10 Rare & Valuable Video Game Controllers You Might Own

We’ve all used a big, plastic gun controller of some kind, whether that’s at home or in the arcade but have you used a big, plastic sword?

Hori, the company that produced this quite frankly bizarre peripheral, had 20 years of experience in hardware in Japan before they started producing for the worldwide market. What an incredibly Japanese statement to make with your first international product. Katana: The Soul Controller is one of the few controllers that could be counted as a legitimate weapon.

Stylised on the traditional Japanese sword of old, the Katana controller is two pieces of plastic that slot together to make the PlayStation 2’s strangest peripheral. It was designed with Onimusha 3 in mind which is why it got Capcom’s blessing as a licensed product. That being said, whether you play it with this game or any other PlayStation title you’ll be in for a strange and indeed challenging time.

Because of the nature of the shape, to say the layout of the controls is strange is putting it delicately. All of the buttons are on end with the sticks and d-pad a little further down. Thus your hands may find themselves sliding up and down the handle of the Katana pretty regularly, making it look less like you’re using it to swing a sword and more like… well… I’m sure you can figure it out.