When I find out more info about the stock buttons on my Obsidian, I will post and pin it here. (or do another video on it)

For anyone wondering, it's the combination of the lower right print and flat sides that is the fake. The image at 2:58 is of real buttons with lower right print and text explaining this. Sanwa posted that image 1 day later to explain further as people were confused in the comments. The text basically says that the buttons that only has the print position difference are genuine. The buttons with the print position difference and flat sides are the fakes. They also explains that it's the OBFS with flat sides that are fake, but there are real versions with flat sides such as OBSC and OBSJ.

Thanks for the 411 my friend. I have a request. Could you help me with acquiring a decent stick for mainly Shmups? I also love 2d fighting games but I’m nothing more then a hack. Certainly not a pro. Not even close. I prefer shmups however. Any thoughts?

Thank for the info

Is it possible that Sanwa changed the labelling on their button? I bought some from Amazon and there is now a >ABS< mark on them on the back. Reviews claim that they are legitimate and there is also a QR code on the shipping box that brings you to different invoices betweem the reseller and Sanwa-Denshi

Fun fact: many great things started off as copies. Almost all Cherry-MX style keyboard switches that aren't Cherry? Started off as clones, literal 'nameless' (back then) clones. Now, a lot of them are considered superior to the real thing, worst case it being a preference thing :p

I would love to see a comparison video. Although not sure how you would test the lifespan

I ordered the dragon and obsidian off amazon recently and now im a little worried about counterfeit.

I can also confirm. My Qanba pearl has fake Sanwa as well. The joystick gate has is made of a different material than sanwa gates although it's difficult to tell. You have to do side by side comparisons. I decided to purchase a mayflash f500 elite and it blows the Pearl away in terms of responsiveness and feel. After only a few short months of use the rotator cuff (I'm not sure what it's called) begin to have a glitchy feel. Also one of the plastic covers that fits on top of the spring is a slightly different width then the sanwa versions-hi compared next to the mayflah sanwa jlf, a recently purchased jlf joystick from arcade shock, and an authentic part set for the jlf I purchased from focus. TLDR? I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why my second fight stick ( pearl ) performed worse than my entry level mayflash. At a minimum ,the gate, the buttons and potentially one or all of the joystick parts is definitely fake.

Recently acquired a PS4 Qanba Dragon Joystick from an Amazon resale store for 60 bucks, It was a steal for sure. After coming across your video, I noticed that the Joystick is fake, Now the buttons might be as well, the buttons have an >ABS< also says SANWA written on the side and where the terminals are. Maybe it was purchased, everything swapped out then returned. Thanks for the info.

I'm a controller player and found a hori rap 4 kai on a deal and sticks like the obsidian and panthera have been put of stock where I live for months. Should I get the rap 4?

Thanks!! 👍

I always thought my LeEco LE-GFS201 came with knockoff parts. It's basically the same stick as the DragonSlay DGS-AK17, GameSir C2, or MadCatz EGO, which all of them supposedly come with genuine Sanwa parts, but my buttons are odd. A few of them have thick tabs that look shaved down so that they'll properly snap into the top plexi and panel. Didn't notice the stuff about logo placement so I'll need to look again, but I recall the microswitches looking legit, difficult to tell with those. Now I'll have to double-check the JLF that came with it too lol

Damn, now I'm scared to buy some buttons I was eyeing on Amazon, I'll look at reviews to see if anybody says they're fake.

We have Arcade World in the UK. I would trust them everytime over Aliexpress/Ebay. Of course after watching this, I took the back off of my Stick, just to check, they look feel real enough to me.

totally should test against counterfeits. I bet most of the reason there is such an effort to counterfeit a tried and true design is that if the production spit out any other generic sounding name and brand with a slightly different design, it would be dismissed before even getting a chance just because they are not the untouchable sanwas. At least keyboard switches making their way into arcade controllers breathe some fresh air into the market (albeit that fresh air is cherry mx, witch basically stands in the same position for the keyboard switch market)

So what was the final determination?

Get that processed cheese outta here. Only the freshest, quality slices for Mr. Sargento 🧀🧀🧀

Are there retailers for european buyers? Not gonna buy from arcade world uk since there are custom duties in Italy :/

Parabéns pelo vídeo. Realmente é um pouco confuso como podemos verificar se é falso ou não. Comprei alguns por um mercador do Brasil que comprava de fora para revender, mas os botões são idênticos aos que vem com meu madcatz soul calibur. No meu caso a logo 'sanwa' esta com o "s" perto do botão.

I think sanwa have changed it the labelling altogether now. I bought a stick and buttons set of amazon and although the stick looked genuine, the button stamp looked completely different. I was convinced that they werent even trying to make them look genuine. I sent them back saying they were fake. I then bought buttons from a UK arcade parts supplier that a friend has bought all genuine parts from, and when they arrived, they were exactly the same as the ones I thought were fake.

Please do a comparison between the fakes and real ones, TBH nowadays you can hardly tell them apart and the fakes even function great.

