| Price | WaifuSticks |
| Release | Q4 2023 |
| Compatibility | PS5 / XSX / NS2 / PC |
| Cable | 2 m |
Overview
Also known as WSTX, WaifuSticks is one of the finest establishments to come out of Australia, and it ships worldwide. This mighty brand makes unique fighting game controllers—one of which is its entry level controller, the Clutch.
With your Clutch order, you can expect to receive these useful items:
- USB-C to A right angle cable by UGREEN
- Couple of spare microswitches
- Couple of spare keycaps
- Optional dongle
That said, the Clutch has a dozen main buttons—a sufficient amount for many fighting games—and the jump button being bigger than the rest allows you to press it more easily with either thumb’s side. Not only that, the Kailh Choc V2 Red microswitches used are faster than most switches that you’re probably familiar with.
As for the Clutch’s function buttons, there are eight of them—a number that’s more than average. Six function buttons are to be used by your left hand, and two more are for your right hand.
Moreover, the Clutch has generous palm resting space. Another convenient design element is the USB-C port coming out of the center back, making the cable less of an obstacle for you.
Speaking of connectivity, the Clutch runs on WaifuSticks’ own PCB and a variation of the open source GP2040-CE firmware. This firmware—that the community cherishes—is known for its low latency and diverse compatibility.
The Clutch’s compatibility can be extended even further via a dongle you can order with the controller. If you don’t need the extra compatibility and would rather save money, you can let WaifuSticks know not to ship your order with a dongle.
About the hardware…
The Clutch is a slim controller made of acrylic. Seven screws can be seen up top and at the bottom. Up top, you can see the WaifuSticks PCB we talked about earlier.
That PCB shows off some WaifuSticks art, namely its waifu mascot and a heart, which leads us to the good news that the Clutch can display custom art.
To be specific, the Clutch’s bottom can display custom art. For that, we at The Arcade Stick would love to inform you about our custom art service. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed serving our valued clients with custom art for their WaifuSticks controllers.
That’s right! We’ve actually made art for a WaifuSticks controller on more than one occasion. In fact, you can see an example below, and it was illustrated by our artist Gilbert Han who is eager to make art for your Clutch too:
More appearance-related details about the Clutch include how its top can have a border in one color and the rest of the top in another color. Furthermore, you can go crazy with the keycaps’ colors that include:
- Blue
- Green
- Orange
- Pink
- Purple
- Red
- White
- Yellow
- Smoke
With that being said, who is the Clutch for? It’s for the fighting gamer who only needs a dozen main buttons and enjoys the faster microswitches. Also, the flexible compatibility is a big plus, and it’s really hard to find any other controller with two different colors up top. WaifuSticks gets a big thumbs up! 👍