We had NES games being piled onto Animal Crossing. (Y’know, just so you could get your Donkey

Kong Jr. Math fix.) We had NES games sold in baseball-card-like packs for the e-Reader.

(Yet, I reiterate: Who the heck had an e-Reader?) We had Game Boy Advance versions of a slew

of NES classics... AKA, the NES Classics series. And though you could play those on your GBA,

your Game Boy Player, or your GBASP, those options didn’t allow for... well, the texture

of an old NES controller. Just didn’t feel the same. Of course, since there was a buck

to be made, and a market segment to cash in on, Nintendo were there with a shiny new thing

perfect for your nostalgic inclinations: This NES-styled GBASP.

Yeah, the primary difference between this and your bog-standard GBASP - besides the

paint job - is the inclusion of this textured stickery bit here on the game pad area. It

is, in fact, the same texture as the old NES controllers of yore, with that kinda... how

the heck do you describe it? Rough? Kinda sharkskinny? Is sharkskinny a word, past being

about as trim and svelte as an aquatic killing machine? Anyway. It’s the perfect landing

strip for your thumbs as you muscle through some of the greatest classics the NES had

to offer... or you can give ‘em all a miss and fire up Guilty Gear Advance Edition or

Shining Force: Resurrection of Dark Dragon or Yggdra Union. No one’s gonna judge. Figure

you’ve got enough cred already having a special-edition GBASP.

Since it is - outside of the paint job and texture sticker - just a regular GBASP, though,

all of your existing accessories will work with it, from the ridiculous headphone adapter

(which is always this first thing to go missing, leading to certain individuals feeling poorly

about the audio quality of their hardware reviews) to the AC adapter that was later

repurposed for the first-model Nintendo DSes, to any weird bolt-on third-party aftermarket

stuff like lights or grips or what have you. Not like you need a grip with this little

piece of history. With this, you can confidently say that all grips that pertain to you have

been gotten. Handily. And you can thank that retro textured thing. Right there. That’s

where it’s at.