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Manufacturer: PDP

Release Date: 1/30/2013

Colors: Red, Green, Blue

MSRP: $29.99

After buying a Wii U, you will need controllers with Wii Motion Plus in them. For $10 less, you can get these, which are pretty well designed, and I like them a lot. PDP makes great products, and these are no exception. The Afterglow products look cool because they have colored LEDs and transparent cases. I also like the new layout for the controller. The + and – buttons are on the extreme sides of the remote above a. 1 and 2 are diagonally placed, so your thumb doesn’t hit both all the time when holding the remote horizontally. I just found the home button a little hard to press because it is inset with the power button at the top.

The LEDs are bright and vibrant and look cool in the dark. The remote feels solid and sturdy, not cheap like some Wii peripherals. It comes with a strap as well, so the whole package is here. It will fit any rechargeable battery, but it’s a bit tight. One thing you really have to look out for on third-party controllers is the quality of the buttons. They press nicely and give good feedback. I just found the speaker to be a bit quieter than the official ones, and the vibration is a bit softer as well. This is a minor issue, but it still feels nice and is a great product. For $10 less, you get cool LEDs, better button placement, and a solid-feeling controller.

Manufacturer: PDP

Release Date: 11/18/2011

Colors: Black

MSRP: $189.99

Fight sticks are usually the only way to go when it comes to 2D fighting games. Mortal Kombat has finally started creating its own, and this bad boy is almost flawless. The components are Suzo-Happ, which are top-notch, and the thing feels like a piece of an arcade cabinet. The buttons have that lightning-fast spring, and the joystick snaps around like you would expect. The layout is just like that of Mortal Kombat cabinets, with the 5 buttons (think of a 5 on a die) and the Run button, which you can tap with your thumb. The buttons are big, and you can hit each one by just rocking your hand around and quickly slapping the buttons.

The Home button, Start, and Select are up top, along with L2 and R1. The stick is designed for the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection and needed some re-mapping for Mortal Kombat (2011). I did feel like I was ten times better at the game in MK (2011), and I could pull off moves a lot faster on this thing than I could on any controller. My win/loss ratio was boosted after using this thing.

The cabinet’s cosmetics are gorgeous, with the classic MK1 design on the front and soft velvet padding on the bottom for your lap. You can connect any mini-B USB cable to it, but I just wish it were wireless. Nothing can really beat this, and it is probably the best home console stick I have ever used. This also works for other fighting games but may need some re-mapping. I also had trouble pulling off X-ray moves in MK (2011) because the L2 button is up top, so I had to take my hand off the stick to do this. Other than that, the stick is perfect, and everyone should get one. Be warned, though, because these are limited, with only 6,000 produced (I have #1,069). The stick is very expensive, running at over $200 at most places, so this is probably for hardcore MK fans only.