Twin Shock Home Arcade
Score: 98% Developer: Blaze Device Type: Controller
Function: The Twin Shock Home Arcade is an arcade stick -- a digital arcade stick. As you would expect, an analog controller would give you better precision. However, arcade sticks are rarely about precision, but instead are for games that focus more on button slapping mayhem. The Twin Shock offers a host of full-sized arcade style buttons giving your fingers ample ?frenzied attack? breathing room. The stick itself appears to be fresh out of an arcade -- No, REALLY! You?ll need a big coffee table for this one, but it?s like taking a chainsaw to an arcade game case and running off with the ?control-ie? part. You get two complete controllers built into one slick unit. Each side has an arcade style joystick, eight buttons in a ?fighter? layout, and a button for setting turbos, one for clearing turbos, and a ?slow? feature. There are also two sets of Start and Select buttons located in the center of the unit. The Twin Shock Home Arcade unit is intended for use with the Home Arcade System, although four of the six rubber feet are on the outer edges of the bottom, too far to hold it fastened to the H.A.S. I did find that relocating the two rubber feet closest to the front on either side inwards far enough to rest on the H.A.S. controller surface provided ample traction with little fuss. (However, for ?tournament sessions,? I break out a pair of short bungee cords and strap that sucker in place!) This is an excellent controller for fans of old school fighters.
Performance: If you play arcade games (you know, in the arcades?), then you?ll feel right at home with the Twin Shock. There is a certain amount of ?getting used to? required for arcade sticks, especially since Sony?s original button layout does not lend itself to direct translation to an arcade style. Blaze adopted a modified layout, ?forcing? the buttons into a ?fighter-style? layout that will require a little bit of practice to get a firm grasp on. But this layout allows for easy access to all of the buttons in a fairly ergonomic layout. Once you get past that, you?re set. There is a Slow feature and a Turbo feature which may be used, if desired. However, since the Slow feature is based off of the Pause button, most of the newer games won?t be able to use this feature. The turbo feature is more useful, but is simple to use and won?t increase the learning time required by any significant amount. The Twin Shock Home Arcade stick is a very well designed arcade stick, and provides a solid, ?old-school? controller which is a natural complement to the resurgence of ?retro games? that are flooding the market. Also, with two arcade sticks in one, the Twin Shock is the ultimate ?equalizer?/contest controller. You?re both playing under the same conditions, head to head. If you get beat, you have nothing to whine about... If you want to ?take the arcade home with you,? then the Twin Shock Home Arcade is the closest thing this side of using a chainsaw to liberate some hardware from your local arcade. It combines high quality arcade components with a design that gives you a genuine arcade feel.
Features: Dual Shock compatible with really nice feedback Slow Motion feature (pause based) Arcade quality joysticks with excellent centering Dual sticks in one unit Independent Turbo button Realistic arcade design and size
Drawbacks & Problems:: Let?s see... The layout is in a ?fighter-style? configuration, which takes a little getting used to as it puts the X and O buttons side by side. This setup does, however, allow quick and easy access to the eight buttons (X, O, Triangle, Square, and the four shoulder buttons). Also, the full-sized buttons help to compensate for the modified layout.
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
Home Arcade System Pro Shock Lite