▷Razer Panthera review: an arcade stick for real fighters 🥇

Razer It has built a solid name for itself when it comes to professional peripherals for hardcore gamers, and this is not only reflected in its excellent mechanical keyboards and competition mice - in recent years the company has expanded its influence into the console market as well. starting to create quality products for pro players accustomed above all to the pad.
Among these Razer has also given birth to a line of professional arcade sticks called Razer Panther, successors of the first model called Atrox and improved across the board.

The original came out over a year ago, but recently branded themed versions of the most important fighting games of the moment have arrived, such as Dragon Ball FighterZ e Street Fighter V.

We have had the opportunity to try the version dedicated to the fighting game of Arc System Works, Manufactured by Bandai Namco, and we tell you about our impressions after several encounters in the arena.

Razer Panthera: Aesthetics matter

Il Razer Panthera Dragon Ball FighterZ Edition comes with high quality colors and images on the body dedicated to the game in question. In addition to the beautiful design representative of the title, with some of the most iconic characters of Dragon Ball, there is also the touch of class where each key has an image of one of the buttons stamped on it 7 Dragon Balls.

Beyond the aesthetic beauty, the arcade stick is very solid and stable, but at the same time rather light in use, with ample space to rest the wrists and elbows and a not excessive weight that does not bother to keep it resting on the legs either. after long gaming sessions.

The Panthera is compatible with PS4 / PS3 and also on PC if desired. It features 10 keys, two of which on the side for Options / Start and Share / Select, convenient so as not to press them by mistake. It has several functions such as the PS4 touch pad, well-defined keys for R3 and L3, the option to decide whether the stick is the right or left analog stick or the D-pad and finally an option to disable these keys in order to do not press them by mistake during the most excited phases of the fights.

The Razer Panthera is made with most gamers in mind hardcore, eager to customize and reset buttons and toggle. The interior of this Arcade Stick can be opened by pressing the Razer symbol, with an easy-to-use gas opening. Inside the compartment there is a supplied screwdriver with which it will be possible reassign the different keys or even carry spare parts, such as additional keys and alternative joysticks. All the buttons and the Joystick are in fact interchangeable with new parts if the player has the will.

The buttons and joystick supplied are from Sanwa Denshi, a company renowned for the construction of components for arcade sticks, which guarantees very precise controls, with its Joystick movable in eight directions with truly remarkable precision. The keys, large and reactive at the right point, have a certain softness to the touch able to not tire the finger of those who, while playing, will press them hard countless times.

Razer Panther: Prove su strada

Obviously the first game with which we tested the Razer Panthera is exactly the same one that this model was inspired by, that is Dragon Ball FighterZ. The first impact for us who mostly used the classic PS4 pad to play, wasn't exactly plain sailing. The reason, however, is to be found only in habit, because the difference in accuracy is such that it will take us a few games to take the right confidence with the calibration of the moves.

Once you have taken the hand you immediately understand the difference in the execution of moves and specials and more complex movements. With the directional cross it was always a drama to be able to make complex combos that required complex executions in a few thousandths of a second, thanks to this arcade stick you can perform the typical "crescents" or other types of thorny inputs in much shorter times than the cross directional. For example, the movement of the classic "Super jump”, Where you usually have to move the directional control low and immediately after it high, it was problematic with the normal pad within fast combos and input pine. With Razer's Arcade stick this isn't a given issue the high speed of movement stick. The cable to be connected to the console via USB, gives excellent response times, able to guarantee no problem of input lag.

By beating our opponents we realized that accuracy of the joystick is able to minimize the possibility of making a mistake in the intended move, in fact it is enough to be slightly precise to unleash all the power from Saiyan warriors. Even the keys manage to give an excellent feeling of comfort, so much so that we often preferred to press on two buttons together rather than on the one used as a shortcut.

In addition to our test with the frenetic gameplay of Dragon Ball FighterZ, we were also able to test it with another type of fighting game, namely Soul Calibur VI always of Bandai Namco.

The advantages of using this arcade stick are also excellent in this 3D fighting game, with completely different mechanics than FighterZ. The three-dimensionality Arenas and moves based more on accurate timing and strategy, rather than long combos and quick actions, give a totally different feeling to the player. The advantage in this case is due to the greater mobility due to the simple double pressure down or up to move sideways, also the attacks are better manageable thanks to the excellent distribution of the keys.

Conclusions

L’arcade stick Panthera of Razer is truly a gem in the fighting game landscape. Despite the price that automatically places it in the high-end (about € 239) of this type of products, we find it well made and attentive to all the needs of an expert in the fighting genre, who would like to modify it or set it in another way.

Once we got the hang of the change of commands we realized we could play more easily, without the damn blisters that usually come out to fiddle with the normal pad. Although we do not consider ourselves geniuses in this type of games, we have noticed that the execution of the moves and the precision of our movements, both in DB FighterZ and in Soul Calibur VI, has undoubtedly increased, making us much more reactive in defense and faster. in attack.

An arcade stick is now almost a practice for everyone lover of the fighting game genre, as can be seen in the eSports landscape, as in the famous EVO held in Las Vegas in August. If you eat bread and Hadoken we cannot fail to recommend using the Razer Panthera to improve your fighting skills.