Younger generations will never know the joy of going to the arcade and playing, basically, next-gen games for just a few quarters. But part of the experience lives on, thanks to Genius.
Retro controllers have a certain something that makes them feel just right, or better for certain genres – the classic gamepad, no matter if you’re playing on Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft controllers, just isn’t the best input method when you want to grab a really demanding fighting game, or just relive the times where the arcade ruled. That’s where Genius comes in with their F-1000 Arcade stick, an arcade-style, 8-button layout, and ball-handled joystick.
We recently had the opportunity to try it out on both PS3 and PC (the platforms it works on), and we’re glad to say we’re quite pleased with the results. The first thing we noticed is how long the cord is (3 meters, and even comes with an extension cord!), which is not a bad thing, as players get to choose if they want to sit on the couch with the gamepad on their laps, or just put it next to their screen of choice and game away.
Our biggest compliment goes towards the ball joystick, which responded incredibly well when we tried it on Street Fighter IV (PS3) and Super Meat Boy (PC). The combos and movements were really easy to pull off, and the game flowed like never before. The buttons and their layout, though, that might be a bit more divisive. While we personally liked them and found the layout to be really well thought out and with a bouncing that was just right, gamers used to more modern control schemes might get annoyed at the constant clacking that the buttons produce. Tough luck, boys & gals, but that’s part of the arcade experience! Also, there should be a way to map them in any way we want just so we don’t have to have our hand all spread out just because the programmers of the game didn’t want to create a button configure screen.
Once all is said and done, what really felt the best about the Genius F-1000 was to just be able to unwind and try its fantastic control scheme on MAME emulators, or the Simpsons game and X-men on the PS3 (Hey, Sony, can we have the TMNT game now?) just as we experienced them way back when they first came out. This is a product that is just right for older games that just happen to remember fondly the times where pure bliss was only a quarter away.
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