UK company Shika Arcades has produced what is shaping up to be the very best arcade stick option for SNES players - and it's made from bamboo.
We're no strangers to gaming hardware fashioned from wood here at Nintendo Life, but this example looks like it could take things to the next level.
Featuring Sanwa parts and constructed from architectural-grade bamboo, the SOZU.S1 has been produced with gaming connoisseurs in mind. It's packed with features and functions - such switches which allow you to remap the six face buttons and controllable auto-fire settings - and has a price tag which matches its premium status. At £450 it's hardly an impulse purchase, but beauty always comes at a cost.
Here's Shika founder Ed Taylor explaining how the stick came to be:
Whilst playing Pocky & Rocky one day I became increasingly frustrated with the controller experience. I wanted the control accuracy and responsiveness as when playing the arcade version KiKi KaiKai on my 90's arcade cabinet. With a huge array of titles being conceived, first for the arcades before being released on SNES, I began my mission to create an unparalleled arcade controller for the SNES purist. Providing a unique 90s Japanese arcade experience at home and then some...
My aim was a highly tactile, beautiful controller, incomparable in form, function and quality from what predated it. With months of design, research and revision, SOZU has been born, a controller that could be of the period and definitely one for the connoisseur.
SOZU.S1 is the most uncompromising controller ever created for SNES & SFC consoles. Made from the finest materials, custom-made components such as the 'piston head' aluminium turbo control, superior Sanwa parts from Japan and vintage high quality switchgear. Each unit is produced by me, so you can be sure my eye for detail and care is carried through from design, manufacture to dispatch.
Taylor points out that the time consuming production process means that the SOZU.S1 will be manufactured in batches of 20 until the first 100 "limited edition" units are completed. If you want to keep abreast of updates then you can head over to the official Shika Arcades site and register your interest.
Comments 17
I'll wait for the 'Labo' version. More sustainability credentials.
Needs a bigger company logo on it, you can barely see the thing.
Um, didn't he have the Capcom Power Stick available to him? It's my choice for SFII and TMNT Tournament Fighters, and it introduced me to the square gate. I still have both of mine to this day, I'll never give them up!
Sorry did he just say 'SNES purist'? LMAO Well each to their own.
I guess I can't use with the SNES games on my 3DS VC then.
I'm sorry, but for that kind of money I'd want it to be compatible with... EVERYTHING!
Play games and then take it to the kitchen and dice some onions!
Hope that stuff's from a sustainable source - I'd rather have a forest chock-full of wildlife (not to mention awesome backdrops for samurai/ninja films) than this ostentatious frippery.
@masterLEON isn't an octogate better suited for games like pocky and rocky? I wouldn't mind having a stick for my NES/SNES/mSNES/mNES actually
@Megal0maniac It is, for most folks. I just ended up getting used to the square gate. I've even beaten Starfox with the CPS! For Pocky and Rocky, I don't think it would be that bad, maybe just slide from diagonal to diagonal. And if I recall, the gate on the Capcom stick is smaller than a Sanwa. (To me, the Sanwa's gate is as big as a house, lol. That's why I'm a Seimitsu fan) I'll check when I get home. However, I personally don't like using octagonal gates, unless it's an actual arcade panel, because I can't feel the diagonals well enough. I've tried, but they throw me off every time.
It's nice but laughably expensive considering how many people build high quality arcade sticks.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment Stick. Now, you're playing with wood!
@masterLEON I've tried using square gates for YEARS, till prefer octagonal ones. Here's my current modded Qanba https://i.imgur.com/cJCWoK8.jpg I have a Hori Rap 4 (with the excellent Kuro parts and square gate)/Madcatz TE SCV as well.
£450? That’s like 783 Aussie dollars. Lol. I understand the effort that’s gone into this as I’ve made arcade cabinets myself, but...BLOODY HELL!
Those switches are ugla as hell. This is far from the ultimate arcade stick. Wood can look beautiful for controllers but not when fitted with this junk.
@RunninBlue Snap! i build arcade cabinets often and could make one for the cost of this garbage. Thise switches are awful too.
Bamboo? No way I would get this, there are a lot of other kind of woods you can use that do not mean destroying more wildlife habitats!
@YANDMAN Yeah. I can see he has put effort into it. Looks very sturdy, but I’m not a fan of the switches either.
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