Fighting Stick Wii box
Although the Wii lacks proper titles that would require an arcade stick, the Virtual Console is full of them, especially with Neo Geo and PC Engine CD titles available for download.
This stick is produced by Hori, known for their quality products and it's an official Nintendo product, so you can expect a lot of quality from it - and you definitively get it, even if there are only minor shadows darkening this sparkling white product.
The box itself rather small, large enough to hold the stick with some cardboard for protection; it also styles itself to mimic the console's own internal box, where two cardboard "drawers" hold the console and its accessories. This is a nice touch that won't affect you too much, but at least there's a lot of "wow" factor starting from the box.
This side was a bit damaged, but fortunately eveything inside was intact
The arcade...oops, fighting stick inside is wrapped in the usual trasparent plastic bag and with an extra cardboard protection around the stick itself, the cord is wrapped in the same way the nunchuk was wrapped, blue plastic with black holder and with a small white protection around the connector. The fighting stick upper surface is also protected by an adhesive film and I would advices to keep it on: the upper surface has a glossy finish that acts as a fingerprint magnet; buttons have the same problem, their glossy finish makes them appear dirty seconds after you put your fingers on it, while the stick is strangely unaffected by this problem.
Mysterious sheet inside the box
Protective film on the clear surface
Buttons are arranged in a semicircle and the four front buttons (A, B, Y and X) are arranged in the same way as on the Classic Controller (or SNES pad), with L and R positioned on the right, followed by ZL and ZR. Each button is big, nice to the touch and pretty quiet: the press run is short, and when compared to the Classic Controller, everything feels much more responsive. The same goes for the stick: each movement is answered with perfect timing and it's neither too heavy nor too light, although it could have been quieter and the return run could have been softer: moving the stick completely to one direction and releasing it will make the stick waggle around an mm on its neutral position, but that's just nitpicking.
Minus, Home and Plus buttons are located on the upper edge of the stick, directly above the main buttons; roughly half that the standard buttons, they aren't exactly as good and are kinda hard to reach while operating the face buttons, but there aren't many game extensively using them and are still in reach of your fourth and fifth finger with the thumb resting on any button.
Left to the menu buttons there are eight autofire switches, one for each face button; these switches are small and can only be operated with some attention - it's good to have them, but I consider them just an extra and have been left untouched.
Fighting Stick Wii
The Fighting Stick Wii is (at its extreme points) 29cm wide, 20 cm deep and 4,5 cm tall, with the stick reaching to 10,5 cm; connection cord is 70 cm long.
These dimensions roughly mirror the DreamCast arcade stick dimensions, and the stick share buttons' diameter and spacing, stick design and spacing between stick and buttons, although the DC arcade stick has a slightly different button layout and it's no wonder that the weight it's the same; well, the DC stick with a VMU inserted is just slightly heavier, but again, it's something only barely worth mentioning.
Fighting Stick VS. Arcade Stick
Fighting Stick VS. Arcade Stick VS. Izuna Ni bonus CD
Just like the Classic Controller, the Fighting Stick is connected to the Wiimote and it's recognized as its pad brethren and this has both its highs and lows: first, it works with any game supporting the Classic Controller, being it a Wii title or a VC title, but the stick is mapped on the Classic Controller d-pad.
While this is not exactly a big problem, you won't be able to control any N64 game with it and you won't able to move the pointer hand on the Wii menu, forcing you to use the Wiimote instead.
An other fault is about Megadrive games; as everyone knows, the MD had a three button layout, while the Classic Controller has two rows of two buttons each, meaning that C (on the MD pad) is mapped on Y (on the Classic Controller). With the Fighting Stick having two rows of four buttons each it's a true shame to being unable to remap C to R. But again, it's nitpicking.
And, finally, it's pretty hard to use with games built around a certain controller. Nitpicking? You bet.
However, any playable game is absolute bliss. I really like the Classic Controller and its responsivness, but the Hori stick is just plain better. Period. I tried it extensively with Soldier Blade, Gradius, Gradius III and Gunstar Heroes and while it's impossible to boast any skill improvement on the player's part, the feeling is completely different. The Soldier Blade and the Vic Viper gently stride across the screen with minimum effort, it's possible to evade bullets with incredible precision and minimum effort (as pressure on the controls); Gunstar benefits of the same improved movement but there's the button question mentioned above which is a really minor flaw, you'll just need to grow accostumed to it.
Now, about Wii games. Metal Slug Anthology doesn't support the Classic Controller and so it's impossible to use the Fighting Stick with it (just...why, Playmore, WHY?) and there aren't many games supporting the Classic Controller - Smash Bros. Brawl will be out next year and it would probably benefit of the controller (if analog movements aren't strictly required to play), Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn doesn't really need an arcade stick and so there's only Guilty Gear XX to test.
I'm not a beat'em'up fan, but I always had some interest in the Guilty Gear series thanks to its soundtrack and excellent art. I picked up Accent Core for the first X Box and quickly realized it's impossible to play on that bulky controller and I wasn't really excited about the numerous bugs found in the PS2 version, but since the US Wii version has these flaws corrected and supports the Classic Controller, I decided to give it a go.
Of course, I was blown away - both by the game AI and by the controller, which really gives the game an other dimension - the Classic Controller is good (let's just not speak of Wiimote+nunchuck controls), but sometimes the longer press runs give you that split second of disadvantage that the Hori Controller won't deny...actions are exceted exactly when the control reaches its depressed position and the big buttons allow to dance around the controllers with multiple fingers in a way that's not just possible with any pad. More impressions on the game itself (28 stars) later.
It's a must buy for avid VC gamers and useless to anyone else, but owning it will make you want games to use on it.
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