Update [Wed 31st Jan, 2024 11:45 GMT]: Tanita's twin-stick controller will be available to pre-order on Sanwa Denshi's online store for ¥68200 (that's $460 USB / £360) with an expected shipping date of mid-February.
Original Story [Mon 13th Nov, 2023 11:05 GMT]: If you played Sega's Virtual-On back in the day, then you'll be aware that the game has a twin-stick control setup which, during the Saturn and Dreamcast eras, was replicated for the home via special bespoke controllers.
If you want to play Virtual-On on more recent hardware, you're mostly out of luck; while most recent consoles have a twin-stick analogue setup by default, it's not quite the same experience.
In 2020, Japanese company Tanita decided to combat this with its crowdfunded twin-stick controller for PS4. Constructed using Sanwa parts, the controller was sold in limited quantities following the crowdfunding campaign but is now worth a small fortune on the secondary market.
Thankfully, the company has recently announced its intention to reissue the controller:
First released on Sega's Model 2 arcade hardware, Virtual On: Cyber Troopers hit arcades in 1996 and was ported to the Saturn the same year. Since then, it has been followed by Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram (1998), Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force (2001), Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Marz (2003) and A Certain Magical Virtual-On (2018).
In the video below, you can see representatives from Tanita showing off the stick back in 2019: