I tested this budget mini fight stick to get better at Street Fighter 6 — and I think it worked

Look, fighting games can be a hard genre of gaming to get into — and stick with. Button mashing is fun and all, but truly mastering different titles is a whole different ball game. And, as many pro-level gamers can attest, fight sticks can offer a deeper level of understanding of the controls, timings and mechanics of a game.

But they don't come cheap, and that's where the Hori Fighting Stick Mini comes in.

This small-sized fight stick for PS5, PS4 and PC costs just $59 / £54, which is a far more attractive price than other options like the Mayflash F700 Elite ($179). With an arcade-style button layout and mini-yet-effective joystick, it offers what you need to knock out some Hadoukens and Shoryuken with ease for a great price. Well, if you're just starting out.

I've been locked into Street Fighter 6 since it launched, and despite dabbling with fight sticks years ago, I've been using a PS5 DualSense controller to rise up the ranks in competitive online play. Now, Hori's mini fight stick gives me another way to pull off combos, cancels and whiffs far easier, and you know what? I think it made me a better player. That's not bad for an affordable stick for casual players, but there's no way I'd be bringing this to tournaments.

With its affordable price and compact, portable size that fits a standard eight-button-layout with a reliable microswitch-activated joystick, it's good enough to be one of the best fight sticks around — unless you're looking for a competitive edge (or have large hands).

However, if you're new to arcade-style sticks or want a fun mini-controller to bring around to give your friends a good beating at Street Fighter, Tekken and more, the Hori Fighting Stick Mini is the budget stick to get.

Hori Fighting Stick Mini: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A mini-sized fight stick controller for PS5, PS4 and PS5 aimed at fighting and arcade-style games.
• Who is it for? Fighting game enthusiasts looking to try out fight sticks for the first time or anyone after a fun, budget arcade stick.
• What does it cost? The Hori Fighting Stick Mini costs $59 at Amazon in the U.S. and £55 at Amazon in the U.K.
• What do we like? The compact and portable design, its rubberized feet that keep the controller in place, the effective joystick and eight-button layout, the plug-and-play setup and great price.
• What don’t we like? There are no tournament-ready parts or features (like Sanwa components or a lock switch), the PS button is limited in functionality and those with larger hands will find this controller too small.

Hori Fighting Stick Mini: Specs

Hori Fighting Stick Mini: The ups

What truly won me over about the Hori Fighting Stick Mini is it's budget price, but its lightweight, small design fitting in enough space to comfortably use its clicky stick and buttons also impressed. Moreover, I actually achieved quite a few wins when playing Street Fighter 6 with it.

Mini size with ample room

Compared to other fight sticks, including the Mayflash F700 Elite and leverless Victrix Pro KO, the Fight Stick Mini is indeed a mini controller. That said, despite its moniker, I didn't feel like it was such a small size that my hands felt cramped. I could comfortably rest my right palm or wrist along the edge of the fight stick while pressing each of the eight buttons, and the joystick is of a standard size to efficiently execute movements

This is a standard button layout I would expect to see in more normal-size fight sticks, just with a lot less space to place your hands on. Hori has done well to still give users a standard feel of an arcade-style controller even with the Fighting Stick Mini's smaller chassis.

As someone who changes their desk setup frequently to make way for new devices to review, I'm glad the Fighting Stick Mini doesn't take up too much space. Better yet, it's easy to move around. At 8.3 x 5.9 x 3.4 inches and weighing just 1.1 pounds, this is the kind of controller that can simply fit on most surfaces or even comfortably on a lap. And, for those who often go around to friends' places and strike up a match, this is a neat accessory to bring with you.

Due to its light weight, I was skeptical about how the Fighting Stick Mini would manage being played on when placed on a surface — especially during those intense fighting game matches that usually have me furiously bashing buttons and moving the joystick. Thankfully, it didn't move around at all during my game sessions. (In case you're wondering, I don't generally grip the stick like a ball, as the image below may have you believe).

With its rubberized feet planted on a surface, the fight stick held its place firmly while I tried different combos in Street Fighter 6. As for its plastic material, while it won't feel premium, its build feels sturdy enough to not have any flex; it didn't feel like it would fall apart when applying pressure with button clicks and resting my hand on it.

I'm also happy to see the PlayStation-like design, with the off-white color and PS icons placed on the top-right corner of the controller. There's also a toggle to switch between PS4, PS4 and PC when plugging the Fighting Stick Mini into different platforms.

I imagine many fighting game experts using fight sticks will scoff at the Mini's size, but for casual gamers and those even looking for a fun, secondary stick to use, the Fighting Stick Mini offers enough room to game comfortably.

A winning experience

If you've been using a traditional console controller for a majority of games you play — especially fighting games — like I have, changing to a fight stick can be jarring. Getting used to a new way of controlling your character in a fighting game and going against your muscle memory is tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you'll find it can be easier to pull off impressive moves. Check out what our own Tony Polanco had to say when swapping a controller for an arcade stick.

