The Joy of Joysticks

Fighting games have been around pretty much since the inception of arcades and lets face it, they have most certainly stood the test of time. To this very day national tournaments are held for titles such as Mortal Kombat, Soul Caliber, Tekken, 3rd Strike and even Virtual Fighter. However, the creme da la creme of fighting games that helped pave the way for all "fighters" is still played on a national level of competition all over the world. This series has been regarded as perhaps the greatest game ever made and has influenced developers throughout the world. I'm talking about non other than Street Fighter! Created in the early 90's the SF series has come a very long way; in fact Capcom is on their 4th installment which is due out this coming February, simply titled Street Fighter IV.

Having had the honor of playing a $50,000 imported arcade cabinet of SFIV, I can honestly say this: Street Fighter IV is possibly the best fighting game I have ever played (emphasis on I). Mechanically sound, technically flawless and awfully pretty to look at, SFIV is certainly no slouch. This, however, is where gripes are made and dreams are shattered for console owners around the world. Not everyone has the privilege of importing a 50k arcade cabinet from Japan and simply put, home console controllers just don't cut it when trying to play competitively online (and even offline).

Rejoice Street Fighter fans! Capcom has come to the rescue for all us hardcore fighting fans and Warp 9 is here to bring you all the information. Capcom has licensed Hori (a company dedicated to making Joysticks) to create the official Street Fighter IV joysticks. The PS3 version will set you back 9,800 yen (about $98 in United States dollars), and the XBox 360 is going for 7,980 yen XBox (about $79 in United States dollars). These are Hori made sticks which is a company considered by many to be the best stick makers around. According to the Japanese SF4 site, these will be released at the same time as the console versions of the game.

For those of you wondering if Hori will be the only SFIV stick developers the answer is an astounding "No." Madcatz, another company dedicated to making controllers and sticks is also developing Street Fighter IV joysticks. Madcatz is usually the cheaper of the bunch but they do make quality controllers. How they fare with this daunting task only time will tell.

Rumors have also surfaced that SFIV will have a "Champions Edition" that will have the Hori joystick bundled with it. No set price has been announced but you can bank on it being around the one-hundred dollar mark. Count me in!

-Game Hard-