Street Fighter IV Pads Unveiled
Written by Marc DeAngelis   
Friday, 09 January 2009 06:33
While pictures of the Street Fighter IV arcade sticks have been available for some time now, Amazon has recently posted pre-orders for the SFIV controllers.  But I can't say that I'm too impressed.

I know that it's the controller's usability that counts, but these things are pretty fugly.  They just look kind of... melty.  The paint jobs are nothing spectacular, either, which is shame since the original trailers for the game were so artistically unique.

akumapadOn the more important, less vain side of things, the controller just doesn't look that playable.  It looks like it would be hard to grip, like the infamous "Duke" controller of the original Xbox.  They feature shoulder buttons, which, as far as I know, aren't needed for the game - all Street Fighter games have only used six face buttons.  These shoulder buttons would only get in the way.

On the plus side, the three puch and three kick buttons all look strategically placed, and the D-pad looks like it may actually be decent.  The D-pad is enlarged for all your quarter-circling needs and looks to be raised up a fair amount from the surface of the pad.  The graphics of the pad, though mostly hideous, do feature a wide range of characters to choose from.  zangeifControllers featuring Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li, Blanka, and Akuma will be availabe (sorry, no Zangief pads for the ladies).

Only a hands-on test will tell if the pads are any good, but I don't have high hopes.  In fact, I never did, since the day I heard Mad Catz would be creating them.  NubyTech did a decent job with the pads released along side Anniversary Collection, so I'm not sure why Capcom opted for Mad Catz. 

ps2-sfpadIt looks like I'll be hanging onto my Hori stick for a while, since the Tornament Edition sticks will run you $150 - yikes!

The sticks and pads will ship from Amazon on February 20th.  The Tournament Edition sticks, as noted, cost $150.  The standard sticks retail at $80 (360) and $70 (PS3), and the pads will run you $40.


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Comments (4)Add Comment
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written by Mark Peachey, January 09, 2009
All I know is that some viable controller alternative needs to be introduced for Street Fighter IV as the control pad on the standard Xbox 360 controller freakin' sucks. So much so that I didn't bother purchasing Street Fighter II Super Hyper HD Remix Whatchamacallit.
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written by Marc Deangelis, January 09, 2009
Yeah, I finally took the plunge and learned how to use a stick so I could play SSFIITHDR (!). That 360 d-pad is beyond broken. The new red controllers are slightly better, but still not so great.
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written by Dentaku, January 09, 2009
"These shoulder buttons would only get in the way."

Not always, the saturn pad used the shoulder buttons in X-Men vs. Street fighter to press all the punch or kick at the same time, which is alot harder to do reliably on a pad. And if these pads work for KoF they could be used for dodge/roll or other multi button combinations.

These both look ok but Im going to just go ahead and get a stick. I wish there was an easy way to hook up my dreamcast stick to my ps3.
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written by Marc Deangelis, January 09, 2009
True, True. The shoulder buttons on the Saturn were shaped to curve around your finger though, and were really close to the surface of the pad. From the pics, it looks like these ones are more obtuse. I mostly play fighters on the Dreamcast, so I got a DC to Saturn adapter. The first one A. didn't work, and B. corrupted my VMU. The replacement one works fine, though.

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