This is to say it took me a little while to adjust to the Hori Fighting Stick Mini. Luckily, I've had experience with fight sticks before, and I moved from the training room in Street Fighter 6 to ranked online matches soon enough. With the clicky, microswitch-activated joystick and punchy, satisfying buttons, I felt like I could pull off moves that I could rarely get down before.

I know this to be true as I was able to finally use Super Arts in Street Fighter 6 on the fly. I mainly play as Guile in SF6, a charge character that requires you to hold back a directional input and move it to the opposite direction while pressing an attack button at the same time. While I could always successfully bombard opponents with a Sonic Boom or Somersault Kick, I could never quite master consistently pulling off a Super Art, such as Sonic Hurricane or Crossfire Somersault.

Thanks to the sturdy and precise inputs of the joystick, I was able to throw these Super Arts whenever I wanted. That was a true lifesaver in clutch moments when I was one hit away from defeat and a punishing Super Art move saved my skin.

It was a thrill to finally see my movements play out as I input them, and the Fighting Stick Mini's buttons made it easier to execute various moves, too. Along with being able to easily reach and press different buttons for a punch of kick, the buttons have a great actuation point (the distance a button travels to register a command) and feel bouncy enough so I know I'm not pressing repetitively.

There is a slight wobble to each button, and the joystick's click can be quite loud, but those aren't major issues for me if I'm winning a match. I have a long way to go to be considered "pretty good" at fighting games like Street Fighter 6, but the Hori Fighting Stick Mini is getting me there.

An affordable price

Take a gander at many of the most popular fighting sticks and you'll find that you'll be paying a hefty chunk of change for them. Understandable, seeing as many are designed for tournament-level gameplay, but those who have yet to experience a fight stick, or don't know if they'll like using them at all, are likely to shy away from them due to their cost.

For example, the 8BitDo Arcade Stick for Xbox will set you back around $120 / £100, and that's on the lower end. The Mayflash F700 Elite is set at $179 / £179, while the Nacon Daija will cost you around $290 / £240. That's a lot of money to invest, especially if you're unsure if fight sticks are for you.

Then there's the Hori Fighting Stick Mini, which is only at $59 / £54. It's more limited in its features and size, but it's a far more welcome price to pay for those testing the waters or just want some arcade-style fun.

Hori Fighting Stick Mini: The downs

While it's easy for me to gush over this controller, seeing as it helped me nail moves I couldn't easily pull off in Street Fighter 6, it's clear the Hori Fighting Stick Mini won't be for those who are already proficient at fight sticks. And if you have big hands, it's likely to feel way too cramped.

Not for true competitors

While Hori has made a good name for itself with its own switches and buttons, the Fighting Stick Mini is not meant to be played at a real competitive level. You won't find any Sanwa parts here, which are considered to be the gold standard of fight sticks due to their high quality and responsiveness, nor will you find tournament-friendly features, such as a button-lock switch to stop non-crucial buttons from being pressed (like the PS button, Capture, etc.).

While I had a blast using the joystick and buttons, they aren't fit to offer the precise controls of a pro-level competitor in action. Even as I was pulling off combos, there were a couple of times the joystick didn't match what I input, specifically when placing it diagonally. To me, that's not what a tournament-level gamer wants in an arcade stick.

Big hands? Stay away

I don't have the biggest hands in the world — far from it. That's why I enjoyed my time gaming away on the Fighting Stick Mini. For those with bigger hands, however, they are likely to think this mini controller is a bit too mini.

It doesn't offer the full board of room seen on standard fight sticks, meaning larger hands will have a difficult time finding a comfortable position to place their palms or wrist. Plus, despite the standard layout, the size of the build is still quite small, meaning bigger hands could be too close to one another when trying to move the joystick and press buttons.

If you do find yourself with a larger hand size, I recommend looking elsewhere.

Not completely compatible

Being an officially licensed PlayStation fight stick, I appreciate the PS5 button layouts, along with the PS Home, Share and Menu buttons up top. These buttons will work when the Fighting Stick Mini is plugged in, meaning I can move around my PS5's home hub like normal. However, the PS button won't turn on the console or wake it up from Rest mode, which is a shame.

It's only a small thing, but it means I'll still need to keep a DualSense controller around to actually turn on the console.

To note, I also tested the controller on a gaming laptop, and I was able to play games such as Streets of Rage 4 without issue. However, don't expect the Share button to capture screenshots, although this was expected seeing as it's more made to function with a PS5.

Hori Fighting Stick Mini: Verdict

The Hori Fighting Stick Mini is a tiny win for more casual fighting game enthusiasts. Its affordable price not only makes it a far more welcome device for those wanting to hone their skills in games like Street Fighter, Tekken and more with a fight stick, but it's also just a fun controller for arcade-style games. Even better, it handles well despite its size, and will give PS5, PS4 and PC gamers a good feel of what using a joystick and buttons is like.

Perhaps a more premium version of the Hori Fighting Stick Mini could suit more tournament-level gameplay, but this controller ain't it. If you've played on arcade-style controllers for a while, then the Fighting Stick Mini could act as a secondary stick for portability, but otherwise, there are better fight sticks out there.

That said, will I continue to master my skills at Street Fighter and other titles using the Hori Fighting Stick Mini in my downtime? No doubt.