| Taito DS Paddle Controller Review | ||||
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Taito DS Paddle Controller Review Introduction A reminisce of the glory days of Atari gaming, paddle controllers were key when it came to playing games like Pong, Breakout, and Space Invaders. The Taito Corp. offers a glimpse back into that decade with their newly released (well, a couple months old) Taito DS Paddle Controller. Currently supporting two games with a third-party hack for use with Mario Kart, and available in 4 colors, the Paddle fits into slot-2 and is compatible with both the original and Lite DS. Looks promising. Lets see how it is. Packaging and Contents 
Standard Japanese electronics packaging, but I guess I'll describe in more depth. The left half of the paddle image (the black portion) is actually a hole cut-out with thin plastic glued on the inside to show which color it is. The round sticker on the top-left serves the same purpose. The left side of the box names off all the available colors (white, black, silver, pink), and has a URL which is supposed to take you to the web page for the product. I have found that the address written on the box, "http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/paddle_ds", is incorrect, the correct address being "http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/title/2007/paddle_ds/". 
Box Contents
Inside the box the paddle is held firm by a cardboard folding. Underneath you'll find the standard safety/usage guidelines leaflet which is nothing special. 
There are four colors currently available (white, black, silver, pink). The unit I will be reviewing is the "black" model.
CODE ------------------------------ PADDLE CONTROLLER DS TCPP-20019 ------------------------------ TAITO CORPORATION ------------------------------ MADE IN CHINA 
The texture of the body is quite similar to the matte finish of the black DS Lite's interior. A little smoother, a little darker, but more or less the same. The spinner shares the same texture on the top, with straight ridges running down the sides. The entire surface of the main body shares the same finish. I'd like to take this time to say that the paddle truly is fun to use. The whole device just feels solid, and the second wheel provides just the right amount of resistance. This allows precise movement while twisting slowly, and fast movement with a quick spin. The ridges along the side of the spinner allow you to maneuver with one finger running around the edge. Theres a mechanical-esque sound produced, but you can only really hear it when making longer spins (check the Space Invaders Extreme video). Response time is perfect.
Most of you probably know this by now, but developer Yasu has released a cheat string that allows you to use the paddle controller with a Japanese copy of Mario Kart DS. It functions as a standard AR cheat, can be used with any flashcart that supports those. Once you've enabled the cheat in your flashcart's menu, pressing Start + Select ingame will remap the left-right on the d-pad to the paddle. Essentially just take your current DS' battery life and divide it in half. I don't have proper benchmarks, but the controller takes quite a bit of extra power. The Taito DS Paddle Controller is quite the dealio. Incredible build quality with a well designed spinner and perfect response time make this one of the best input devices available, and its just fun to spin (I find myself doing it while its sitting on my desk). Works great in the two games it was designed for, but unfortunately those are the only two games that can use it at all (well, and Mario Kart). If you're a big fan of Space Invaders Extreme I could see this being a worthwhile purchase, but otherwise it might be hard to warrant the 25USD+ to import it. Pros + Phenominal build quality + Perfect response time + Works with slot-1 flashcarts + Great resistance + Very fun to use + Available in 4 colors Cons - Halves your battery life - Mario Kart hack is unplayable - Only two games officially support it - Somewhat expensive
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 December 2008 02:49 ) |
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