Friends donāt let friends do foolhardy things, but sometimes an editor of a major gaming blog assigns his least Street-Fighter-savvy writer to review a Street Fighter arcade stick. Thatād be me, the guy who allegedly canāt throw a fireball.
Hereās what I can be sure of. The Street Fighter IV Round 2 Tournament Edition FightStick is a fight stick for Street Fighter IV, one that you might be able to play at tournaments. Also: Itās the second wave ā or shall we say āroundā? ā of Mad Catz SFIV sticks. The change for round two? Black on the sides instead of white. A new image on the controller surface.
I pondered the stick and this thought popped into my head: āNothing brings the arcade experience closer to home than the Street Fighter IV āRound 2ā² Arcade FightStick: Tournament Edition. Featuring the same authentic Vewlix arcade configuration, robust build and genuine Sanwa Denshi Japanese style ball-handled joystick and 30mm Action Buttons embraced by gamers worldwide in the original range, the āRound 2ā Arcade Fightstick Tournament Edition houses these premium components in a sleek, piano-black housing, featuring all new monochrome artwork taken directly from the game. The collectible packaging reflects the understated appearance of the Stick with approved artwork provided by Capcom and certain to be appreciated by fans of the franchise.ā
Thatās what the press release said, actually. On to my judgments:
Loved
Clicking To A Better Fireball: The MYTH that I canāt throw a fireball comes from the pathetic video shot of me earlier this year playing Street Fighter II against rapper Soulja Boy Tell āEm. We both played horribly and neither of us is seen throwing a fireball. I did throw some, I think, but the truth is that I havenāt been able to throw them reliably since I had SFII on my Super Nintendo. The skill to throw one at will was lost to me until I tried the FightStick Iām reviewing here. At last, I understand why people shell out money for these things. Quarter-circle turns are so much easier with an actual arcade stick, as opposed to an Xbox 360 control stick or PlayStation 3 d-pad. Iām terrible with those controllers. The clicking feedback of winding an arcade stick from the 6 oāclock position to the 3 oāclock position was exactly what I needed. At home, with this stick, away from the cameras, I was throwing fireballs at will. It was like I went from being a doubles hitter to a homerun hitter, with the aid of a legal and metaphorical Mad Catz steroid. I was even able to throw Ryuās Shoryuken. I nailed the zigzag move to do it every time. To go from ineptitude on a 360 controller to perfect input execution on this FightStick was quite exciting.
Not So Garish: Thrilled as I was to feel like Iād gained some instant Street Fighter skills by using the Round 2 FightStick, I was concerned that it didnāt quite fit into my life. First of all, it probably doesnāt fit because it is big, about the size of my fat housecat. I donāt think a game controller of that size is compatible with my marriage, and, truth be told, I had to go buy a copy of SFIV to even review this stick (GameStop only had it used. Weird.) So maybe Iām not the ideal customer. But. If I decided I needed a stick, Iād get this one due to the fact that its yellow-orange Street Fighter logo is the only major splash of color on the mostly black shell. This thing is nice and subdued and doesnāt quite look like Iām covering my lap in Street Fighter IV art when I use it ā unless you look closely, in which cast thatās exactly what Iām doing.
Hated
The Wire: Iām sure thereās a good reason for this FightStick to need to be plugged into a game console rather than working wirelesses. Maybe itās cost or latency. Hey, thereās probably a good reason why this arcade stick has a headphone jack and why my headphones plug doesnāt fit into it. And who am I, the guy who couldnāt beat Soulja Boy to complain? But in a world of wireless controllers, I want a wireless controller.
So letās say youāre on the fence about whether to buy this Round 2 FightStick. I would ask you to consider how much space you have, how much money you have and how much throwing fireballs means to you. If youāre answers were āa lot,ā āa lotā and āa lot,ā then youāre a potential customer. Or, if youāre like me and your answers are slightly different, at least bear in mind that if you ever need to have a Street Fighter showdown and you can name the equipment, request an arcade stick. Donāt use a game controller. Oh, and play with your arms crossed. The skilled players do that, or so Iāve seen.
The Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Round 2 Arcade Fight Stick: Tournament Edition was manufactured by Mad Catz and was made available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the fall of 2009. Retails for $149.99 USD. An Xbox 360 edition of the stick was given to us by Mad Catz for reviewing purposes. Used it in Street Fighter IV matches and training sessions.
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