Upper Echelon
The two brands that deserve to be part of this caliber are Hori and Qanba. Hori has been consistent for a very long time, and it always produces high end arcade sticks with various specifications, such as platform compatibility, to cater to different tastes, artwork included. Qanba is also on par, but its production rate is slower, and its new releases are not always massive overhauls of its previous models.
Lower Echelon
Mayflash put out enough arcade sticks to be quite involved in the craft. In addition, Mad Catz held up pretty well despite its bankruptcy at one point. Although the Mad Catz Ego is a clone and the Mad Catz TE3 is far from flawless, Mad Catz might soon make its way back to the top. While Razer is a legend in the industry, its couple of recent contributions have often been out of stock, but the Razer Kitsune is looking promising.
Perhaps one of the most impressive outfits to have emerged as of recently is RetroArcadeCrafts, the American subsidiary which is known as FightBoxArcade in China. Recent highlights have included the affordable Sanwa hitbox, which is the RAC-J800B, as well the slim FightBox B1.
