A joystick built like a tank
It's hard to get old-school arcade action with today's controllers. Whether it's the Wii's motion-sensing remote or the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3's wireless gamepads, they just don't capture the frantic, rugged joystick-beating and button-thumping of yesteryear. Don't worry, though. $200 will get you the glory back, thanks to X-Arcade.
X-Arcade makes retro arcade controllers, and the Tankstick is the company's beefiest, most fearsome unit. This massive controller weighs 20 pounds and sports two joysticks, 22 buttons, and a trackball. Most impressive is this bad boy's lifetime warranty; X-Arcade will repair or send replacement parts for the Tankstick (or any of their other controllers) if it ever breaks. If it breaks in the first year, they'll even send you a replacement and foot the bill to send your broken stick back to them. I wouldn't worry too much about them breaking, though. The Tankstick is unbelievably sturdy, and X-Arcade claims its buttons are designed to withstand 1 million presses in their lifetime.
For a closer look at the Tankstick, check out our photo gallery, where we look at the Tankstick and its little brother, the X-Arcade Dual Joystick, in more detail.
