Arcade games are always good for a brief taste of fast action and visual excitement. Even though modern arcades don't always have the latest games, there is a plentiful supply of arcade excitement for the Playstation 2. Playing arcade games with a joystick have always been a part of the arcade experience, for most people, you have to settle with using a controller. Sure the controller is comfortable to use but playing with a controller doesn't prepare you if you want to impress arcade goers with your completive spirit and a high winning record.
Red Octane, known for their popular soft Dancing Mats, created the Impact V-Series for Namco & Capcom games joystick to replicate the arcade experience. Unlike most companies who have their joysticks made out of plastic; the Impact V-Series is made out of the same materials of a real arcade cabinet: wooden shell, a Plexiglas top, and authentic arcade joystick and buttons. Not only the Impact V-Series joystick uses arcade parts, it looks like half of a JAMMA (the arcade cabinet standard setup) joystick cabinet with two three button rows (Square, Triangle, and R1 on row 1 and X, O, and R2 on row 2) on the right, short round top joystick on the left, and two white buttons on the top. If you do not like that setup, Red Octane also offers an Impact V-Series for Soul Calibur II (four face buttons standing in a row) that would be perfect for Soul Calibur and upcoming ports of Neo Geo arcade games (Metal Slug 3 and King of Fighters 2000/2001 two pack). For this copy of the Impact V-Series joystick; some of the face buttons come a little loose when turning this joystick upside down (due to the loosening of the plastic glue), the solid construction of the button wires soldered into the controller PCP doesn't loose the command signal one bit. Red Octane is known to put their personal touch on their dancing pad products with cool logos; the Impact V-Series for Namco and Capcom has a slick looking arcade style bezel underneath the Plexiglas: red and white light rays around the joystick displaying the 8 directional, a red colored joint join together the two top buttons, a white design covering the first and last button on the top and the middle button on the bottom and a red design with the middle top button and the first and last buttons on the bottom (mainly indicating how to do an A groove combo in Capcom vs SNK 2), and the 8bit Red Octane flame logo above the left joystick. Even though it looks like the joystick is arcade worthy, it is very home user friendly: there is red and white tape covering any possible splintering wood, black plastic paneling on each side of the joystick, and a nice black foam pad making it comfortable to place it on your lap but tough enough to grip any table. The joystick is 14 1/5"L x 10"W x 4"H and weigh 7.5 pounds so you need a good bit of space to put it away when you are not using the joystick. Considering the length of the joystick and the cable is only a little over six feet, the length is shorter than most third party controllers.
Playing arcade-based games on this setup is very comfortable and very simple to use. Capcom vs SNK 2 plays like a dream with this setup, all of the arcade buttons match up with this model of the Impact V-Series joystick and it is possible to pull out those level 3 supers, A Groove combos, rolls, and the S groove charges without trying to bend your thumbs. Playing Tekken 4 felt just like most arcade setups, the top two buttons are for the punches and the bottom two are for kicks, and if you either bottom mash or set up combos; the buttons are fast enough to respond to your commands. Another added bonus is it is possible to play Tekken Force mode with this controller, but you can only use the R1 trigger since there are no L1/L2 buttons on this 8-button setup. I didn't seem to mind not using the L1 trigger in Tekken Force mode, because I can just change the target focus at will. When I play Guilty Gear X2, playing in the default setup is comfortable enough for me but you can easily match the Japanese Arcade Guilty Gear XX setup (X for Punch, Square for Kick, Triangle for Slash, R1 for H-Slash, R2 for Dust, and O for respect). The only problem playing Guilty Gear X2 with this joystick is that you cannot select the EX 1 or SP2 characters because there are no L1/L2 buttons on the joystick and the only work around is to plug in a regular controller, use either the L1 or L2 triggers, select the character, and rehook up the joystick. Another major problem with the lack of L1 or L2 buttons is that it is rather cumbersome to set up an arcade game that has four buttons on a row on a cabinet (like Soul Calibur II and Neo Geo arcade ports) if you only have three buttons on a row, or if you have extra functions set up on your L1/L2 triggers (like all four buttons on GGX2, all Punches for a game like CvS2, or selecting your weapon in a 2d shooter). Considering on how much money some people buy a six button only Tekken/Soul Calibur II Stick imported from Japan, you have to give Red Octane some credit in making a six button solution with arcade authentic materials and for twenty dollars less. Sometimes when you plug in the joystick, there is a minor glitch problem with the Start and Select buttons: either the two buttons do not register or they are on 'auto fire'. In order to fix that, all I have to do is attach and reattach the cable and it should work fine.
I also tested out this model on the two hottest upcoming fighters for the Playstation 2, Soul Calibur II and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution (both based on the Japanese versions). The Soul Calibur II game is set up with the two slashes and kick buttons on the first row and the guard button slanted on the lower left, away the first slash button. I made a custom setup where I have Horizontal attack on Square, vertical attack on Triangle, the kick button as R1, and guard mapped on the X button. Since I was used to the Soul Calibur II arcade layout, it took me a minute to adjust to the custom layout; and my Soul Calibur II know how just kicked in. I can do "barely impossible to do on a Dualshock2" vertical attack based grabs with ease, moving fluidly across the battle field with the quicker response of the joystick, and kicking ass with the fast response buttons. Not only I had a blast playing Soul Calibur II on it, this joystick is great for Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. For an ideal Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution setup, I made the Punch Square, Kick Triangle, and Guard X. It may not be the same exact layout as an actual Virtua Fighter cabinet but I can go through arcade mode with barely any finger fatigue.
For some people, a Playstation compatible joystick would be great for old school gaming compilations such as Namco Museum and Activision Anthology. Playing with the short round joystick is very fast in your response and it is crucial to gobble the last pellet or survive the current alien wave.
Just for kicks, I thought I would test out the joystick with three non-fighting games: Thunder Force V, Mobile Light Force 2, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon. Thunder Force V was designed as a home based shooter and it uses more buttons than your typical shooter, speed change, weapon select Left/Right, shoot, window display off/on, Over Drive attack (all Type A Standard Setting), and an option to auto select each weapon type (Type B Advanced setting). Despite the joystick only having six buttons, it is versatile enough to create a comfortable setup if you only want to use Type A Standard Setting. Fortunately, I can go into the option menu and enable the R2 button to select the weapon cursor clockwise. I don't know how to describe it but playing Thunder Force V with this joystick is like playing a side scrolling shooter in an arcade but without dealing with a faulty joystick. Mobile Light Force 2 (also known as Shikigami no Shiro in Japan) is a simpler game to control because all you need is three buttons: shoot, special attack, and auto fire. There is no need to customize the controls is because I had no problem using the default setup for this game. It is harder at first to use a Joystick compared to a Dpad in a game like this but it gives you great practice if you want to play a vertical scrolling shooter in the arcades. Not too many people know that Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon started out as an arcade game in Japan. Even thought the combat is in 3d, using the Impact V-Series in this game is very fast and precise, even more so than the analog of a DualShock2. Pressing the buttons in the actual gameplay is fast and responsive in the default setting but I recommend assigning the orders command to the R2 button.
3 1/2 (stars)
For the cost of most Playstation 2 plastic arcade sticks, you have one well-built and comfortable arcade stick. The missing L1/L2 buttons would deter some people who want a multipurpose joystick for other games besides 6 button fighters, but the layout is perfect for most Capcom and Namco arcade fans. The controller is highly responsive and great for classic arcade and 2d shooting games. For under $30, this model of the Impact V-Series is big, heavy, comfy, and ready to take on most of your arcade game collection.
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