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Review : Official Street Fighter Anniversary Controllers for PS2
I dropped by my local GameStop and I was overjoyed to see that they had finally got in stock the Official Street Fighter Anniversary Controllers. These are pretty spiffy gamepads for PS2 made by Nubytech. These are intended to be the ultimate 2d-fighting game controllers and while they are pretty damn good there is some room for improvement. These handsome gamepads look like a larger more ergonomic re-design of the Japanese Sega Saturn controllers. That is a pretty damn good place to start. It also really reminds me of my imported Capcom Vs SNK gampad for the Sega Dreamcast. The directional pad is lifted up and super responsive. Throwing a fireball or unleashing a super combo dragon punch is a joy. All six buttons are lined up the way that God intended them and L2 and R2 are on top of the controller like a Saturn gamepad. It nice and big for large beefy American hands like mine.
There is a big freaking graphic emblem in the middle of the controller. I don't know what to call those stickers that if you look at them at a slightly different angle it will show a little animation. Well anyway this controller has one of those animated stickers of a Street Fighter character doing a special move. They only had the Ryu branded red controllers in stock so that is the one that I got. If you tilt it it shows a three frame animation of Ryu throwing a fireball at you like the intro animation to Super Street Fighter 2. There are also Ken, Chun-Li and Akuma branded controllers but I have yet to see them in person.
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and other fighting games kick ass with this controller but there are two major gripes I have with it. There is no rumble motors built into the controllers. So the fighting games like Street Fighter 3 and Capcom Vs SNK 2 that support vibration are lacking in this game pad. I know it sounds weird but I have been using rumble vibration in game controllers for so long that it is a bit weird when it is not there. If they can get decent rumble motors into the tiny RetroCons then they could have put them into this pad. My other big complaint is that the L1 button is on top next to the square and triangle while the R1 button is down next to the X and circle. That means that every time you use it for a Capcom 2-D fighting game you need to customize the button layout so that the hard punch and hard kick buttons are next to the other punch and kick buttons respectively. There are no analog thumb pads but I don't miss them because they get in the way for fighting games. If they had a rumble vibration motor in it and swapped the R1 and L1 buttons I would be in Heaven. Here is to hoping that they make a pad for Gamecube.
These retail for $25 so it is not that extravagant and it does come in a very nice box. I have a feeling that I paid for this box. Putting aside all bitching and nit-picking it is still a kick ass game controller and I wholly recommend it to all who love to throw the Ha-do-kens.
Jake at October 5, 2004 
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Comments
Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about picking up a couple of those and using my PS2 to Xbox adapters on them. I hadn't been able to find any reviews other than a couple of posts over at shoryuken.com.
Posted by: Kevin at October 5, 2004 9:40 AM
too expensive but who cares?
HAVE FUN!
Posted by: jim at October 5, 2004 2:55 PM
that sort of sticker is called a 'lenticular' sticker.
Posted by: jcterminal at October 7, 2004 8:55 PM
I just picked up one of the Chun-Li models from my local GameCrazy (and dumped off my aging PS2 and preordered a PSTwo) and it rocks! The sticker animation is of her doing a Lightning Kick and if you go back and forth between the second and thrid frames it actually looks like the attack.
This controller also makes games such as Silpheed, Klonoa 2, and Gradius III & IV a joy to play through once again and brings back fond memories of 2D Sega shooters such as Gunstar Heroes and Radiant Silvergun. Stores in my area only got in Chun-Li and Ryu, some friends have seen Akuma but Ken seems nowhere to be found.
...thanks for bringing these to my attention!
Posted by: InsaneDavid at October 8, 2004 7:49 PM
the Akuma one is badass and the only I'm going to buy, I'm going to wait and see how the other ones look until I buy another.
Akuma controler > all the others so far
Posted by: ray at October 12, 2004 8:20 PM
thanks for the review. i have yet to see one in person but i plan on getting one if i ever do.
the reason im posting is this: normally, in a capcom fighter on a SNES style 4+2 layout, fierce kick IS on the R button, while the hardest punch is on the left... seems to be the case here too... i dont see exactly what you are complaining about... i had to look it over carefully to be sure, but in SNES controls, B light kick, A medium kick, R hard kick, and so it is on this one.
anyhow, i thought id point that out. maybe you are more accustomed to punches being on the bottom row? but that doesnt even make sense physically, as your legs are higher up than your arms, hahaha.
Posted by: WiL at November 9, 2004 9:06 AM
This thing is that I have a similar style fighting pad for Dreamcast but it has built in Rumble.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at November 9, 2004 8:25 PM
many of the ones on ps2 are configured differently though. Take SF3: third strike. R1 is fierce punch and R2 is fierce kick. Im not sure if l1 is kick as well because i actually like using both on the right side...but if it is..then yea they would be swapped...if not then fierce punch would still be down by kick (by default) on this controller.
but yea
Posted by: grenade01 at July 25, 2006 3:02 AM
I have an Akuma one for the Xbox.
While I've play some 2D fighters with it (MvC2 and a couple street fighter titles)after getting some used to, the controller is pretty good...
But if you have an regular Xbox (or a PC with a PS2 controller adapter) this is the quintessential controller for emulation(expecially on the Xbox)! It's set up perfectly for Genesis and SNES emulation, which makes it sutable for all the older consoles as well.
Now if you're playing MAME, CPS1, CPS2 or Neo Geo emus, you might want a joystick...but for the "classic" home consoles, this is a can't miss! It's a little bigger compared to original console controllers, but until someone does a SNES/NES/Genesis controller port for the Xbox(which is highly unlikely now) this is the next best thing.
Posted by: g at June 28, 2008 2:23 PM
