The Mog Blog

Nyko finally threw their stick into the ring against the heavy hitters such as Mad Catz and Hori by introducing their own brand new joystick called the “Free Fighter.”

… Yes, all you fighting game fans will laugh at the name.

While what was revealed and shown to us was an early prototype, the Free Fighter stick is looking to solve the issue with lefties by giving the player the option to swap the position of the stick and buttons. For those who prefer cross-handed joystick play, you will now look a little less silly.

The stick and buttons are all Sanwa parts. As you will notice with some of these photos, the base is wide but a lot smaller than what you would see from other joysticks in the market. The stick and button modules are held on with magnets and have a locking mechanism. For those who feel that there’s too little room between the two, a cable can be used to plug both controllers from a further distance. Finally, there’s a base bed that the controller can sit on, and includes expandable panels that will help add better lap support.

Initially, I was a bit worried. The weight is not as heavy as I would want it and the lack of anything to rest your palms on does make it a rough purchase. On the flip side, the small module parts are a lot easier on portability. I also did fear the ability to set macros and turbo on this joystick. Rest assured, they emphasized that there is a lock placed under the joystick that will disable all turbo and macro functions. This is also indicated by the LED lights located under the buttons.

Platforms have yet to be determined, but so far the only hurdle that would need to be jumped would be from Microsoft’s strict policy with third-party controllers and licensing. There is a good chance we’ll be seeing this for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. They also said that the price point would be attractive, selling for lower than most competitors.

We’ll be seeing more of this as the year goes by. The estimated release date is for late 2012.