We’ve covered and used several Mayflash products over the years including the GC Controller Adapter for Wii/Wii U and always found them to be extremely functional and useful. When Mayflash reached out to us to invite us to try out their new Universal Arcade Fightstick we jumped at the chance to put it through its paces. We’ll add a full video review to the top of this article once it’s ready, but for now read on to see what we thought of our time with Mayflash’s new mid-range universal arcade controller.
In our testing and upcoming video review we tested all of the major platforms that Mayflash recommends for the fightstick including the PS4, PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC and an Android tablet. Additionally, Mayflash provided us with a set of MAGICBOOTS adapters for the Xbox One and PS4 systems that allow for fully wireless play. If you don’t want a wireless connection or don’t want to pay extra for the MAGICBOOTS dongles, the F500 also hooks up to its supported systems via a USB A (regular old USB) to USB A cable, or a USB A to micro USB cable in the case of Android devices.
Build quality-wise, Mayflash didn’t skimp on the F500. With two metal panels, rubber feet and good quality buttons/joystick you can feel the sturdiness and weight of the fightstick. If you get a little involved while you’re playing, chances are you won’t have to worry too much about the fightstick sliding around. The F500 even supports enthusiast favourite Sanwa Denshi buttons/joysticks if you want to open it up and replace them, but for the casual to intermediate levels of arcade/fightstick gamers the built-in controls should be more than adequate.
On the PC the F500 can be switched between XINPUT and Direct Input via a switch on the top left-hand side. For over 90% of the games and apps out there you’ll probably only need XINPUT, but it’s nice to have Direct Input there too just in case.
The F500 performed admirably without any visible input lag on all of its supported systems, as we’ve come to expect from Mayflash. Look for more detail soon in our video review regarding support on each individual system, but in summation the F500 is an excellent fightstick for the money and is currently available for a penny shy of $90 US on Amazon if you’re in the market for a high quality mid to light enthusiast level of arcade control action.
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