PCE-FX's review of the Taito NDS Paddle controller...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I finally got my new NDS Taito produced Paddle controller in the mail. I was expecting a low quality build paddle controller to boot...but Taito pulled out all the stops and went with a minature rotary knob spinner with a weighted flywheel setup. (By going with a weighted flywheel setup, Taito was able to perfectly replicate the sliky smooth feel of a full-sized arcade rotary spinner used in the arcades in minature form for the NDS platform.) Spin the knob hard on this NDS paddle controller setup and it does, indeed, spin for a while. You might recall that on an Atari Games upright Tempest cabinet, one could spin the rotary knob really hard and it would spin like crazy & for a really long time (give credit for the weighted flywheel used with that particular setup). ^_~

This new fangled optional controller really does gave both NDS games of Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS some very smooth rotary control playability. Only if Atari (formerly known as Infogrames back in the day) would release a NDS port of Tempest with support for the Taito paddle controller setup, that would be one helluva way to play it properly. ^_~

For they buyers of the USA NDS region SIE and A-DS ports are getting short-changed with Square-Enix not officially distributing the Taito paddle controller in the USA. Do they think that USA NDS owners wouldn't like a new controller option to play such games properly?

I'm impressed that Taito went with an arcade quality rotary controller for the NDS. It will fit flush on the original DS but will stick out a bit on the DS-lite variant. Kudos to the DSi variant for removing GBA support and optional controller support entirely.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~