The SNES shipped with a great controller, one that set many of the standards still in use today. But many gamers wanted a controller more like what they used in the arcade. Asciiware was happy to provide an option for them in the form of the Super Advantage.
The Super Advantage in its retail packaging.
The controller was licensed by Nintendo and came in packaging that mirrored that of the console itself. The controller's styling was also clearly matched to the US version of the Super Nintendo, with purple plastic mock buttons and a dark grey area that matched the system's eject button.
Being a fan of arcade shooters and fighting games like Street Fighter, I wanted one of these the moment I first saw it in a magazine.
This is a review of my original advantage from way back in 1992. It's been well cared for, but is of course nearly 30 years old, so some wear is inevitable.
The SNES styling is apparent, though Super Famicom colors are used for the buttons.
Features and Performance
As a 13 year old I loved this controller - like the NES Advantage before it, it loads up on features. The slow motion works even more terribly than it did in the NES era, as it simply presses start over and over again and games had gotten more complicated, often having menus or screen transitions associated with that, and I don't recall ever using it on the SNES.
The turbo functionality, however, was excellent, offering both both always-on autofire and on press, and smooth sliders allow fine adjustment to the rate of fire. This was fantastic in games like Gradius III, one of my favorite shooters in the SNES era.
The balltop joystick has a good range of movement, but it's let down by being membrane based rather than microswitched. It's quite playable and a notable improvement for fighting games over the stock controller, but players used to the clicky precision of modern Sanwa hardware will be disappointed.
The buttons are of a similar quality - they're also membrane based, like those in the stock SNES controller, and lack the clickiness you'd see with real arcade parts. They are still solid, though, and don't bind or feel mushy - as a kid in 1992 I was entirely happy with the quality.
Overall, this was a solid improvement over using the stock SNES controller for many games.
But that layout...
But if you've looked at the button layout, you've noticed a potential problem. It's a six button controller, but not in the standard 2x3 setup. Street Fighter 2 was only a year old when the Super Advantage came out; perhaps it wasn't as obvious how widespread its influence would be.
It's very possible to adapt to the layout and play games like Street Fighter or Killer Instinct, but the difference can be jarring at first. Asciiware themselves seem to recognize this was an issue, as they released the Fighter Stick SN a couple years later:
The Fighter Stick SN, also by Asciiware, with a more familiar layout.
This controller has a stick and buttons that feel very similar to the Super Advantage, but with the (now) more familiar layout. It is slightly less feature rich, though: you miss out on per-button adjustment for rate of fire with the autofire, and the (admittedly useless) slow motion feature is now just on/off.
Still, even with the lack of features, players who focus on fighting games might prefer this newer stick over the Super Advantage.
Build Quality and Construction
The Super Advantage is very well made. The buttons and stick all move well and remain responsive even more than two decades later, and the encloser is made of very solid plastic.
The controller also has a solid steel base plate, which remains rust-free all these years later:
The bottom of the Super Advantage.
So if the stick has held up well to this day, how viable is it to mod the controller and maybe improve some of its shortcomings?
Not very, sadly. There's not really room for mods like replacing the buttons with modern Sanwa ones, and the same is true for the stick.
Super Advantage vs. Modern Fighting sticks
When the SNES was still going strong the Super Advantage was a very solid controller. How does it hold up compared to similar controllers of today?
The Super Advantage compared to a modern fight stick.
Sadly, the answer is that there is just no comparison: compared to modern microswitched joysticks and buttons, the Super Advantage just... doesn't feel as good.
In addition to that, modern sticks are weighted better for stability and often provide a larger surface to rest your hands. The Super Advantage was no slouch back in the day, but we've come a ways since then.
Conclusion
Overall, this was a good choice back in the day, and I put countless hours into Killer Instinct and Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the SNES on it. While it doesn't hold up to modern arcade sticks, it remains a good choice for playing SNES games as long as you can find one in good condition.
