Announcing: DP Accessory reviews! Come in for meseta! [Archive]

Gamereviewgod

01-27-2006, 11:38 PM

The review section here on DP has had a few oddball reviews for gaming accesories, but I finally decided to throw them all together into their own slot on the review index. However, I quickly fgured out we had a problem: Bare bones content.

http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/index_accessories.htm

We have a whopping three reviews in there. I want more.

As such, I'm going to be making some healthy donations to anyone who whips up some reviews for gaming accesories. These can be anything, but I'm going to limit to things that are strictly gaming related. Thing like video/audio switchboxes don't neccesarily qualify since they service an entire setup. Controllers, dance pads, light guns, trackballs, anything like that is fair game though.

So, have you wanted to rip apart an Intec product? Have an oddball NES accessory you want the world to know about? Want to compare the old style Neo Geo sticks to the Neo Geo CD version?

Write up a review and drop it into a PM. If you have access to pics or can take them yourself, please let me know. I'd like to say its a requirement, but there's some obscure stuff out there and I know that doesn't always work. So, it's a semi-requirement. There's only one overall score since it's impossible to create score for multiple categories given the variety of extras.

I'll be dealing out 1,000 meseta for review until I'm dry. I'm just looking for a start to this section, so once there's an actual content, you're doing it for the love of the game. ;)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask those too.

Nez

01-30-2006, 06:10 AM

Here's my review this is my first so don't be too mean. But if you notice any errors or things I should change let me know! Oh and tell me what you think.

Classic 2-d fighter fans have always demanded, better more precise control. After all it�s no fun to accidentally jump in the air only to land on some ones fireball. So thank goodness SNK has delivered the goods when it comes to their two arcade quality fighting sticks for the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System home console (AES).

When the AES was released SNK wanted to bring the arcade experience home, what better way then packing an arcade joystick to match the abilities of their new system. Later on SNK decided to release a new system with the same basic capabilities of the original AES. Wich led up to the release of the Neo Geo CD. With the new CD console SNK decided to update their classic arcade controller, known today as the Pro controller and the �kidney bean.�

Both controllers have the same 6 button control layout (a, b, c, d select start) and joystick.

Style, ergonomics:

The original controller was boxy, a rectangular shape with lots of plastic all around. It's perfect to rest grubby hands on top of. The middle area has a raised hump, that lets any ones wrist lay on the cool plastic and your finger tips on the appropriate buttons. Speaking of the buttons are recessed in a little canyon of sorts so as not to stick up to high. With each button press they give off a nice little clacking sound. The Joystick is the classic ball on rod (no snickering) micro switch style we are all accustomed to. Featuring the same plastic as the buttons it�s a little bigger then a gumball you�d buy at a vending machine. Cord length is bad at 4 ft 6in you are too close to the TV. Remember this was primarily a console for the Japanese home market, that has very small homes, but for the US gamer you must sit an inch away from your big screen TV. So either moving the console closer or buying an extension cable will remedy this problem.

The redesigned �Pro� controller is shaped very much like a kidney bean. It is also much smaller, there is very little room to rest hands on and anyone who has larger mitts then a eight year old will find their hands slipping off. It seemed SNK tried to alleviate the slipping problem by putting a grip like mold for right wrists but this doesn�t help at all. Softer plastics are used for the buttons along with some new colors, A and B are now red and C,D are gray. Much like the original arcade stick the buttons are laid out to were fingers would normally go. The joysticks mechanics seems basically unchanged. The plastic form has also been changed instead of the ball design it�s now more in the shape of a mushroom cloud. Cord length is still short only a few inches longer at 4 ft 10 inches. Once again if playing on a big screen TV it will be nearly impossible with out moving the console much closer, or buying extension cables.

Reliability:

Both controllers are very sturdy it�s not often you�ll see a broken neo arcade stick. The joysticks seem particularly strong taking seemingly all abuse you can throw at it. But the ball on the original is very prone to cracks, in fact original sticks with out ball cracks are damned near impossible to find. Luckily the cracking is more of a cosmetic issue as the ball does not shatter into little pieces rather it marbleizes. The casings on both are made of durable plastics while the �kidney bean� has thicker plastic, nothing short or a direct sharp heavy blow will really damage the originals case. The button on these are top notch on both styles, they could seemingly be used forever with out destroying them after all they are just molded plastic. For some reason however on the �Pro� style buttons they seem to scratch up against the case and start to look scratched up on the sides, just like the ball cracking on the original arcade stick this is just another cosmetic issue.

Control:

Now we get to the main meat and potatoes, what these things are meant for. The joysticks them selves are very tight there is not much slop in any direction, and when leaned to any side give a satisfying clack. But for the Kidney arcade stick the small casing give my hand problem it will have a tendency to fall off the base which can really screw with the more intricate joystick moves I need to do. The ABCD buttons are just like I�d expect from an arcade company. They are big so fingers won�t miss their target. The buttons require direct presses for they have a fair amount of travel before they hit the mark. This isn�t necessarily a problem but those used to Playstation pads, it may take some getting used to. But thanks to the travel required accidental button presses are uncommon. The start and select buttons are not really used so much in combat (other then razing of course) but do come into play. The original stick has raised buttons which are a little to close to the joystick and depending on how someone holds the joystick some people will hit pause during a heated battle. This really can drag things down and get really annoying. I myself have never done this but a couple of friends have done this repeatedly. Luckily this problem was addressed in the �Pro� stick the select and start buttons are now reccessed into the casing making accidental button press extremely uncommon to all but the most spastic of players. Rubber feet depending on how the controler iscan be an issue they hold the controller in place on hard surfaces. On both controllers the rubber feet slide around too much but the �pro� stick is much worse instead up using rubber for the feat SNK went with a cheaper material that grips even less. I recommend either playing on your lap or going to you local hardware or craft store and picking up some vinyl bumpers, with these your stick wont move unless you want it to.

For those who somehow don�t like either of these arcade sticks there are other alternatives. Hori made a joystick for the system that has turbo functions and is of even more heavy duty construction. There is also a control pad from SNK featuring a very small micro switch for the directional pad. But unfortunately I don�t have enough experience with either to give viable information on them.

Overall the neo has some great options and you really cant go wrong with either SNK arcade stick. They each will give you precise control over any game. Each has their faults but there strangths wash those problems away.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/a16btsuicide/stick020.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/a16btsuicide/stick002.jpg