Even before we had our first home computer, my parents bought an Atari 2600 for the family which basically meant that they bought me my first game system since no one else touched it, except when my father consented to play with me. My time with it was limited by school, and the fact that they hooked it up to the TV in their bedroom and they would kick me out when ever one of them did not like what was on downstairs. Looking back now, the controller was a horrid piece of inaccuracy that would never stand now. But at the time the big black controller with the stick and button was the gateway to the amazing new world of video games, and I was in love.
Anyone with an Xbox 360 that is hooked up to the Internet has I hope by now noticed that they can download a bunch of old classic video games. But playing them with a new controller just does not bring back the same memories. Enter the folks and MadCatz who bring us the Arcade GameStick 360 which works with both a PC (plugged into a USB port) and the Xbox360. As an added bonus they have include codes to download three classic games: Astropop, Frogger and Timepilot and a free (48 Hour) Xbox Live Gold Trial membership.
If you can not tell by now, I can get a bit nostalgic at times, and I really do like playing with this controller, it really does bring back the memories. The main problem is that this controller (at least in my memory) is a lot bigger than the old Atari 2600 controller and it is hard to hold in your hand and play.
Quite honestly it is best sitting on the floor which is not comfortable or sitting on a table with is great when using it with a PC, but is not very good for me as I don’t have a table sitting in front of my TV.
If you were to divide the top of the controller into four zones, the joystick with the button on top is located in the top left zone. The top right zone contains the blue, yellow, red, and green buttons common to all Xbox controllers. The bottom left zone contains the d-pad. The bottom right zone contains an analog stick.
The interesting feature is the spinner wheel surrounding the analog stick. Other unique features are a turbo button and a shut off switch for the spinner. On each corner of the controller are rubber grips to help you hold onto the controller and on the top side of the controller is a left and right fire buttons and a long USB cable. At the center top of the unit directly in the middle of the four zones is the Xbox controller select button.
The list price for this controller is a little steep at $59.99,(It’s only $39 if you follow the Amazon link in the above right corner of this review) but is somewhat off sent by the $20 in free games.
Overall I loved the concept of the retro controller more then the actual controller. I have had the controller here on my desk as I have been writing and I have been staring at it and trying to figure out exactly what is wrong. The main feature is the joystick and the joystick is the one thing on the unit that is hard to use. I think if I were left handed I might really like this.
But I am not left handed and the main feature of the Arcade GameStick 360 is in completely the wrong spot for me. All of the other controls are easy to use, but not the joystick. The base is to big to fit in the palm of my hand and when I hold the unit in my left hand and try to use the joystick my wrist bumps the analog stick and not that I probably need to, but I can not use any of the other controls at the same time.