Review of Hori EX2 Fighting stick for Xbox 360:



This may have been the best $50 I ever spent. Well, unless you count those four prostitutes, which I don't, because, let me tell you, $50 for four prostitutes is pretty goddam cheap, and you get what you pay for. Mainly the herp.

So anyway, being a huge fan of arcades and classic twitch gaming like fighters and shmups, when I saw Hori had an arcade stick on the market for the 360 I had to buy it. Never mind it came out first with the release of VF5 (there is a custom version of this stick that was released for that game) well over a year ago, it only crossed my radar recently.

The joystick is nearly arcade-perfect, the base is big and sturdy without owning half your desk, and the convex buttons have excellent weight, construction feel and "snap," for lack of a better word. Word. The joystick is solid and big, and overally it nearly reminds me of the console arcade stick golden standard, which is the original dreamcast arcade stick. It reeks of quality. and ball sweat. but that last one is my fault, not Hori's.

It has a nice custom fitted slot for the headset and the necessary Live buttons along the top. All buttons are easy to reach and fit the hand perfectly except right and left buttons which are arrayed along the top somewhat out of reach. Chances are doubtful you will need to access them in the heat of battle.

Having fully playtested with Ikaruga, Dig Dug, pacman, Smash TV and even Castlevania, I can tell you that playing with this thing is a transformative experience. That's a big word for "I could have sworn I smelled sweaty DDR geek behind me while on level 3 in Ikaruga" (that FUCKING maze).

Nearly the best thing about it is the fact it can easily be configured to play with MAME in windows (although you need a minor driver hack to get all the buttons to play nice), and being able to access a neogeo collection with this thing is for me what crack is for Amy Winehose.

With shooters and fighters galore coming (soulcaliber 4 and 1942, anyone?) this thing is worth more than double its weight in plastic. er gold. or actually plastic, if Im talking about credit cards. Honestly, it's worth it just to play soulcaliber alone. fuck nostalgia, that game is still fresh, and I'll cut anyone who says otherwise.

with Mitsurugi.