In celebration of Street
Fighter’s 15th birthday and the release of Street Fighter Anniversary
collection, Nubytech has released a line of licensed Playstation 2 controllers
featuring the four most well-known characters from the Street Fighter series;
Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li or Akuma. Each controller comes in its own collector’s box
donning the respective character and includes a certificate of authenticity and
a special preview of the excellent comic book series. The box even has a window
and flip-up top so you can display your controller with class.
The most noticeable
feature of these limited edition controllers is the N-imation lenticular
hologram in the center of the controller. The hologram features one of the four
characters doing his or her signature move and uses artwork from the artists
behind the UDON comic book to beautifully animate the sequence.
The next (and probably
most important) feature gamers will notice is the layout and overall shape of
the controller. The L1 and R1 buttons have been moved to the face of the
controller to recreate the layout of the Street Fighter arcade machines. This
way you can have your weak, medium, and strong punches and kicks all on the
front. While I had gotten used to using shoulder buttons for strong punches and
kicks over the years, I prefer having the classic layout and I think most Street
Fighter fans will too. L2 and R2 remain shoulder buttons and the position has
been tweaked a bit to fit the new controller shape. They are now angled out a
bit, so if you’re holding the controller comfortably your fingers should rest
right on them.
The D-pad is now more
like an Xbox D-pad than a PS2 D-pad. Instead of four separate buttons it is one
pad that rolls really smooth. This helps out a lot with all of Street Fighter’s
“quarter-circle” and “half-circle” moves, yet it can also make for some
accidental jumping when trying to execute them. The D-pad is also quite a bit
deeper than the normal PS2 D-pad, so there is a distinct “click” when it is
moved in a certain direction. My only complaint is that the D-pad is set sort of
low on the controller, so to get in a good position on it caused me to have a
worse grip on the controller. It could have been set a tad higher, but this is
only a small and minor complaint.
The overall shape of the
controller now resembles that of an old Sega Genesis controller and the two
joysticks found on the Sony Dualshocks have been removed all together. There is
also no rumble feature.
Even though it’s made
very obvious that this controller was made for Street Fighter, I tried some
other games just to see how it handled them. The first game I tried was Burnout
3, and it flat out didn’t work. So then I tried Guilty Gear X2 and it worked
fine, in fact it worked great. In fact I was so pleased with its performance
that I tried another fighting game: Tekken 4. It worked great with Tekken 4 as
well, delivering precision control and a smooth D-pad to deliver my moves more
accurately.
The Street Fighter
Anniversary Edition Controller is a great controller for Street Fighter and any
other fighting game. The smoother D-pad and six face buttons makes for a perfect
fighting game controller and the next best thing to an arcade joystick. If
you’re a Street Fighter fan, this is a must-have collectable, but if you’re also
a fan of fighting games then you should check this controller out. You should be
able to find this controller where you buy your games by the end of this month.
Pros:
6-button layout,
smooth D-pad, responsive, compatible with other fighting games, collectable box
and comic book included
Cons:
D-pad is set a
little low, no rumble feature, not compatible with all games
Verdict: 8.8
This is a
well-made and well-designed controller with fighting game fans being the primary
target. With the redesigned D-pad and 6-button arcade layout most fighting games
become much easier to control. If an arcade joystick is a bit on the expensive
side yet you’re looking for a better arcade experience then this controller is
perfect for you.
