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Ever since I’ve been playing video games, I’ve been playing them on a pad. The lovable Xbox 360 pad. The brilliant PS4 pad. These days, the bulky and boisterous PS5 pad. I have never owned an arcade stick. This was not for lack of want – an arcade stick even today is a sign of gaming prestige as a Ferrari is for driving. Imagine my shock when earlier this year this all changed with the Vitrix Pro FS. In my late 20’s, without kids nor mortgage, an ever-expanding waistline and ever-receding hairline, I am in theory the ideal market for such a product. It felt natural on my lap.
Vitrix is the esports / competitive branding of Performance Designed Products, or PDP. While the company has various lines aimed towards different types of gaming enthusiasts, Vitrix is unabashedly targeted towards those who value high performance, high skill, and perhaps even professional play. At Evo earlier this month – Vitrix had a big booth, and you could see people wearing sponsored jerseys walk around with Vitrix sticks. Vitrix sticks are the current king of the competitive scene. This makes them inherently desirable for the aspirational and esports inspired. But how good are they for you, the impassioned gamer?
Before I jump into the various features of this stick, I’d like to note that this product is clearly targeted towards fighting games, rather than other arcade games. It obviously can be used by retro-heads looking for a nasty Pacman session, and it’ll probably be dead handy, but this stick is clearly built for playing fighting games both at home and abroad. If you want a retro game stick you could buy a Vitrix Pro, but you could probably save a lot of money and get a more appropriate product elsewhere.
Onto the stick itself! In the box you get the Vitrix stick itself, a nice little carry bag, the braided USB-C cable, and the joystick packed separately. You also get a spare joystick included inside the stick itself, which snaps into place rather than jiggling around. The stick also comes with a dust cap over the stick slot, allowing for easier packing and making it way harder to spill Monster Energy into the sticks’ guts. The joystick is attached via a metal shaft on its exterior, which you simply lift up before inserting, then release for easy attachment. All in all it takes a few minutes at most to unpack and get the Vitrix ready to go.
As for its compatible platforms, you can plug this baby into your PC, PS5, or PS4 and it’ll work just fine. All it takes is for the user to pop open the hatch at the back of the Vitrix Pro and toggle a little switch over to their chosen platform. Then, just plug and play. Easy.
The stick itself is a hefty thing. It weighs around 3.5 KG, so you can knock the hair off someone with this thing and a big enough swing. It isn’t too heavy to carry around but is heavy enough to stop it from moving around while you play. This is especially true courtesy of the foam lap pad built into the hatch at its base. You can play with this stick on your lap, on your desk, on the floor or on a chair and it won’t budge unless you really try to throw this thing around. That foam also goes a long way for comfort – it’s no cushion – but you can leave it on bare legs for lengthy play sessions without irritation.
Speaking of comfort, a lot of effort has gone into making this stick painless to use for short and long periods. The material around its shell is constructed of a single piece of aluminium, which means no gaps to catch your fat and / or saggy fingers in. This smooth material is angled in such a way to allow for your hands to lay in a comfortable resting position. Being in my late twenties, I can’t write enough on the importance of keeping your wrists comfortable, and this stick makes it easy! Old man approved.
The stick itself is roughly 41cm x 28cm x 6cm in size, so it’s a big boy. As such, you do have to consider proper storage for such a product. I’ve spent the last few weeks throwing it in my wardrobe on a stack of shirts, but tucking it under your bed or straight up leaving it on the floor work too. The stick actually comes with this plastic hooks, screwed into its front. These are meant for wrapping your cable around, but you could install a wall-mount with these in mind and show off to your zero IRL friends. Again, if you’re buying an expensive arcade stick, you’re probably a fully-grown adult with the DIY ability to do such a thing. Not me!
But above all else, when you put your hands on this stick you can feel the quality. As you should! For the price point, the Vitrix Pro should feel like the best of the best. It certainly looks the part, with a sleek finish that practically glows out the box. I’m glad to report the Vitrix Pro is a true joy to play with. Everything feels sturdy and smooth, no wobbly parts, not loose components. The sound of the joystick and its bounce as it resets to neutral, the perfect plastic crack of the Sanwa buttons. It’s all top tier quality. You can feel it in your chest, it’s the sort of product you want to show off to folks. When you pull it out your bag it’s like, yeah that’s right, I’m serious about this sh!t.