Let me remind you guys, as long as the PCB and switches are real sanwa, the body of the lever and buttons don't really matter at all. You can get cheap parts this way. I found that the body of certain sanwa lever clones are even more tightly fit the original sanwa JLF PCB so it doesn't wiggle like in the original sanwa JLF body. Some clones even has screws to tighten the restrictor gate to the body.

Baolong Joysticks are very good and responsive due to its tighter pcb with metal plates, i have also real sanwa joysticks and i had to buy a bigger actuators just to emulate the tight controls of baolong joysticks. The Chinese joysticks are very very good but the pcb breaks down in extended use, its drifting sometimes.

Unless things have changed I’m not sure if this is enough to confirm they are not fake at least. I bought 12 from an online arcade store and 12 from eBay, all buttons had different Sanwa logos, some in the spot they say are official and some in the spot they say are fake, then also some in a different spot in the middle. I’m assuming they are all fake, so there must be some fake ones with the logo in the right place

I only buy from arcade shock or focus attack. I shop no where else when it comes to buying arcade accessories.

Ordered sanwa jlf silent and octgate from arcadeshock today , being sent to New Zealand, mang the postage is expensive... *sobb*

I’ve got a 6 pack of white Sanwa buttons from Amazon and 2 green ones from Focus Attack. They all appear real based on the pictures. However, I got the white ones from Sanwa’s Amazon store, so I would be careful with other sellers.

Arcade world UK is pretty good as well

S is touching the plastic on the buttons, but lever is real it seams. I think buttons are too. Bought them on AliExpress

Qanba is a Chinese brand so you have expect fake parts to lower the cost of production, and higher profits, but if it performs the same as the original then no one will care except those affiliated with the conglomerate. I wouldn't be surprised if in Japan arcades stores get inspected for fake parts to be sued or to close the business.

I would recommend Arcade Shock for US buyers who want to purchase Sanwa buttons. They seem to have the most in stock. Even All Fight Sticks sells buttons as well

its at the point now where the fakes are as good as the originals.

Interesting update - are you going to buy some fakes?

I knowingly bought fake parts as part of an eBay kit, and the clone stick is pretty good, it didn't feel awful, very little play and quite reactive. Overall not bad, doesn't feel any different from my real Sanwa sticks. The buttons are another story, they're fake screw in types and they work okay, they're just mushy. The kit was 2 sticks and 20 buttons for about 40AUD which is extremely cheap. I rate them okay overall.

yes you should test real vs fake

My Nacon Daija stock buttons look exactly like yours...I mean, they work fine. No complaints. But we need some answers from those companies.

I just want to know what a sanwa part costs. That would help me so much but no one bothers to say that. I see a 10€ stick and a 35€ stick. The 10€ stick says its real, but the price is a bit low, making me skeptical. On the other hand, the 35€ stick has a special transparent grip and just buying one of those as a replacement costs 25€, so maybe 10€ makes sense for a controller with a non-transparent grip, and if someone literally just told me which deals are “too good to be true” instead of just telling me to watch out for them that would be absolutely splendid

I bought a nacon dijah for my son who has to play on an arcade stick for accessibility reasons. It has switches that are bad in it they give him double inputs ect.. i bought a new board with sitches and it was fake.. and i think the stack that cane stock on the nacon dijah is fake also..btw the new switchs and board was bought from paradise arcade

No wonder there’s so many fakes sanwa buttons and sticks appear to be sold out everywhere

mine is like 6yo and still going strong. played from street fighter V release and all the way sf6. support by ps5

Most of my OBSF sanwas are legit fake!! I've always felt they didn't feel like in the arcade! In fact out of my 40 buttons i only have 6 real ones.

Wow

Now I gotta check my Qanba Q4raf Edit: The black buttons have the "S" next the Post but the White buttons have the "A" next to the post, forgot to check the stick.

What about Canadian Joysticks?

Turns out my nacon daija stick has fake sanwa buttons, thx for the heads up

order original parts if you can afford it, unfortunately I live in Russia and alas, arcade sticks are very hard to find, and parts are impossible to order at all: all that remains is to order replicas, which is very sad

Think you (or Sanwa) had the fake and official images the wrong way round. :)

can anyone confirm a legite seller on ali express?

Does this mean that the stock Sanwa you get with Daija is fake 😂😂😂

Please buy a fake lever. Got my lever off amazon, never missed an input so I can't complain. Fits official and after market parts nicely. May even be real but now the seed of doubt is there. 😂

The obvious solution is to buy seimitsu 😎

The SANWA named seller on Amazon is the real deal. Not sure why there's such a stigma about Sanwa parts coming from Amazon.. They are real, Japanese made products.

Just checked the SANWA parts I ordered from Amazon...you guessed it. Lever and buttons + switches are fake. These were the first official SANWA parts I ordered, so I didn't know the difference. Gotta say though, I didn't understand the hype for SANWA after trying them out the first time. Will try again on one of the websites mentioned.