The original Sony PlayStation was a great system. In fact, probably the best system with almost arcade perfect ports of fighting games. Today we will look at the first official joystick released the Namco Arcade Joystick.
HISTORY
The Namco Arcade Joystick was released in 1996. For those of you who keep up with model numbers, this particular accessory was labeled as NPC-102 (SLUH 000029). While I do not have the box anymore (stupid me), the box had pictures of Kazuya from Tekken and Yoshimitsu from SoulEdge/Blade.
HOW DID I GET THIS?
Summer of 1999. A trip to the U.S.A with my family, went to the KB Toys. This was on clearance for $9.99! What a deal! Back then I was more excited to finally have a joystick to play Super Street Fighter II Collection, Tekken and SoulEdge.
THE JOYSTICK
What's great about the joystick is that it's VERY responsive, after regular use on my PSX/PS2 and on my computer over the years. It STILL works. It has a hard shell, made out of aluminum and hard plastic. This puppy rides at a slope for the joystick and the buttons, it is not flat. This makes it very comfortable for your wrists after playing for hours. It's also very sturdy and can take a hard drop.
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| You will notice with the button layout. Square, Triangle, X and O are formatted like the original Tekken and SoulEdge arcade machines! Also with 6 front facing buttons for Street Fighter. |
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| You will notice how it slopes down. |
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| Namco |
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| This was great for NBA HangTime and Virtua Fighter as well. |
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| Play In Our World, Live In Yours. |
Years later.. maybe a couple of years ago I was interested in obtaining a 2nd Namco Arcade Joystick. Checked on Ebay, these guys can go for over $120 depending if there is a box or not. Without the box you are looking at around $75-$90. So was I lucky for getting this for $9.99 in 1999? Yes!
Compared to what's out now namely the Hori Joysticks coming out from Japan for the newer systems. This stick still does it all after all these years. It's also compatible the PS3 via a PS1/2 controller USB adapter. If you can find this controller, definitely pick it up. You will not regret it!
- Happy Thrifting
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