« Review: Qanba Q2 Glow LED Arcade Stick (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) »

LEDs on arcade sticks is an interesting trend in arcade stick modification. Not being mandatory such as replacing core parts and not necessarily complementary as multi-console compatibility, LEDs are more or less icing on the cake. Similar to changing artwork, adding lights provides a visual flair to someone's arcade stick. While mostly common through custom modding, Qanba now utilizes this technology in one of its arcade sticks.

Titled the Q2 Glow, Qanba expands its Q2 Pro line with a stick that lights up when in use. While it isn't the first arcade stick to use built-in LEDs, Qanba made the Q2 to stand out in the field. Combined with solid parts of their own, this stick shines, albeit at a slightly high price.

Being part of the Q2 Pro series, the Q2 Glow has the same symmetrical body type as its parent version. It plays on both being uniform as well as unorthodox in its design compared to other arcade sticks on the market. This design complimented the Q2 Pro's orientation switch where players can play on the common position of "left hand on stick lever and right hand on the buttons" and vice versa. Unfortunately, the Q2 Glow lacks this option to make use of the Taito Vewlix-style button layout, but it's not much of an issue for those who play on the common position. It's good that the Q2 Glow retains the predecessor's special features: the hidden carrying handle, the cable compartment on the left side, the convenient special button panel on the right and the faux leather bottom.

Qanba's goal with this stick was to make it look stylish and it definitely shows. The body is covered with a silver powder coat to give it a futuristic chrome texture, which is a really neat design choice. The main panel art features various Chinese characters scattered all over; While it looked unpleasing at first, it's complemented by the blue hues to keep the players attentive to the lever and buttons.

Another part of the Q2 Glow's main draw is the LED system. Available built in, the stick emits white lights in the six main buttons with blue lights on the extra two (LB and LT/L1 and L2); The conveniently placed start button on the right side recieves its own blue discharge. The lever flashes blue lights when triggering any direction. The lights look very appealing and aren't overbearing in light and dark areas. The LEDs also accompany the art well, especially with the lever and blue circle surrounding it, providing a neat level of detail. The Q2 Glow also provides three LED flash options as well as giving owners the chance to turn them off altogether, which is smart to add. The combination of LEDs and the overall aethetics make the Q2 really stand out over most sticks in the market.

The edge of the button plungers found on the Q2 illuminate the LEDs when pressed.For the parts powering the LEDs, Qanba took a chance to use its proprietary stick lever and buttons. Qanba constructed Sanwa Denshi-clone levers and buttons specifically tailored for its LED technology; this was originally discovered in PDP's Injustice: Gods Among Us Fight Stick. From my experience with Qanba's Q1 Cut models that had their own lever and buttons, the former was decent yet had issues of feeling loose and the latter parts were adequate. The buttons on the Q2 Glow still feel just as satisfactory and the lever now feels stable and accurate. While the parts won't topple models by Sanwa Denshi nor Seimitsu, they are very playable.

While the stick looks and plays well, the Q2 Glow limits itself for modding opportunities. Although it is possible to insert a Sanwa JLF and OBSF-30 buttons, there won't be an easy way to equip the LEDs onto them. With the lever and buttons being made with LEDs built in, there are no ways to properly replace them. Similar to the Injustice stick, some special modding knowledge is required.

Price is another issue for the Q2 Glow. For $134.99, it's understandable that the LEDs and the other aesthetics are what make a portion of the Q2 Glow's price but compared to the Q4 series, commonly sold for $149.99 with multi-console compatibility, players looking for a stick will rather opt for the latter. While the Q2 Glow lacks multi-console functionality like the Q4, there is an Xbox 360 version available allowing possible dual-modding options.

The dominating looks in Qanba's Q2 Glow make up a lot for its shortcomings. Players who will buy this stick will know they will get spectators to divert their eyes to it. Although the stick doesn't feature high quality parts we know and love and can't naturally be modified, what's provided will fulfil a players needs when it's game time. Qanba has done well with bringing LED technology into the mass-produced arcade stick market.

The Qanba Q2 Glow, with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 models, is now available on Eightarc.