BODY: Most arcade sticks do one job well. Hori's newest one is built to do several. On September 14, 2026, the Japanese accessory maker announced the HORI Arcade Classic Pro for Nintendo Switch 2. It's a joystick for PC, Switch 2 and the original Switch, and its left and right control sections come off and can be swapped out.
The idea is simple, and nothing on the market does it. Instead of a fixed layout, you change the controls on each side to suit the game. Hori lists four options: a standard stick, a trackball, a paddle and a "loop lever." 4Gamer.net called the device "unprecedented," and they're right. Controllers that change parts, like swappable stick tops or modular buttons, are nothing new. Swapping the whole input type in a consumer stick is.
Each control matches a certain kind of classic arcade game. Trackballs were made for games like Centipede and Marble Madness. Paddles, which are rotary dials, run block-breakers like Arkanoid. The loop lever is the rarest of the four. It's a joystick that also twists, which lets your character aim in one direction while moving in another. SNK and a few other companies used it in 1980s run-and-gun games. Those games are almost unplayable on a normal gamepad, and home controllers that support them are very rare.
The stick is due in early spring 2027. Hori hasn't given full specs or a price yet.
The insider take
In Japan, this kind of product makes sense because arcade classics are still a steady, real market. Hamster's long-running Arcade Archives series has spent years bringing old coin-op games to Nintendo systems. The people who buy those games in Tokyo include middle-aged fans who played them at game centers, and many are already arcade-stick owners. For years, trackball and paddle games have been the awkward part of that catalog, since most people play them with a thumbstick and a compromise. Hori is Nintendo's longest-serving licensed accessory partner, and it knows this crowd well. It's betting that fans of niche retro controls will pay for one stick that can stand in for several arcade cabinets. The biggest question is how many games will actually support the trackball, paddle and loop lever when it launches.
Originally reported by 4Gamer.net โ ๆๆฐ่จไบ (Japanese).