Genius F-1000 Gaming Arcade Stick Review

Before the advent of online gaming and even before home gaming systems delivered cutting edge graphics to the living room, multiplayer was largely the domain of the video arcade. For the cost of a quarter or two, gamers can go head to head against strangers or friends on arcade machines and find out who is the better player. Unfortunately, the video arcade business is virtually dead these days with only a handful of establishments remaining in North America when they used to number in the thousands. It even feels weird to think that a lot of people under 20 years old probably do not even know what a video arcade is considering how popular they used to be.

Review Sample Provided by: Genius
Product Name: F-1000 Gaming Arcade Stick
MSRP: $41.99 USD
Product was given in exchange for work done to produce this review.

For those who want to relive the glory days of arcade gaming at home, Genius is offering their F-1000 gaming arcade stick, an affordable PC and Playstation 3 compatible controller that feels like the real deal. With price as low as $41.99, it is one of the most affordable arcade sticks available in the market. With that low of a price, it is not surprising that the packaging is not too fancy with the absence of licensed video game characters at the front but has stock photos of martial artists as a nod to the fighting game genre the F-1000 will most likely be used for. If you squint hard enough you can pretend it is Guile and Deejay from CAPCOM’s Street Fighter series, but who cares about fancy packaging? It is all about what is inside…

The F-1000 box measures 330 x 275 x 150 cm and the unit itself is packed with dual foam protection on each side keeping the F-1000 at the center. To prevent scratches while inside the box, there is also protective plastic covering. Accessories include a user manual and a USB extension cable. Not that the extension cable is necessary considering the USB cord is three meters long already but in case users need an extra meter, a USB extension cable is available out of the box. The USB cord is hardwired into the unit base and has anti-fraying/tugging protection on both ends.

Specifications: