Victrix Pro FS Fight Stick review

There is no point beating around the bush – the Victrix Pro FS is the most stunning arcade stick I have ever had the pleasure of getting my hands on. And not just because it is an aesthetic beauty, either. The ergonomics, performance and accessibility make it a championship level contender – it is no wonder it was given out as a treasured prize in last year’s prestigious EVO tourney.

Straight off the bat this unit feels like a premium purchase. The box itself looks almost first party, until you slide out the sleek black Victrix package underneath the sleeve. Inside the inner box, the stick itself is nestled in a cool Victrix bag, with a fabric covered USB-C cord in the same colourway as the main unit. I was fully aware that I had been sent the purple variety to review (a more PS5-styled white model is also available) but wasn’t prepared for just how incredible this thing looks. This is the coolest sparkling metallic purple thing I have seen since one of Prince’s guitars. I spent a few minutes running my fingers over the etched-in button labels, and tinkling the ultra-satisfying buttons, knowing that they were about to allow me to kick some ass over a variety of classic fighting games.

The base unit is crafted from a single slab of aluminium and is quite weighty – if you dropped it n your foot then you would know about it – but thanks to the handles on the side, and the cool way you can wrap the USB cord around the two prongs on the top in such a fashion as it becomes a carry handle – means that it is easy to carry around. I will certainly be taking it with me whenever I have a fighting game-based assignments. The portability doesn’t stop there – you can easily remove one of the two provided ball-top sticks (one has a longer shaft) and store one of them in the undercarriage of the unit.

Ergonomically this is as comfortable a stick as I have ever used, thanks to a slight downward gradient of six degrees, plenty of resting space, and the super comfy 30mm buttons. It does not offer wireless capabilities, but the cord and nicely recessed USB-C port means that unless you have an abnormally large distance between your console and seating arrangements you should not have any issues. Speaking of connectivity, there is also a handy 3.5mm pass-through jack situated at the front of the sloped base, allowing headsets to be connected.

Above the stick and standard button layout you have the usual array of other function buttons, including a PlayStation button, touch pad, and the ability to tournament lock the button configuration to minimise the chance of mistakes. One small criticism is the lack of a dedicated L3 and R3 button, which is a slightly odd oversight but not a deal breaker that affected my experiences of using the stick. You can also change the colour of the LED backlighting which sits inside the side recesses of the unit. It looks super cool and just adds to the overall deluxe mystique of the package.

Cracking open the stick casing allows you access to the microswitches and the square joystick gate, as well as a dipswitch (also in purple) to alter between PS4, PS5, or PC functionality. Everything is wired in such an idiot-proof way that even someone as technologically inept as me could customise the buttons and gate should they wish. Japanese arcade stalwarts Sanwa have long been held as the gold standard in buttons and sticks, and it is easy to source replacements, different colourways or convex shaped buttons, or different joystick toppers if you did want to mix things up. There isn’t much room to store anything else in here other than the smaller Sanwa ball top and provided Allen key, which would be my one main criticism. I would have been nice to have been able to fit both sticks in here, and perhaps the braided USB cord too. But you can’t have everything.

The FS Pro has been around a while now, but performance wise there are few that can compare. With unprecedented wrist comfort, undetectable input latency, an out-the-box stick setup that made pulling off just about any move a cinch, and the quality you would expect from Sanwa buttons, I was in fighting heaven. As I have been using a Hori Fighting Commander and standard Sony pads for some time, the noticeable difference in my performance was staggering – particularly on games where precision stick inputs are so crucial, such as parrying in Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, or Garou’s Just Defend. It really opened up Street Fighter 6 and King of Fighters XV nicely, and I am extremely excited to try this beauty out on the forthcoming Granblue Fantasy and Mortal Kombat titles. Just remember to keep your standard controller for playing World Tour Mode on Street Fighter 6, as a stick does it no favours!

Quite simply, the Victrix FS Pro is one of the very best arcade sticks that money can buy in the 2023 market. It allows incredible control and comfort across multiple generations of fighters accessible on the last two PlayStation consoles, looks so beautiful that it made me want to take it to bed with me, and allows me to kick peoples virtual heads in for hours without developing a form of repetitive strain injury. Yes, it is pricey, and yes there is that slight issue with the stick-click buttons, but for the sheer deluxe quality of design and parts, and the world-class performance, I would argue it is worth every penny if you are serious about playing fighting games.