Arcade-style fight sticks still dominate the competitive fighting game scene, even though as time has gone on, gamepads have been gaining ground among high-level players. However, leverless all-button fight "sticks"--commonly referred to as Hit Boxes, which is the company that popularized them--have gained a lot of traction. By relegating movement to four distinct buttons, directional inputs are quicker and more precise, and there's an ergonomic advantage to the keyboard-like hand placement when using one. These kinds of controllers are still relatively tough to find with very few on the market, but Razer has entered the scene with the Kitsune and nearly perfected the art in its first round.

The Razer Kitsune is the company's take on the Hit Box-style fighting game controller, using the familiar layout with left, down, and right buttons in-line with your ring, middle, and index finger, respectively. This makes quarter-circles as easy as a swift two-button press, for example. Up/jump is set to the thumb button like the spacebar on a keyboard, and the rest of the buttons are laid out the same as you'd see on a traditional fight stick. But it's the little things that make the Razer Kitsune exceptional like the slim form factor, ideal dimensions, and most importantly, the mechanical switches for the buttons.

Let's start with the mechanical switches, because this is the feature that impacts performance the most. Razer has taken its expertise in making mechanical switches for its own gaming keyboards and implemented the same technology for the Kitsune, which uses the low-profile optical linear-style switches with a short throw distance and actuation point (1.2 mm), helping you dish out inputs super fast. If you've used Cherry MX Reds or Razer's proprietary Yellow switches on a keyboard, the buttons on the Kitsune will feel familiar as they share the smooth and responsive press.