*** Volvodriver Rating - 9 ***

Don't you hate it when you get a nice arcade classic game, like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat and you're left to control your favourite character with the standard gaming controller that completely lacks the ability for you to pull off the moves you once did with such timing and precision back in the local corner store arcade? Well worry no more, for here are the magnificent X-Arcade controllers. Below are two of the X-arcade solo controllers available to bring sanity to the gamer that wants to play classic arcade fighters. These big beauts can hook up to a Playstation 1 or 2, an XBOX (not 360!), a Gamecube or a PC.

Although, this arcade bliss comes at a hefty price, each solo controller comes in at around AUD$180 and only comes with the capability to hook up to the PC via PS2 port. To hook up to a gaming console you'll have to shell out a further AUD$35 for each controller, and if you want to hook up to the PC via USB you're going to have to part with AUD$50, that's $100 for two! Nearly AUD$500 to get two of these and two USB adapters! Once you get over how much you have spent, and get to use them, you really experience the joy of having the equivalent of an arcade machine at home.

The controllers are big and don't suffer from the problem of moving around too much when you get a little too excited with your game play, this was a major issue with the namco arcade contollers. Anyhow... I bought these solely to be able to play Street Fighter on the XBOX, I had the anniversary collection or whatever it was called and really, it just wasn't playable with the standard controller the XBOX comes with, so I thought I would go all out and get something I knew would work and be sturdy enough to handle the inevitable abuse it would get. As you can see below, the adapter for the XBOX hooks into the existing serial cable you get with the controller, then you have to use two controller ports on the XBOX for the controller to work completely, not a problem seeing as you have four ports on the console anyway.

My first impressions of the controller where very positive, it's extremely well made and feels great, even better than some arcade machines, and the buttons, they are fantastic to just smash, when you're in the heat of the battle, slamming down on these heavy duty buttons really helps with your gaming pleasure! I've had these controllers since 2005 and they still look great and work really well, so even though they are expensive at least they have lasted. Anyway there's not much else to say, just again, being able to actually pull off dugens, dragon punches, sonic booms, somersault kicks, sagat's tiger knee and the countless other moves in Street Fighter was really satisfying. If you have a PS1/2 or an XBOX I highly recommend these controllers provided you don't mind parting with the cash, and good news for the PC users, these controllers work with extramame so you can play an incredible number of arcade classics with them, they work via USB or the default PS2 connection. I got mine from Arcade Gaming Australia, they seem to have good customer service, they are reasonably fast and they accept PayPal. One thing that's a bit of a bummer is that there is no support for the newer gaming consoles, you cannot use these on a PS3 or an XBOX 360, and because I don't have the older consoles anymore, and I don't play alot of games on PC, I have decided to hand these over to the fat pig, he's hooked on extramame so when I head over mid year, I'll take these with me to give to him. Lucky pig. Despite this, during the time I had the older consoles I did use these a fair bit and was really happy with the performance of them. So in conclusion, if you are crazy about arcade fighters, have them for your older generation consoles or extramame on PC, and you are sick of not being able to put the same combo's together that you used to be able to at the milk bar, then pick yourself up one (or two!) of these baby's, and relive your childhood!

Having said all of the above, it doesn't really matter if you have the real thing!! :P