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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've been toying with the idea of this blog for a while now, so I've decided to finally give it a go. Basically, I'd like to try to shed some light on some overlooked, forgotten, awesome, or weird games from the gigantic library of my favorite console -- the Nintendo Game Boy Player.
[img width=200 height=284]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/E-076/bf/E-076-S-00780-A.jpg&sizex=200[/img]
Yes, you read that correctly. The Game Boy Player is my favorite console of all time. Though I grew up with the NES and SNES (among others), I've realized that I've had some sort of Game Boy system for nearly 20 years. Therefore, almost every major game franchise that has been released in the time has been ported to a Game Boy sytem of some sort. Mario, Donkey Kong, Link and Mega Man are well accounted for, but it's not just Nintendo. When you combine the libraries of Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance (not to mention the Gamecube itself) there's a staggering amount of games to discover. There's Sonic and Bonk and Master Higgins and a ton of other amazing little ports and sequels and oddball releases out there to investigate. And what better way to do so than with this:
[img width=200 height=288]http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/watermark.php?ID=U-076-H-00200-A;type=bf;sizex=200[/img]
I love the Game Boy Player... it's so bad.
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