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Razer Raion Fightpad

C-Sword

Noob
It's $99 USD, it's even more expensive than the PowerA Fightpad. Problem with Razer is that you pay premium prices for average quality products, this will most likely use a proprietary cable.

I guess the placement of the buttons is fine if you play like this



I don't want to bash MarkMan, but he was pissed when I told him that the MadCatz Fightpad Pro looked terrible for fighting games when it was first announced. It turned out I was right.
 

C-Sword

Noob


So I got the controller and my first impressions are not good.

The d-pad is missing a center pivot, it's constantly skipping inputs when you try to pull off special moves that require half-circle inputs. It's fine for qcf, but I'm currently playing a lot of KOF XIII and it's struggling with a lot moves.

The face buttons are way too sensitive, they will register an input almost as soon as I place my thumb on them without actually pressing them.

The shoulder buttons are positioned in an angle that are not very ideal for fighting games, I don't like the feeling I get when pressing them.

If you only play shotos or new fighting games that have input leniency, I guess this controller could be fine, but it would still not be worth the retail price. Get the Hori Fighting Commander or the Power Fusion Fightpad instead.
 

THTB

Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends


So I got the controller and my first impressions are not good.

The d-pad is missing a center pivot, it's constantly skipping inputs when you try to pull off special moves that require half-circle inputs. It's fine for qcf, but I'm currently playing a lot of KOF XIII and it's struggling with a lot moves.

The face buttons are way too sensitive, they will register an input almost as soon as I place my thumb on them without actually pressing them.

The shoulder buttons are positioned in an angle that are not very ideal for fighting games, I don't like the feeling I get when pressing them.

If you only play shotos or new fighting games that have input leniency, I guess this controller could be fine, but it would still not be worth the retail price. Get the Hori Fighting Commander or the Power Fusion Fightpad instead.
I saw the pivot issue in Nihongogamer's video and that immediately dissuaded me from getting this controller. He couldn't even get a 360 consistently because of it.

Really unfortunate, as I have said for a long time that Razer should enter the fightpad market, and this is what we got from them.
 

C-Sword

Noob
I saw the pivot issue in Nihongogamer's video and that immediately dissuaded me from getting this controller. He couldn't even get a 360 consistently because of it.

Really unfortunate, as I have said for a long time that Razer should enter the fightpad market, and this is what we got from them.
It's the Madcatz fightpad pro all over again. I have nothing against MarkMan, but this is the 2nd time he was involved with the marketing of a fightpad and it turned out to be trash.

It's like the d-pad has to return to neutral every tiime after I press a direction, otherwise it will ignore the next input.

I play with Ex Iori in KOF 13, one of his special moves is half circle back + kick, the move doesn't come out most of the times if I slide my thumb. It will work if I press each direction individually (forward, down, back + kick rapidly), that's hard to do during a combo string because sliding my thumb would be much quicker.

It's fine for MK11 because I only need to tap the directions for the special moves.
 

THTB

Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
So, slight thread revival, as I decided to purchase one to see for myself.

So, surprisingly...I have a positive viewpoint on the pad, but I will start off by saying that you need to adjust to the d-pad, for sure, as well as the buttons. These two aspects are mad different from nearly every other fightpad out there. I haven't actually played matches with it, but that's immediately apparent. Doing half and quarter-circles felt 100% fine. 360s were a different case. Once I adjusted, they were coming out every time. The buttons are super light, and it felt a little easy to accidentally hit an extra button. Triggers are fine, and don't have the same feeling as the PowerA fightpad where they're too sensitive. The tourney mode is SICK, though, and the controller doesn't feel uncomfortable to hold at all, for me. The whole pad feels fine, but it is harsh on sloppiness. The problematic stuff feels extremely rooted in cleaning up your own inputs, and I think that issue goes away over time.

Early verdict: I like it so far. Will be taking it to a tournament this weekend, so I'll get a fuller picture.
 

THTB

Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
So update on the Raion experience...

Used it in tournament, and tbh, it's a near perfect controller for me. The tournament itself was rough for SFV, as the lack of a pivot potentially costed me my tournament life as I stopped blocking in the last round, but I'm not sure if the pad was the issue or the PS4 was, as one of my localmates had odd input error issues on the same PS4 where my problem happened.

I've basically chalked it up to the PS4, as I've had no further issues. I'm also getting used to the pad more, and it's been a great experience for me. My input issues have been personal error now, and cleaning up my technique on the pad has really bumped up how the pad feels. I highly maintain that the pad is quality and worth the cost if you're willing to let yourself adjust to it. Longevity is the only question mark, and I'll update if anything starts going wrong, but it's definitely worthy of being a daily driver pad.
 
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THTB

Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
Welp...final update on the Raion.

I'm giving up on this pad. The d-pad is unforgivably bad. When it comes to motions, it is pretty much the most accurate d-pad there is. The problems come in when doing other things. Like blocking. Because of the lack of a pivot + how the switches for the d-pad sit, too often does it happen where I stop blocking because either I'm holding the d-pad too hard and activating every switch, or the disc moves off of one direction switch just enough. It's infuriating, and has happened far too often.

The buttons are too sensitive, and it's far too easy to press multiple buttons on accident. They are the quickest buttons to respond on any pad I've ever used, but their sensitivity is too much of a double-edged sword. The only things on this pad that was absolutely perfect were the shoulder buttons and operational buttons.

I'm disappointed, and I can't recommend this, not even on sale. At least the PowerA pad gets the d-pad right in terms of accuracy, and the buttons aren't too sensitive, save for the bumpers.