Sick of the sound of buttons being mashed in the middle of the night?

Fret no more, because purveyors of fine fightsticks, Mad Catz Inc, have released in Japan their Versus Series SH stick.

The predictably initialed ‘SH’ (or Silent Hit, not Silent Hill) stick will only be available in Japan for now. We were told that this was because walls in Japan are built thinner compared to walls in other countries, and so button mashing can cause quite the disturbance to your sleeping family’s force. The SH stick makes for quiter button presses, perfect for those overnight game sessions while still bunking in your mom’s house.

It was quite an experience mashing on a silent stick. The sound of Sanwa buttons being hit is something we have come to expect to accompany our combos and mixups, and the lack of that made playing feel quite unreal. Even the joystick itself was silent, missing the clickety-click that you hear with every shoryuken turned. There’s no denying, however, that the stick is comfortable, and even dreamy to play on. But whether you can live without the usual sounds of a fighting stick, which some players we spoke to claim is ‘therapeutic’, is at the end of the day a personal preference.