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The Gratuitous Rainbow Spectrum

BrawlerGEN Genesis & Saturn Controller Overview

BrawlerGEN Genesis & Saturn Controller Overview

Kris Randazzo
6 minute read

Do you want a controller that combines the best of the Genesis, Saturn, and 3D Saturn controllers? The BrawlerGEN from Retro Fighters looks to do exactly that with modern design, 6 face button layout, analog stick, and more.

Purchase yours here: https://stoneagegamer.com/brawlergen-2-in-1-controller-for-sega-genesis-saturn.html/

Transcript of the video

Sega is known for a lot of things, including some of the best controller design in history. They're also known for some of the weirdest controller design in history. But let's not talk about that. What if you wanted to consolidate some of the best ideas of Sega's controllers for the Genesis and the Saturn into one cohesive pad? Well, Retro Fighters has the answer. The BrawlerGEN. Let's take a look. OK, so here we have what can easily be considered two of the best controllers ever made. We have the Sega Genesis six button controller and we have the Saturn Mark two controller. These are great pads. And what makes them great are a couple of things. One, you've got pretty much the best D-pad ever conceived. It's, uh, it's a little tiny bit smaller on the Saturn, I think. It's an optical illusion. They're the same size. I'm a crazy person. Either way, they're very similar. This one's very boomeranging. This one's got a little bit more ergonomics to it. But these little grippys on the back here, you got your shoulder buttons, but they both have these, you know, concave ones and the circular ones up top for the A, B, C, X, Y and Z start button in the middle. These are classics. They're they're wonderful. So how do you improve upon perfection? Well, you add some extra functionality. Here we go. This is the BrawlerGEN from Retro Fighters. Let's get these guys out of the way. As you can see, there's a little bit of a size difference, not much you see there. They line up pretty close to this. They come down a little bit more in. They're thicker. And that gives it more of a modern feel like, you know, your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 4 or 5 or Switch or whatever fancy controllers you're looking at. It's got a lot of blank space going on up top here. It's not really a bad thing. I'm assuming they've moved them up there because of where your thumb goes with the analog stick here. But we'll get to that bit. The D-pad does aim to replicate this D-pad. It's pretty spot on. You can see there's an ever so slight difference in the shape on the outside, but it does have a general same feel going on. You've got your same shaped buttons, your A, B, C and your X, Y, Z, and they feel very nice in their positions. You've got your above. So this does everything a Saturn and Genesis controller would need to do. Your mode is to switch from three buttons to six button and start as well. And yes, this does work for Genesis and Saturn right out of the box. Both are connected right there, even though it's called the GEN. It could very well be called a BrawlerSAT if you're feeling fancy. So the big question is this analog stick. Why bother? Who needs an analog stick for a Sega Genesis? Well, chances are you don't. Now if you're playing something like, I don't know, like Landstalker or Beyond Oasis, some people like an analog stick or a joystick kind of thing for top down controls where you need to move and a whole bunch of different directions, kind of more circular. That's really all down to personal preference. But this does work on every Genesis game, this input, just like your D-pad no matter what. So if you want to use an analog stick on a Genesis, you've got it covered right here. No problem. The big deal with this is that this kind of replaces the circle pad for the Saturn. I don't have one for direct comparison, but if you've ever seen one of those before, if was ever held one, you know, that thing's bonkers. It's kind of like the Proto Dreamcast controller, but it's a big circle. So it's probably about this big in comparison to this controller here. It's more comfortable than it looks, but it certainly isn't the pinnacle of ergonomics. But as you can see, this one does not have that problem at all. It's shaped very nicely and the analog stick works great in any Saturn games that support it. It can also work in pretty much any Saturn game, just like the Genesis one does. This will input just like a D-pad if the game is not analog stick compatible, which there weren't very many Saturn games that are going to be that. But if you want to play a game of NiGHTS or even move your cursor around and Panzer Dragoon, so it's pretty nice. It handles it very well. I will say that I tested out a couple of other things. It works just fine on the Master System, as you'd expect, but then worked just like it does on anything else. Even plugged a power base into power converter into my genesis. And it also worked fine. So no, no problems there. One thing that did it didn't work that surprised me was it doesn't work in my Atari. Now, granted, I plug it into my 7800 so I didn't test it with an actual 2600, but I did plug it into my 7800 and it just the move to the right constantly. I'm not sure what the deal is with it because its Genesis controller and Genesis controllers usually work on Atari 2600, but if you are buying this to have the ultimate Atari controller, this isn't it, fellas. But it does work great for all of your Sega Saturn and Genesis. The BrawlerGEN from Retro Fighters compatible with Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Sega Saturn is available now at Stone Age Gamer. Thanks for watching, everybody. You liked what you saw here today, please comment like and subscribe. Let us know what your favorite Genesis and Saturn controllers are and how much you love the weird circular Saturn 3D controller because we want to hear from you. Thanks for watching, everybody. On behalf of all of us at Stone Age Gamer, keep playing games. 

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