The above blurry cellphone picture is of my gaming setup -- I'm playing
Super Street Fighter II Turbo, if you're curious. I've been asked many times to show it off, so here it is in tiny cellphone pixelated format. The reason for showing it off now is because I wanted to celebrate with you, dear Game Boy Player Land blog readers, my newly acquired holy grail -- the Hori Fighting Stick.
Yes the Hori Fighting Stick is an arcade stick that I've wanted for quite some time. So it's kind of a big deal that I finally have it. For a while I was content to seek out an easier-to-find alternative. And trust me, I tried. However it wasn't until I got my Hori Game Boy Player Controller that I knew that nothing was going to substitute the quality of Hori.
At any rate, here's a bit of a rundown of the others that I tried...
[img width=300 height=200]http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/nubysc2arcadestick3in.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/nubysc2arcadestick1in.jpg[/img]
My first Gamecube arcade stick was the
Soul Calibur II stick that Nuby Tech released when
Soul Calibur II came out. The stick was actually made to work universally with Gamecube, XBox and PS2 which is actually a pretty cool feature if you have multiple consoles. The stick certainly looks rather cool with its
Soul Calibur graphics, and it's a pretty sturdy build. As cool as the stick looks on display, I wasn't that impressed with it functionally. The stick itself can only be described as clunky, and the buttons seemed to stick at times. It isn't a horrible controller, but it's not the most fluid either.
[img width=230 height=215]http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Gaming/The%20Shaft%20Joystick%20For%20Wii/The-Shaft-Joystick-For-Wii.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://www.wiishaft.com/images/black.jpg[/img]
Next I tried the Wii Shaft, which despite its name is actually a Gamecube controller. The stick is made by a third party manufacturer and is pretty easy to find at an affordable price online. It's a compact design which is nice. However, this stick was far worse than the Nuby. Though the buttons were a little nicer to press, the stick on the other hand was so loose that if offers almost no accurate control at all. This one I'd stay away from unless you're desperate.
[img width=300 height=200]http://www.toysnjoys.com/access_cube/hori_sc2.jpg[/img] [img width=250 height=200]http://www.consolesandgadgets.com/catalog/images/gc-fightstick.jpg[/img]
The Hori stick comes in two flavors, the more common
Soul Calibur II version (left) and the more generic Fighting Stick (right). Other than the
Soul Calibur graphic they are the same exact thing. The Hori stick is incredibly durable, with a good weight to it. The stick itself clicks like many real arcade cabs, and the buttons feel just as accurate. This is the kind of stick I was hoping for since I first became a Cube enthusiast.
I personally use mine almost entirely for games on the Game Boy Player which means that only four of the six buttons are used in any one game. Of course thanks to the Z-Button menu, the layout can be reconfigured however you prefer. If you are planning on using this stick for Gamecube games then certainly it's important to point out the lack of a C-Stick. But if you're a hardcore Game Boy Player like myself, then this stick is pretty much the best thing you could pair your Cube with. Trust me. I figured that out the hard way.
I have over 50 GBA games, and many of them I would love to play multiplayer, does the Game Boy Player allow such things without the use of a link cable? I would love to take on friends in Mario Kart Super Circuit, but no one has the game anymore to play multipak play 
