The StrikerDC by RetroFighters is the result of a Kickstarter project that should have seen the joypads delivered in September 2019, the same year during which the campaign started. The delay to July 2020 is due to the usual Kickstarter fuff and severe shipping delays, including it sitting in the Swiss postal system for a month (arrival at customs, customs procedures, final delivery) for no real reason, considering I received packages sent later before this one.
Anyway, the pad is finally here and I put it through some games to see how it performs.
The pad comes in a sturdy cardboard box, firmly secured by internal padding. Aside the pad, there's a rubber keychain, a small and short instruction manual, and some advertisment for RetroFighters' website. The cord is bundled by some iron wire and is routed through the box in a way so it's not subject to any sharp turns.
The goal of the Kickstarter project was to create a more comfortable solution than the standard DC pad, with an eye towards fighting games. This is a bit of a puzzling statement, as the first input method your left thumb rests on is the analog stick.
At a first glance the StrikerDC looks like a DS4 from which the touchpad has been carved off to make room for two VMUs, but closer inspection highlights some design features more akin to a X Box 360/One pad, like the sloping lateral ends.
The StrikerDC, without any accessory inserted, is lighter than the DC standard pad, DS4, or X Box 360/One pad. With one VMU inserted it's still a tad lighter than the rest and becomes a bit top-heavy, with a slighty tendency to roll forward; this something you only notice if you don't hold the pad as you normally would, and doesn't affect usage. With two VMUs the Striker is heavier than contemporary pads but lighter than the standard DC pad in a similar configuration.
The analog stick rests on the left side of the pad, exactly where your thumb would normally go when holding the pad. The stick feels looser than any of the pads I've used as comparison so far. It is rubberized with a rough outer ring for better grip: it's very close to a DS4 and feels just a very tiny bit smaller in diameter than than.
The d-pad is easily accessed and never felt too tiring or cumbersome to use. The d-pad has a centre pivot, but you can still press the whole assembly down for quite a bit before it engages and forces one direction.
The start button is in the centre of the pad, right below the VMU window; the bezel is thinner than the standard DC pad and with larger bevel; the lower lip is inclined at 45° for better visibility when the pad rests on your lap. The thinner bezel also creates less shadows on the VMU screen.
The four face buttons are coloured and arranged as per standard pad, but are larger, in line with Switch Pro Pad, DS4, and X Box One pads. They use microswitches and feel very good to push.
The top of the pad features two analog triggers and two microswitch-equipped bumpers that duplicate the respective triggers; the run on the triggers is very smooth, and the return springs offer just the right tension to feel not to strong upon squeezing and strong enough to follow your fingers upon return.
There are two new buttons around the VMU window: a turbo switch and a clear button. To use them, you press the turbo switch, press the face button you want, and the turbo function is set. The clear button does exactly what you think it does.
The cable is attached on the back towards the lower end, similar to a DC pad. A rubber connector forces the cable "up" without twisting it that direction, but there's no catch to secure the cable to the pad (if you ever used it on the DC) and the connector means the pad won't rest flat on a table.
All VMUs and the vibration pack I've tried all went in without any effort, and once snapped in there were held securely in place; removing them took no more force than on a standard DC pad.
Overall the pad is solidly built despite feeling light and a bit flimsy, it has a nice texture to it, and sits well in your hands.
Time to test it out with some games, then.
This being marketed as a fighting pad, the first game I tried was...Grandia II. Yup. I thought this would let me get used to the pad and highlight both strenghts and weaknesses of the pad, and in fact it did.
Snapping one VMU into the frontal slot immediately highlighted one problem: I cannot keep my index fingers laying onto the bumpers, I have to arch them or the fingertips would end up onto the VMU itself. The triggers are a bit more comfortable to use, but the whole back of the pad has to deal with the cumbersome VMU slots, and if you prefer to keep a somewhat loose grip on dorsal buttons like me, the Striker is not a big improvement over the standard DC pad. The Striker also suffers the same problem as the Wavebird, the X360 wireless pad, or any pad with a central "support": I cannot stretch my fingers on the back of the pad. This is a minor and very personal issue though.
Snapping a VMU in the second slot basically moves the problem from the bumpers to the triggers, and makes the VMU screen harder to see...if you care.
Another minor issue is that the start button is centred, and you need to stretch your thumbs a little bit to reach it. Decentering it to the right would have made it more accessible with the right thumb but more difficult for the left...maybe shaping it like a spacebar and not like a triangle like on the original pad would have neatly solved this very minor issue.
Other than than, the Striker performed admirably in Grandia II.
