MadCatz Xbox Live Arcade Joysick Mini-Review

Saturday, January 6. 2007

Those of us who have the Xbox 360 are well aware the D-Pad on the 360 controller, to put it mildly, sucks. The D-pad is the only downside to an otherwise excellent controller design. The popular Xbox Live Arcade service has many older "Coin-Op Classic" games that used a joystick design many of us remember when growing up. Trying to play games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Gauntlet and Frogger with the D-pad can be an exercise in frustration.

Enter the Mad Catz Xbox Live Arcade Retro Stick. At $59.99 it's certainly not cheap, but the allure of having a real joystick to control these classic games was too much for me to pass up. I am going to cut to the chase. I am very happy with the performance of this product. You don't often hear the words "performance" and "MadCatz" in the same sentence. The joystick is very responsive. In Pac-Man I no longer found myself moving in the wrong direction. With the D-pad I would want to go right, but many times I'd end up moving up or down.

One of the nice touches is the button sitting on top of the stick itself. This button functions as the "A" button. This is especially useful in games where you need to constantly shoot while moving like Galaga, Gauntlet and Time Pilot. You can certainly use the A button on the base of the unit as well. There is a "Turbo" button here, reminiscent of the one on the old NES Advantage, though not as good as the old NES controller. The unit comes with a 9 foot cable, more than long enough to reach your couch.

One other interesting note is the inclusion of a "spinner" surrounding the right analog stick. Think of a smaller version of the old Atari "paddle" controller and you'll know what the spinner does. There are no games on the XBLA that would really take advantage of the spinner now. However with Centipede and Millipede rumored to hit the Arcade this year, the spinner could yet prove its value.

I should also mention the extras included here. You get Xbox Live redemption codes for the Arcade titles Frogger, Time Pilot, Astropop, and a 48-hour Xbox Live Gold Subscription. Of course if you've already purchased these games and are a XBL Gold Subscriber then you don't realize this value. I already owned Frogger, but not the other two games so I'm happy.

Downsides: The controller could be wireless, but it doesn't kill me to connect this to play the Coin-Ops. The unit is also not real useful controlling other titles like puzzle games or traditional 360 games. You should now what you are getting here. You are paying $60 to play the Coin-Ops the way they were meant to be played. Dropping that much green for a controller is not for everyone. Those that do take the plunge will enjoy much improved control for games that were intended to be played with a real joystick.

I'll link to my pics below. You may also continue reading after the break for all the pics in full view.

Pics:
Front Box Shot | Back Box Shot
Extras | PerfectCr Jr. holds the Joystick
Sexy closeup | PerfectCr. Jr plays Pac-Man

Posted by PerfectCr in Technology & Gaming at 23:07 | Comments (2)

Defined tags for this entry: Technology & Gaming, xbox 360

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How do the buttons feel? Is it a cheap tinny "click" or more of a nice mush-click?

The spinner does not work with Zuma? It seems like it would be perfect for such a title.

#1 dRailer (Homepage) on 2007-01-14 14:23 (Reply)

I tried it with Zuma and it just didn't feel right. The analog stick works MUCH better for ZUMA. The spinner DOES work perfectly for Astropop however. :) Thanks for reading!

#1.1 PerfectCr (Homepage) on 2007-01-14 15:10 (Reply)

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MadCatz Xbox Live Arcade Joysick Mini-Review

PerfectCr.com

MadCatz Xbox Live Arcade Joysick Mini-Review

Saturday, January 6. 2007

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