Is it me, or has the whole Fight Stick pheneomenom caught on like a bad case of the herpes?  I can recall playing fighting games on my early gen consoles with these things and only accomplishing one thing: getting my ass thoroughly kicked.  You just can’t keep up with the button mashing and short stroke of a game pad.

But apparently all my whining is falling on deaf ears.  Why?  Because true hardcore fighting game fans love the Fight Stick regardless of its play action, because it’s a true ode to the days of arcades.  Plus it makes for a killer collectible, that is assuming you’re super into video games.

Available at Comic Con only, Mad Catz and Capcom will sell a very limited edition Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fighting Stick.  It’s oh-so retro artwork will be adorned to only 500 units – 250 for the Xbox and 250 for the PS3 – and cost attendees of the conference $179.99.  If you can’t get your hands on one of those you can always opt for the game pad version (1000 units), which isn’t nearly as cool (or valuable) but will cost only $49.95.

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