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The Exar arcade stick in exquisite detail
Dengeki has posted hands-on impressions of the EXARSTICK, the non-Tatsunoko themed version of the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom arcade stick. Overall, the tester is pleased with the stick's movement in both buttons and joystick (which uses an arcade-standard square gate). Possible problems included a relatively light weight, which has an adverse effect on stability, and buttons that have limited tactile feedback (they don't push down very far). Oh, and by the way, the article features lots of pictures, up close and from different angles. It turns out that the Virtual Console-style EXARSTICK and the Tatsunoko stick are different after all! The EXARSTICK has the Minus and Plus buttons mapped to the two oval-shaped buttons on the top row, to match the Select and Start buttons of the Super Nintendo controller (both sticks have Super Nintendo-friendly face button layouts), with the three circular buttons on the right corresponding to ZL, ZR, and Home. The Tatsunoko vs. Capcom stick uses those two oval buttons for ZL and ZR, with Minus, Plus, and Home on the circular buttons.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom arcade stick on the way, but not from Hori
We fully expected Japanese accessory company Hori to release a version of their Fighting Stick Wii with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom art. They frequently release branded versions of their less expensive (as in, not Real Arcade Pro) sticks to coincide with new fighting games. But another company somehow got the deal with Capcom, and plans to release Classic Controller-compatible sticks both with and without Tatsunoko artwork this year. Exar, the company responsible for the Wii Neo Geo Stick 2, will release the EXARSTICK on November 27 for 5229 yen ($54) and the TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM STICK on December 11 for 6279 yen ($65). The only differences between the two seem to be cosmetic: in addition to the obvious artwork differences, the buttons and outer casing on the Tatsunoko stick are different colors than those in the plain stick, which is Wii white and blue with Super Famicom-color buttons.We don't know how this compares to the Fighting Stick in terms of quality -- at these prices, we don't expect either to use genuine arcade parts -- but at least it looks like something that needs to be sitting on our coffee table right now.%Gallery-32421%