Now onto more actiony titles: Ikaruga and Under Defeat. The d-pad in Ikaruga felt a bit stiff and I thought the B button wasn't working. Well, I am used to play Ikaruga with an arcade stick so my perception is biased, and the problem with the B button wasn't there when I quit to the main menu and started over, so maybe it was me not pressing it down correctly...
Under Defeat, another game I'm used to play with an arcade stick, felt perfectly fine with the Striker, the stiffness of the d-pad gone. All buttons worked perfectly too. Still, the VMU jutting out of the top of the pad, not letting me rest my fingers completely on the triggers, is annoying.
Still on shooters, Rainbow Cotton and REZ. Both are controlled with the analog stick and this is where the Striker failed: the stick is too loose for my tastes, being used to the DS4 and Switch Pro Pad, and almost every time I had to move the aiming reticle directly to the sides, it went always a bit up or down. The manual says the analog stick uses high-quality potentiometers, and probably this is the crux of the problem: it's too precise, and even the slightest movements are registered and transfered to the game. Maybe I just need to get used to it, but missing a target because you feel the reticle is not doing what you are expecting is not fun.
And with Rainbow Cotton the problem with the B button came back, and made me understand why: the B button is near the right edge of the pad, and follows its gentle downward curve: this places it just ever so slightly below all other face buttons, and you need to push further down to trigger the input. If you have a Switch Pro Pad nearby, you can see that the A button is too placed on the downward slope on the rightmost end on the pad, but protudes more that other buttons to keep the faces on the same level. On the StrikerDC, face buttons follow the surface, and this creates a "disparity" between buttons that is felt during action games, where you might not use the whole thumb to press a button, but only part of it to keep the main fire button down.
I then tried Dynamite Cop and both Power Stones. I think I was getting used to the pad and analog "errors" and missed B inputs became less and less but never quite went away. The VMU getting in the way of my fingers was starting to get annoying too. I still consider it a minor nuissance, but maybe RetroFighters should have done more with the layout, in a similar way to what Hori did with their interpretation of the N64 pad. Maybe even sacrifice one VMU slot for the sake of ergonomics. Do not misunderstand me, the StrikerDC is a solidly built pad that is miles ahead of the standard DC pad, but at times it feels a bit rushed in some design decisions, or that designers were afraid of risking too much. Or maybe it's just me and my very long fingers.
I know that 8-bitDo (I think) are designing their enhanced DC pad as well, and that looks like closer to the original design, and maybe I'll get it. As for the Striker pad, I'd suggest to try it before buying: I'm still happy I got it, but probably I was expecting too much from it.
Anyway, the pad is finally here and I put it through some games to see how it performs.
The pad comes in a sturdy cardboard box, firmly secured by internal padding. Aside the pad, there's a rubber keychain, a small and short instruction manual, and some advertisment for RetroFighters' website. The cord is bundled by some iron wire and is routed through the box in a way so it's not subject to any sharp turns.
The goal of the Kickstarter project was to create a more comfortable solution than the standard DC pad, with an eye towards fighting games. This is a bit of a puzzling statement, as the first input method your left thumb rests on is the analog stick.
At a first glance the StrikerDC looks like a DS4 from which the touchpad has been carved off to make room for two VMUs, but closer inspection highlights some design features more akin to a X Box 360/One pad, like the sloping lateral ends.
The StrikerDC, without any accessory inserted, is lighter than the DC standard pad, DS4, or X Box 360/One pad. With one VMU inserted it's still a tad lighter than the rest and becomes a bit top-heavy, with a slighty tendency to roll forward; this something you only notice if you don't hold the pad as you normally would, and doesn't affect usage. With two VMUs the Striker is heavier than contemporary pads but lighter than the standard DC pad in a similar configuration.
The analog stick rests on the left side of the pad, exactly where your thumb would normally go when holding the pad. The stick feels looser than any of the pads I've used as comparison so far. It is rubberized with a rough outer ring for better grip: it's very close to a DS4 and feels just a very tiny bit smaller in diameter than than.
The d-pad is easily accessed and never felt too tiring or cumbersome to use. The d-pad has a centre pivot, but you can still press the whole assembly down for quite a bit before it engages and forces one direction.
The start button is in the centre of the pad, right below the VMU window; the bezel is thinner than the standard DC pad and with larger bevel; the lower lip is inclined at 45° for better visibility when the pad rests on your lap. The thinner bezel also creates less shadows on the VMU screen.
The four face buttons are coloured and arranged as per standard pad, but are larger, in line with Switch Pro Pad, DS4, and X Box One pads. They use microswitches and feel very good to push.
The top of the pad features two analog triggers and two microswitch-equipped bumpers that duplicate the respective triggers; the run on the triggers is very smooth, and the return springs offer just the right tension to feel not to strong upon squeezing and strong enough to follow your fingers upon return.
