You’ll buy it at a high price
The Resident Evil 4 chainsaw controller is one of the best controllers ever made. Wait, did I say best? Good, because I meant best.
As a quick history lesson for those who need it, the chainsaw controller was a novelty peripheral manufactured by NubyTech that launched alongside the original Resident Evil 4 in 2005. It retailed for $49.99 and, for all intents and purposes, was just a weirdly shaped GameCube controller. Despite some PR jargon explaining how the chainsaw controller will improve your Resident Evil 4 experience (it didn’t), this thing primarily existed for collectors to display as a vanity item.
If you’d like to learn more about this curiosity, I recommend you check out the excellent “Stop Skeletons From Fighting” video about the subject.
As you might expect, it’s that collectibles market that puts the chainsaw controller in the news today. For years, the controller has been a collector’s item that regularly sells for three or four times its original asking price. However, with the launch of the Resident Evil 4 remake, demand for the controller has massively spiked for anyone with the cash and guts to buy it. Listings for the peripheral have jumped to over $300 for even loose copies, with sealed-in-box controllers breaking the $1,000 barrier.
News stories like these often conflate value with asking price. After all, a seller offering an item at a premium doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the market value. However, these controllers are actually selling at these prices, indicating that these are, indeed, worth that much on the market.
Now that’s a weapon
It’s worth noting that these numbers conflate the GameCube controller with the PS2 variant that later launched with its respective Resident Evil 4 port. They’re similar in value, and both primarily exist as display pieces, but the distinction should be made regardless.
Furthermore, it always helps to put “value” into context. Obviously, the release of the Resident Evil 4 remake has generated interest in the original game and its respective memorabilia. More eyes on the novelty controller means more collectors are willing to put their rare things on sale, stranger, especially if they can turn a healthy profit. Does this mean that someone buying the chainsaw controller for $1,000 today will sell it for $2,000 in a decade? Probably not, but what do I know? The remake of the Resident Evil 4 remake could be launching then, rending my analysis obsolete.
Either way, it’s impressive that this hilariously silly controller is still newsworthy even 18 years after its release. Like the original Resident Evil 4, it’s that perfect midpoint between camp and sincerity that makes it so dang endearing. I’d get one myself, but honestly, what do I need that thing for? Going hunting for an elephant?
