While gamers can identify most anything the East Coast Gaming Expo, the folks at Ransai and Desktop Arcade brought along a custom-made gaming accessory that many attendees didn’t recognize.
Both companies assemble custom Pop’n Music arcade replica controllers that bring the control of the Pop’n arcade cabinets to the comfort of home. When building the controllers, both companies use actual arcade parts and provide plenty of customization to ensure players get a one-of-a-kind controller.
Alex “Dewgy” Olah was present at the expo as a representative of Ransai and explained the controller making process began to give players of the game more of an arcade experience than what Konami, the developer of the Pop’n Music and Bemani series, offered players.
"Ransai began making controllers in early 2004," he explained. "The goal was to make a cheaper alternative to (Konami's) official controller. It was hard to import and get a hold of, it was $400-$500, made of plastic and different parts were used to construct it."
Scott "Random" Trenda constructs the controllers as a side project and builds each unit on a made-to-order basis. Olah explained Trenda's disdain with the official Konami controller lead to the construction of his own arcade-specified controller.
"He really wasn’t happy with it so he made his own," he said. "He has family that is in carpentry and what he created is basically an indestructible wooden box."
To make a point of the controller shell's durability, the official Ransai site details a test conducted by Ransai's first customer – he ran it over with a car and the shell remained completely intact. Durability is a main concern for a Pop’n Music controller especially on high difficulties where the sheer number of notes to hit requires a player to "basically beat the controller senseless" as the Ransai website puts it.
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