Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition, which was nearly impossible to find from its initial release right up until the company stopped making it, proved gamers are hungry for nostalgia. But has 16 years been long enough for Microsoft fans to feel similarly nostalgic for the original Xbox’s gigantic controllers?
Not actual size, not even close.
Accessory maker Hyperkin is hoping so. As part of the company’s E3 2017 announcements, it has revealed a new controller it’s calling The Duke that isn’t really new at all. The Duke is actually a perfect replica of the 2001 Xbox’s included controller that many of us remember having to learn to wrangle in order to play Halo. It was a necessary evil, and eventually we all built up the required muscle strength to hold the controller long enough to finish Halo, and other games on the original Xbox… It had other games, right?
The Duke isn’t an exact clone of the 2001 Xbox’s controller, however. While it does have those tiny black and white buttons above the Y, X, B and A, the static Xbox logo in the middle of the original will be replaced with an actual LCD screen on The Duke showing an animated logo.
Like the original, the new controller will still have a 2.75m detachable cable, but will work with the Xbox One, and any PC running Windows 10. Australian pricing and availability details haven’t been revealed yet, but Hyperkin does refer to The Duke as being a “limited edition” release which means it could be as hard to find as the NES Classic Edition was.
A video posted by Hyperkin (included below) indicates the Duke will be available in time for the holidays, later this year.
[Hyperkin]