Jared Rea

Seeing as how I don’t have either an arcade or thousands of dollars to throw at Aksys Games for their latest and greatest in 2D fighting, I did my civic duty and instead tracked down the recently released Battle Fantasia instead. This was no easy task as it seems as though Battle Fantasia, ARC’s 2D-3D hybrid fighter, didn’t get a push to retail stores. I asked my local Gamestop jockey for it and it wasn’t in their computers. Checking the websites of the larger retailers turned up nothing. It seemed as though the only option was to order it online or direct from Aksys, but I had another plan, even if my equally hardcore friends advised otherwise.

Scott: Fuck Battle Fantasia. Its not a good game.

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[Leno] Did you see this? Did you hear about this?[/Leno]

Hori, Japanese crafters of many fine peripherals, is finally bringing their Real Arcade Pro line to the Xbox 360. When it comes to retail sticks, you can’t do better than Hori and this is about as top of the line as it gets. This is especially exciting for Xbox 360 users as they missed out on their first next-gen run with the Virtua High Grade sticks being for PlayStation 3 only. I have a few gripes about this new stick (the headset jack is in an odd spot and the button arc is on the extreme side) but that won’t prevent me from slapping down a pre-order as soon as Play-Asia gives the thumbs up.

I’ve already said enough regarding how amazing this year is shaping up for fighters, but knowing that I’ll be able to step up from my Fighting Stick EX 2 has me even more hyped. Next you’re going to tell me that the Asia version of Battle Fantasia is NTSC compatible, to which a change of pants may be necessary.