Opinions on poorly documented imports

[celerystalker]

I'm going to take a side-step from games for a second to talk about two import exclusive controllers I've had some fun with. First off, the Hori Gamecube SNES-style controller.

I picked one of these up when they first came out a little more than a decade ago when I bought my GBA player for Gamecube. Between the Castlevanias and especially the two Metroid games, I was starting to get a lot of games that wereof the SNES' flavor, as well as a few ports of actual SNES games like Zelda. The Gamecube standard D-pad is tiny and uncomfortable to my adult hands for extended use, and playing Metroid with an analogue stick is downright offensive to me. The now-closed Game Trader happened to have one of these (don't think he reads forums, but Brian's store was pretty much the best thing that ever happened in the St Louis market. I miss that guy.), so I snapped it up.

Honestly, it's a mixed bag. Don't get me wrong, it is a monstrous improvement over the other options. I don't want to give the impression that it is perfect. The high point and most important part is the D-pad which does feel quite spot on to the SNES experience. It's larger than the Gamecube standard, and has almost exact curvature and pressure feedback to a stock Super Nintendo controller. The shoulder buttons feel great as well, so between my left thumb and index fingers, I was thrilled. Where it loses steam is the button layout, which mimics the Gamecube standard aside from Z, which is offset just up and right from the start button (which coupled with select are also a great SNES replica). I mean, they are still A, B, X, and Y... would it have been so hard to use the SNES diamond configuration? Instead, we revert to the less-intuitive GC scheme... Anyone buying this controller is doing so because they prefer SNES controllers. Why leave it in the new style?! Lastly, the back side of the controller angles out on each side slightly, I assume for added comfort. I'm completely indifferent to this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

None of this was a deal breaker for me; it was just a disappointment. Most importantly, though, the comfortable D-pad makes playing these games feel way better for longer play sessions, and in my opinion it's the best way to play the GBA player.

The Sega Saturn-style PS2 controller, though... that thing is near perfect! It's modeled after the second style of Saturn controller, which got away from the original bowl-shaped D-pad for something more natural and re-shaped the mold to a contour that rests comfortably in your hands. I bought this one with fighting games in mind... I mean, if you're into fighters and are reading an import forum, like me you've probably spent a good amount of time with Capcom fighters on your Saturn, and that's what left this as a no-brainer when I unexpectedly saw it behind the counter.

Just about everything here is dead-on, so I'll focus on what isn't. First, there are both Start and Select buttons in the center now, which is no big deal, as a lot of PS2 compilations use select to pull up menus. Seeing the Playstation logo above them is odd, but that's just because this is an official product. Secondly, the shoulder button are now black (no big deal), and are a tad more stiff than a stock Sega controller, but they still have the same delightful (or annoying depending on your point of view) click when pressed. The face buttons and D-pad are dead ringers in size, shape, and feel, and that's what I'm here for... The Saturn D-pad really felt right to me for all of the fighting game inputs and precise movement in shooters, and this is ostensibly the same tactile experience.

I highly recommend both of these controllers, as they allow an improved, more familiar way to play games of the classic style on their respective consoles. The Saturn controller is near-perfect, but the SNES-GC controller would really have benefitted from a classic button layout. As it is, it feels great on the left and cheap on the right, but that big D-pad was what the doctor ordered for me. I just thought they could use a little writeup, as both are a little pricey these days, so people know what they're getting into before having to blindly drop a steep amount for a controller.