There are two new buttons around the VMU window: a turbo switch and a clear button. To use them, you press the turbo switch, press the face button you want, and the turbo function is set. The clear button does exactly what you think it does.
The cable is attached on the back towards the lower end, similar to a DC pad. A rubber connector forces the cable "up" without twisting it that direction, but there's no catch to secure the cable to the pad (if you ever used it on the DC) and the connector means the pad won't rest flat on a table.
All VMUs and the vibration pack I've tried all went in without any effort, and once snapped in there were held securely in place; removing them took no more force than on a standard DC pad.
Overall the pad is solidly built despite feeling light and a bit flimsy, it has a nice texture to it, and sits well in your hands.
Time to test it out with some games, then.
This being marketed as a fighting pad, the first game I tried was...Grandia II. Yup. I thought this would let me get used to the pad and highlight both strenghts and weaknesses of the pad, and in fact it did.
Snapping one VMU into the frontal slot immediately highlighted one problem: I cannot keep my index fingers laying onto the bumpers, I have to arch them or the fingertips would end up onto the VMU itself. The triggers are a bit more comfortable to use, but the whole back of the pad has to deal with the cumbersome VMU slots, and if you prefer to keep a somewhat loose grip on dorsal buttons like me, the Striker is not a big improvement over the standard DC pad. The Striker also suffers the same problem as the Wavebird, the X360 wireless pad, or any pad with a central "support": I cannot stretch my fingers on the back of the pad. This is a minor and very personal issue though.
Snapping a VMU in the second slot basically moves the problem from the bumpers to the triggers, and makes the VMU screen harder to see...if you care.
Another minor issue is that the start button is centred, and you need to stretch your thumbs a little bit to reach it. Decentering it to the right would have made it more accessible with the right thumb but more difficult for the left...maybe shaping it like a spacebar and not like a triangle like on the original pad would have neatly solved this very minor issue.
Other than than, the Striker performed admirably in Grandia II.
Now onto more actiony titles: Ikaruga and Under Defeat. The d-pad in Ikaruga felt a bit stiff and I thought the B button wasn't working. Well, I am used to play Ikaruga with an arcade stick so my perception is biased, and the problem with the B button wasn't there when I quit to the main menu and started over, so maybe it was me not pressing it down correctly...
Under Defeat, another game I'm used to play with an arcade stick, felt perfectly fine with the Striker, the stiffness of the d-pad gone. All buttons worked perfectly too. Still, the VMU jutting out of the top of the pad, not letting me rest my fingers completely on the triggers, is annoying.
Still on shooters, Rainbow Cotton and REZ. Both are controlled with the analog stick and this is where the Striker failed: the stick is too loose for my tastes, being used to the DS4 and Switch Pro Pad, and almost every time I had to move the aiming reticle directly to the sides, it went always a bit up or down. The manual says the analog stick uses high-quality potentiometers, and probably this is the crux of the problem: it's too precise, and even the slightest movements are registered and transfered to the game. Maybe I just need to get used to it, but missing a target because you feel the reticle is not doing what you are expecting is not fun.
And with Rainbow Cotton the problem with the B button came back, and made me understand why: the B button is near the right edge of the pad, and follows its gentle downward curve: this places it just ever so slightly below all other face buttons, and you need to push further down to trigger the input. If you have a Switch Pro Pad nearby, you can see that the A button is too placed on the downward slope on the rightmost end on the pad, but protudes more that other buttons to keep the faces on the same level. On the StrikerDC, face buttons follow the surface, and this creates a "disparity" between buttons that is felt during action games, where you might not use the whole thumb to press a button, but only part of it to keep the main fire button down.
I then tried Dynamite Cop and both Power Stones. I think I was getting used to the pad and analog "errors" and missed B inputs became less and less but never quite went away. The VMU getting in the way of my fingers was starting to get annoying too. I still consider it a minor nuissance, but maybe RetroFighters should have done more with the layout, in a similar way to what Hori did with their interpretation of the N64 pad. Maybe even sacrifice one VMU slot for the sake of ergonomics. Do not misunderstand me, the StrikerDC is a solidly built pad that is miles ahead of the standard DC pad, but at times it feels a bit rushed in some design decisions, or that designers were afraid of risking too much. Or maybe it's just me and my very long fingers.
I know that 8-bitDo (I think) are designing their enhanced DC pad as well, and that looks like closer to the original design, and maybe I'll get it. As for the Striker pad, I'd suggest to try it before buying: I'm still happy I got it, but probably I was expecting too much from it.
Comment