One big positive to this stick that is marketed heavily on its official store page is customization, and it’s a fair merit to boast about as long as you’re talking about swapping out parts. If you want to replace buttons or joysticks, then it’s easy to do. All you need to do is grab a screwdriver and pop open the hatch at the bottom and you can mix things up. However, for those who want to customize the aesthetics of their stick, wishing to swap out the shell for various memes and favourite characters, you’re largely out of luck. Instead, alternative models of Vitrix sticks exist with characters from Tekken 8, but if you’re hoping for a Blazblue or Art of Fighting Vitrix good luck buddy you’ll be waiting forever.
Durability is another key aspect of the Vitrix Pro, as you’d expect for a product of this size that’s meant for the travelling player. I put this to the test multiple times. I started small, slamming my fist down on the buttons and Vitrix shell. I pushed it from my desk onto the floor, I dropped it face-down, side down, with the hatch open. None of this left much of a mark at all, and none of the components were noticeably damaged. With that said, I wouldn’t slam it (a la Sanford Kelly The Freshmaker), but for the usual bumps and bruises the Vitrix Pro can handle itself just fine.
So, the stick is great. Okay cool, but it’s not just an arcade stick is it? This is the arcade stick for the tippidy top, the best of the best. The travelling gamer, entering tournaments and winning games. It’s not best reviewed while sat in my dark room, playing online matches of Street Fighter 6 against unemployed Spanish dudes. To really test this out I had to take it on the road, which is why I took it to Evo 2024.
The first and most apparent note when it comes to actually travelling tournaments with the Vitrix Pro is its size. You see at home, it’s great to have a stick this size. When you’re traveling across the globe, and walking across a convention centre all day, some of its perks have the potential to become cons. For one, it does not fit inside the backpack I typically use for my short trips. If I wanted to carry this around a tournament all day, I’d need a new bag too. As far as taking this on a plane, I threw it into my cargo bag and prayed British Airways didn’t send it to South Korea.
The stick thankfully turned up in Vegas with me and survived the trip unscathed. Usually for tech in cargo bags, I wrap it in a towel or package it in a protective case, but with the Vitrix and its durability, I just threw it in the bag and it was just fine. While a Starbucks gift mug would be shattered into a million pieces, the Vitrix Pro will be able to survive such trials. When it comes to hauling it around the tournament, this is where the Vitrix Pro’s in-built handles come in. On either side of the stick there are large gaps for your hands, allowing you to carry it in your hands with ease. Even with these, I’d recommend a backpack for anything other than the smallest treks.
Being at Evo I was able to see the real competitor to the Vitrix Pro in the hands of many, and it’s worth bringing it up as a point of comparison. While the Vitrix Pro is a big ol’ box with a shiny joystick, the other main killer in the fighting game peripheral space is the Hitbox, or alternatively, Junkfood Custom’s Snackbox. These are smaller, lighter, stickless competitors to the Vitrix and for travelling and competition they are arguably more convenient. They’re easier to carry around, and easier to personalize with custom-made face plates. Sure, you could probably break it over your knee, and an overarm throw into the pavement will probably spell the end for your tiny hitbox, but that’s a trade many a willing to take.
I mean it as a compliment when I say the Vitrix Pro’s main competitors aren’t other arcade sticks, it’s smaller hitboxes. It’s worth noting that there is a hitbox variant of the Vitrix Pro, but it retains the same size and presentation as the regular model. Ultimately it’s a decision you as the buyer have to make based on preference, and what you value most. If you value quality feel, excellent presentation, and the highest quality parts then I can’t recommend the Vitrix Pro fightstick enough. If you prefer ease of travel, staying lightweight, and the ability to stylize your controller, then you may want to look at other hitboxes on the market.
Personally, I love the Vitrix Pro fight stick. You’d have to drag me kicking and screaming back to the PS5 pad when playing fighting games. The way it feels, the way it looks… It’s exactly what I thought a top-of-the-line arcade stick would be like when I was a teenager. I absolutely recommend it to any fighting game fan with some cash tucked away and a desire to take their hobby to the next level.
You can buy the Vitrix Pro Fightstick right now for $399 / £300 / €399.99