS-14-G but the button surround is much rounder than a Seimitsu surround. Also the plunger profile is not as flat as a Seimitsu. Omron XW6Z-0011 buttons made this look popular in the 80's and Seimitsu continued making a similar button as the PS-14-G that had Seimitsu switches.. The Omron surrounds were a bit more curved than Seimitsus but not like that. These are clones of the same style because it was the most popular style of button at the time and to save money on parts. Aa those are 24mm buttons. The 24mm Seimitsu surround profile is a bit different on 24mm buttons but still not that rounded and the plunger is sitting too high for a Seimitsu. And the joystick is a JLF style inspired clone with a short throw and the dust washer is Sanwa style but not authentic.. Definately not a Sanwa or a Seimitsu. But whatever those are i'm glad they work right.