Click to view a 360 degree view of the Chun-Li TE

For those of you who were in attendance at PAX, or Penny Arcade Expo, this year, Mad Catz had the Limited Edition Chun-Li Tournament Edition-S (TE-S) Sticks on sale. The Chun-Li TE-S made its debut at the Mad Catz booth during EVO2010 in Las Vegas, but was there for display only. At PAX10, attendees were able to purchase the new Mad Catz stick for $159.99 (USD) at the Mad Catz/Tritton booth, and with their purchase, they also received a TE Keychain, with a hex key that can be used to open the top of the Tournament Edition line of sticks. For those who weren’t able to attend PAX, they were able to purchase the Chun-Li TE online at the Gameshark store.

The Chun-Li TE-S Available at PAX2010 above the larger, Femme Fatale TE that was available at PAX2009

The Chun-Li TE-S takes on the form factor of the new Mad Catz line of TE-S Sticks. While the faceplate design is the same as the original TE stick, the side bezels are decreased in length and they only extend about ¼” where the original TE stick’s sides were about an inch each. This makes the TE-S 14 ¼” wide, where the original TE is 16” wide.

The Chun-Li TE features a very unique holographic art style

Unlike the full panel art that extended to all sides of the main body of the Black and the White versions of the TE-S sticks, the Chun-Li TE-S’s art is like the original TE stick art and stays inside a white bezel however, instead of a smooth vinyl art piece, the Chun-Li TE-S features a holographic type of art featuring an image of Chun-Li, along with the sumi-e ink style of art that is featured in Street Fighter 4. This art gives this version of the TE-S a different look and feel than the vinyl art.

A close up view displaying the semi-transparent casing

The casing on the Chun-Li TE-S is possibly one of the most notable things about this arcade stick. The Chun-Li TE-S is enclosed in a semi-transparent Aura Blue casing; it’s not solid black, or solid white, or a transparent piece of plexiglass. While the semi-transparent casing has a smooth finish, it won’t attract fingerprints.

Much like the other TE sticks, the Chun-Li TE-S uses the Taito Vewlix style 8-button layout and 30mm Sanwa Snap-In Buttons. On the PS3 version, the 6 ‘main’ (X, O, Square, Triangle, R1, and R2) buttons are blue and the L1 and L2 buttons are white. On the 360 version, the A,B,X, and Y buttons correspond to the colors found on the XBOX360 controller, and the other 4 buttons (RB, RT, LB, and LT) are white. On both sticks, the Start and Select, or Back for XBOX360, buttons are located on the rear of the TE-S. The joystick is a Sanwa-JLF and uses the mounting plate. Because of these features, owners of the TE series of sticks are able to easily swap parts and sticks to their liking, due to the easy access through the top of the TE Stick.

Both TE-S sticks feature a control panel with the Home, or XBOX 360 Guide button, and it is located on the upper left part of the stick, along with the turbo button and two different switches. One allows owners to switch between the left analog stick, right analog stick and directional pad, as if you were looking at a PS3 or XBOX360 controller, as well as the lock switch. On previous incarnations of the TE (all sticks before the TE-S line) the lock switch only locked the Home/Guide button and Turbo button from activating. The new lock switch will disable the two mentioned buttons, as well as the Start and Select buttons. This is a very big plus, especially for tournament players because, if you push the start button, you will lose the round. The XBOX360 version of the stick also has the microphone port located on the left front of the stick letting gamers use their headsets, and also comes with an adapter for the older XBOX360 headsets.

Don’t let the name fool you though even though the TE-S is smaller in width, it is still durable and has a good amount of weight to it and still fits comfortably in your lap and is easy to play on.

Despite HORI releasing the VLX Premium, and soon the RAP “V”, the TE line of arcade sticks by Mad Catz are the choice arcade sticks by consumers, and professionals alike, including Daigo “The Beast” Umehara, Justin “E.G.JWong” Wong, Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, and many more players around the world.

XBOX360 STICK DETAILS
• Chun-Li Themed Holographic Artwork with Semi-Transparent Aura Blue casing
• Exact same layout and spacing as the official Street Fighter IV arcade cabinet (Vewlix)
• Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y-SK-W arcade stick
• Sanwa OBSF-30-W buttons
• Sanwa OBSF-24-W buttons (Start & Select)
• Control module panel enables turbo functionality and a lock/unlock switch to prevent accidental use of turbo settings, push of home button and start and select/back buttons
• Stick lever can be set as digital, left analog, or right analog
• Cable storage for 4M (13 feet) cable
• Quick disconnects on wiring for buttons
• USB wired for PC* and Xbox 360 compatibility
• Xenon/Xbox 360 Guide button for menu navigation
• Button layout:
X Y RB LB
A B RT LT
* Official Microsoft Software required

PLAYSTATION 3 STICK DETAILS
• Chun-Li Themed Holographic Artwork with Semi-Transparent Aura Blue casing
• Exact same layout and spacing as the official Street Fighter IV arcade cabinet (Vewlix)
• Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y-SK-W arcade stick
• Sanwa OBSF-30-W buttons
• Sanwa OBSF-24-W buttons (Start & Select)
• Control module panel enables turbo functionality and a lock/unlock switch to prevent accidental use of turbo settings, push of home button and start and select/back buttons
• Stick lever can be set as digital, left analog, or right analog
• Cable storage for 4M (13 feet) cable
• Quick disconnects on wiring for buttons
• USB wired for PC and PS3 compatibility
• PS3 Home button for menu navigation
• Button layout:
[ ] /\ R1 L1
X O R2 L2

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

The Chun-Li TE-S Box

A closer view of the Chun-Li TE-S

A Close up view of the inside of the TE-S showing off the casing

Quick Disconnects make it easy to swap parts