For Dreamcast owners, getting their hands on a decent joystick has not been an easy task.  For PlayStation owners, joysticks aren't as hard to come by, but their quality is often questionable.  Enter MAS Systems' Super Pro Stick.  Put as simply as I know how, this is the best arcade stick money can buy. 

Why is the Super Pro Stick so great and what makes it worth its hefty price?  For one, this stick is arcade perfect.  Go to your local arcade and look at the controls for the fighting games.  Take a look at Tekken Tag, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and Soul Calibur.  This is the same setup.  Another reason the Super Pro Stick is great is that you can buy one and have it made to work with every system you own.  Not to mention that it’s extremely durable and stylish.

I've made a short list of comparisons to consider when you start telling yourself that some other, cheaper joystick is the better purchase.  First, look at the joystick.  The ones in your arcade are shaped kind of like a baseball bat.  Almost every console joystick has the dated "ball on a stick" design that was on the Pac-Man machine twenty years ago.  The Super Pro Stick, of course, has the newer bat-shaped design.  

Now look at the base material.  The arcade machines are made with fiberboard.  Almost every console joystick has a flimsy plastic base.  Again, the Super Pro Stick is arcade perfect with its sturdy fiberboard base.  There is one joystick for the Dreamcast with an alloy base, but I've researched it and those tend to break just as easily as the plastic models.

Finally, we'll look at performance.  Personally, every console stick I've ever owned (excluding the Super Pro Stick) has just felt cheap.  The joysticks always made a loud "clickety-clackety" sound that would sometimes distract me from the game.  I'd also see the plastic bases get a worn, dull look to them where my hands would rest.  I was never really happy with any of them.  The Super Pro Stick is what a hardcore fighting game fan like myself and arcade enthusiasts have been looking for in a joystick.

Yes, there are a lot of joysticks out there for $50.00.  There's a reason those cost $50.00  and that's because they cut corners by using cheap materials and, as a result, you get a joystick that just doesn't hold up over time.  Ever go to the arcade to play your favorite game only to find out that the joystick doesn't work in one direction or that a button is stuck?  Imagine that happening to the joystick you bought at Wal-Mart.  You'd have nobody to fix it and if you bought it more than 90 days ago, you're out of luck.  Should the Super Pro Stick break (not bloody likely), MAS Systems has a 6-month warranty along with readily available replacement parts.

This is the one to own, folks.  For more information on the Super Pro Stick, check out http://www.massystems.com and read up on all the great features.  To order, call their tech-support line that is also the ordering line.