Razer Panthera

Heavy punch

PRICE $ 349.95 www.razerzone.com/au-en

We just got one of these in the office to help us with reviews of Tekken 7, Injustice 2, Blazblue: Crazy Subtitle and a few other fighting games and it’s a revelation. Fight sticks are definitely niche products catering to a dedicated market, but if you’re a fan of fighting games, a stick is all but a must, and having one that works equally well over console and PC is even better. The Panthera is technically a PS4 fight stick, but it works perfectly on PC without drivers. Not only does the Panthera use genuine Sanwa parts (if you’re unfamiliar, think of Sanwa as the Omron or Cherry of the arcade parts world), making it feel extremely accurate, the stick is also beautifully built, giving easy access to the innards is you want to switch out buttons or tweak performance. The inside of the chassis also has space to hold the cables if you’re taking your stick on the road, as well as a replacement bat top joystick if you prefer that style over the ball top. The inside surface of the case has a honeycomb structure for screw mounting, making it supremely moddable. While hollow, the base is hefty enough to be stable on your lap. When it comes to performance, the Panthera feels great. There is little to no input lag and everything feels tight and stable, no matter how wild you get throwing fireballs or clutch back fours. It’s a bit of a bummer that you can’t change the art on the top panel, but that’s ultimately unimportant. DANIEL WILKS