Be the envy of the SNES crew with this slick little controller!
Ah! The Hori digital controller! It's like a SNES controller, but on the GameCube! A big, comfy digital pad takes the place of a big, comfy analog stick (and its tiny little control pad brother).
The differences between this and a standard GameCube controller are obvious. It's smaller and lighter than a GameCube controller, by a wide margin. It's surprising if you haven't held a SNES controller in a while. It's feather light.
This thing is actually shaped slightly different than a SNES controller, contrary to appearances. The controller has slight grippy-grooves on the back to form to the hand a little better than just a flat backside. It's very comfortable.
Of course, there are no analog sticks, so it is immediately restricted and specialized to certain games. It plays like a dream with Ikaruga, Beach Spikers, Tony Hawk, Soul Calibur II and others, not to mention pretty much everything playable on that Game Boy Player doodad. Mortal Kombat: Dark Alliance's tough chain combos that involve the L-button are made much, much easier with a nice, solid, digital shoulder button. Z is now even easier and more comfortable to reach and push.
The controller could have been so much better, though, if it had further shed its GameCube roots and placed the buttons in a tighter, more SNES- or PlayStation-like pattern, or, even better yet, gone with six face buttons like good fighting games often need. I mean, seriously, ever since the Dreamcast came out, it's like controllers have been some damned stupid art experiment in minimalism. It's not like hardcore gamers or even every-day people who might enjoy a rousing game of Street Fighter are retarded Neanderthals who can't wrap their brain around having more than four buttons on the front of a controller. Seriously, you guys, start making controllers with more buttons or I'm quitting console gaming in favor of skee-ball at the arcade.
