The more recent Mayflash F500s being sold are now dubbed ‘V2’. This suggests that there have been changes to the Mayflash F500 from the original V1.
But, what are these changes exactly? Which version of the Mayflash F500 should you get? In reality, these changes are quite subtle, as you’ll find below.
Design
The design of both fightsticks is almost identical. The most obvious difference is the added ‘V2’ lettering on the front of the V2 F500. The rest of the changes are also quite subtle.
The USB Port for plugging in a second controller has been moved from the front to the back. This was to address an issue where everyone complained that the wire plugged into the front of the stick would get in the way.
Moving it to the back seems logical as there is less clutter with no annoying wire at the front.
The player LED Light that indicated whether you were player 1, 2, 3, or 4 has also been removed from the top of the stick in V2. This kind of makes sense because I thought these indicators were a bit useless in the first place.
In place of these, there is now a mode indicator. This indicates whether the fightstick is in-game console mode or not. Similar to the Mayflash F500 Elite.
Performance
The performance of both V1 and V2 are pretty much identical. This is because Mayflash uses stock parts in both fightsticks.
Because the parts are not Sanwa, you can expect it to be ok but not the best.
Software support
The Mayflash F500 V2 will come with the latest firmware. Whereas, if you get a Mayflash F500 V1 fightstick, you might be expected to update your stick first. This isn’t particularly hard to do.
Details can be found here on how to do this.
The latest firmware allows you to play with more platforms such as the Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.
Should you get a Mayflash F500?
As stated in my review, the Mayflash F500 is a great alternative to the more pricey fightsticks.
Its best feature is the ability to be played on almost any platform, including current and last generation consoles and PC, to name a few.
While the setup can be a bit fiddly, the Mayflash F500 is still a fantastic beginner console that can easily be modded to give the more expensive fightsticks a run for their money.
It doesn’t matter which version of the Mayflash F500 you get, as they are both virtually identical. The only changes here seem to be cosmetic.
