In my not so humble opinion THE greatest controller ever made finally comes to the PS2! Too bad it didn' t come out at around the same time as Gradius V, lol..

Taken from The Magic Box:

- Sega announced they will release the Saturn Control Pad for PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 24, for 2280 yen. The Saturn Control Pad is identical to the classic Saturn controller, it is ideal for playing the Sega Ages titles such as Phantasy Star Generation II, Dragon Force and Fighting Vipers. (Source: ITMedia)

thas gonna be cool.it will bring back alot of memeries

The Saturn has the greatest 2D controller ever, no question. I even prefer it to any of the analog controllers as well. It had the PERFECT layout. Two rows of three buttons. Buttons labeled with letters from the alphabet instead of random shapes. Buttons labeled alphabetically instead of ass-backwards *cough* Nintendo *cough*. Two nice shoulder buttons instead of 4 (who needs 4 shoulder buttons, really?). A start button. No Select button (I never really understood the purpose of a Select button on controllers with more than 3 face buttons). A perfect d-pad. Perfect! And a nice shape that fits into all hands perfectly, big or small.

In fact, this controller is SO GOOD that I am amazed that sega has recognized it' s greatness. Typically Sega would think that either the Dreamcast or the first Sega Master System controllers were the best. it is rare for Sega to properly recognize excellence.

I' m sure this pad will be ruined with 4 shoulder buttons, the select button, and the PS2 logo, though.

Joe

There are only two shooulder buttions. C and Z take the place of L1 and R1 respectively.

That helps.

They already released a USB version for PC and Macs a short while back, I' m gonna wait till the Japanese PS2 version is released next month and just get both together! Using that controller for MAME games is gonna friggin ROCK sooooooooooo HARD!! And using it for PS2 games that are d-pad compatible will rock pretty hard as well.

In short, there' s just going to be a whole lotta rockin next month!

I' ve seen you can get a gamecube controller that' s shaped exactly like the old SNES controllers. It lacks the analog stick of course, but everything else is there. If I find a picture I' ll link it.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/features/hardware/hori-digital-controller/hori-gamecube-pad.jpg

there it is. and here' s one showing the two side by side.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/features/hardware/hori-digital-controller/

I' ve got a Hori Digital Controller for my GC. It' s alright. I personally don' t think it' s as comfortable as the SNES pad, however it is good for both the GB Player and Soul Calibur II.

I' ve seen NES-a-like pads out there for the PS2. In HMV in England. I was tempted to get one...

...will a Japanese Saturn/PS2 joypad work on a UK PS2?

I switch the controllers on the Japanese PS2 and U.S. PS2 quite often so I don' t see why it wouldn' t work on a UK PS2..:)

Yes it will work

Suddenly I have moral issues buying a Saturn shaped PS2 joy pad. It' s like against the law... blasphemy even.

Blasphemy against.....?

From what I recall the Saturn did extremely poorly in Europe because you blokes refused to buy anything except stuff for the Mega Drive and Master System. Long live the queen!

Both the Saturn and Dreamcast seemed to do equally as poor in Europe, with both selling around 1 million units before dying their miserable deaths. I guess those one million Saturn owners in Europe decided to come back for more punishment with the Dreamcast ;) :P

One of the biggest mysteries to me will always be WHERE the hell the 7-8 million Saturn owners in Japan were during the Dreamcast era, they REALLY let that console down.

I don' t think there were quite 7-8 million Saturn *sell thoughs* in Japan. Sega only counted what they had sold to retailers, not to actual customers.

you want a simple aming controller?? they should make the original NES controller compatibal for all new systems.....simplisity at it' s finest.

And most uncomfortable with a lack of buttons to boot!

well, just round off the corners and you are good to go really. what else do you need? two buttons for your two main functions and then of course you still have the " select" button which was never useful before, but now it is....

for example, when used during a shooter type game: A is shoot, B is jump, and Select is for switching weapons. simple simon right there......or in a driving game, A is accelerate and B is brake/reverse and Select switches views....

I prefer the commodore 64 " paddles" . One Wheel to spin and one button to push. Think of the deep combos that could be ammassed in fighitng games!