StreetFighterXSanrio
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Cute quotient overload: eyes-on with the Street Fighter x Sanrio Fightstick for Xbox 360
Thought the holidays were over? So did we. Imagine our surprise, then, when we returned to the office to find one last, special package lying in wait: Mad Catz Street Fighter x Sanrio Arcade Fightstick Pro. As ridiculous explosions of cute go, this one takes the sugoku kawaii cake -- even the box is a Hello Kitty collector's wet dream. Obvious overall otaku appeal aside, Xbox 360 gamers interested in the Fightstick Pro will find an eight button "authentic Japanese-style Sanwa Denshi" layout, switches for button lock / unlock and three joystick configuration settings (d-pad, left or right analog stick), turbo functionality, as well as a headphone jack upfront and a storage compartment housing the 13-foot long USB cable around back. Really though, no amount of English words will do this kitsch item justice. So check out the gallery below for a photo tour of this adorable collision of anime worlds.
Street Fighter x Sanrio: a merchandising mash-up made in otaku heaven
A Kitty-chan hadouken? Surely that's the stuff of fan fiction dreams, except it's not. In a move that's certain to confound core gamers, Mad Catz has commissioned a (somewhat unholy) merchandising mash-up of two beloved Japanese franchises, Street Fighter x Sanrio, to be splashed across its Arcade Fightstick Pro (for Xbox 360 and PS3) and iPhone 5 case covers -- sold for $160 and $35, respectively. And the results? Well, they're adorably alarming. Cramming the totemo kawaii pantheon of critters from Sanrio's line into the personas from Capcom's fighter, gamers with special interests can soak in the send-ups that see Badtz-Maru outfitted as the infamous Ryu, Hello Kitty sporting Chun-Li's buns and Pochacco as the blonde-maned Ken, just to name a few. No doubt, it takes a special kind of person to appreciate a crossover of the most intrusive childhood memory kind. But we're willing to bet there are plenty of you somewhere out there.
