Fight sticks can be really fun, but they aren’t for everyone. It can take time to learn how to use one effectively, and the nice ones can get pretty pricey. It makes sense that there would be a skill/equipment gap where fighting game players want to upgrade from a standard
PS4 controller to something more specialized, but are intimidated by or may simply not want to buy an arcade stick.
Razer’s Raion fightpad fills that gap better than the few “fightpads” that have come before it. It takes a lot of the mechanical components that people like from arcade sticks – the six-button layout, quick-hitting buttons, eight-way directional movement – and transposes them to a controller form factor. I don’t think it’s as effective as an arcade stick, which is a problem because it’s just as expensive, but there is something to the idea: It feels more comfortable than using a standard DualShock 4. It’s a niche within a niche, but I think the Raion will hit hard for competitive players who prefer holding a controller.
Design & Features
Aside from having some of the same buttons, the Raion does not look like a PS4 controller. Its shape is wider, boxier, and almost flat. There is much more space on its face: The analog sticks and the round wells that house them are gone. It makes the PS button look positively tiny surrounded by empty space. Holding it, the grips flow into the back of the gamepad, similar to an Xbox One controller. I found it very comfortable to hold, and it provided good grip even as your right thumb makes larger and wider motions to reach all six face buttons.
The larger, flatter surface makes room for a few more and bigger buttons. On the left side, you have a large, clicky D-Pad more or less in the same position as the DS4’s. The D-Pad is a single piece that pushes in eight directions, similar to an 8-way joystick. It’s as good as you can get on a D-Pad, allowing for easy Street Fighter-style quarter- and half-circle motions. It still doesn’t feel quite as natural as performing the motions on a joystick though.
On the right side, you now have six large face buttons – the four classic PlayStation face buttons plus R1 and R2. Like arcade buttons, they have no click or mush, and have a very light press, allowing you to tap them very fast. Despite this, the Raion has four triggers, though they aren’t meant to be used that way. All four top buttons are flat, and have a mouse-like clickiness to them, creating a low-travel approximation of an arcade button.
Since you have two face buttons for R1 and R2, but no analog sticks, you have the ability to switch the trigger inputs from the standard format to L3 and R3 on the left side and L1 and L2 on the right using a switch at the bottom of the controller. Why did they choose to move L1 and L2 instead of just putting L3 and R3 on the right? I have no idea. It isn’t going to get in the way for any competitive games, though, as the analog buttons tend to only come into play for more complex modes.
The center column still has the central PS4 components. The share and options buttons are round and circular. There’s a touchpad, which looks small, but is actually about the same size as the original. Razer moved the PS button up to just below the touchpad because the Raion does not have an internal speaker. Below that, there are a pair of buttons – one mutes your mic, the other is one-button volume control. Press together, they also enable tournament mode, which turns off the menu or system-level buttons.
Gaming
The Raion is a better fit for fighting games than a standard gamepad, especially the DualShock 4. Having all six buttons on flat on the face, lined up intuitively as they would be in an arcade makes a world of difference in understanding 6-button games like Street Fighter V. For 4-button games like Mortal Kombat 11, you’ll get access to other buttons like block. I can’t overstate how much easier it is to use the full range of your controls when you play this way. Moreover, having the quick-hitting arcade buttons makes it easy to tap out strikes as quickly as you need them to.
Likewise, the fact that the D-Pad registers in eight directions, just as an eight-way gated arcade stick would, makes it easier to perform special moves consistently. The clicky feel of the D-pad gives you nice feedback, which I found allowed me to keep better track of each movement my character made.
All that said, the Raion has some limitations relative to a fight stick. There’s a downside to having arcade-style buttons on a controller, it’s very easy to mispress buttons as you reach your thumb across the pad or roll it across a button. That’s a problem you don’t experience on a fight stick, as most players have their hands hovering over the buttons and reach their fingers down to tap each one.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend playing claw with the Raion. The D-pad requires a lot of precision to navigate accurately. I’m not a claw player, so it’s possible you may not find it cumbersome, but it seems like the tradeoff isn’t worth it.
It’s also worth noting that, because it doesn’t have analog sticks, it is not a replacement or upgrade for your standard controller. It is only for playing fighting games (or retro games that don’t require dual analog sticks). The same is true of arcade sticks, of course, but that’s the problem. You have all the same drawback as a fight stick, but a lower potential ceiling.
One other miscellaneous problem: The Raion can’t turn on your PS4. You have to turn on the console by hand or using a DualShock, then sign in by pressing the PS button. It’s a minor nuisance but hammers home the fact that this is a piece of specialty equipment that’s only meant to be used with certain games.
Purchasing Guide
The Razer Raion Fightpad for PS4 is available on Amazon for $99.
