Alberici (Rushware) Cobra

While the name Rushware Cobra might evoke the United States, this controller is actually made in Italy by Alberici. The Cobra was a fairly costly controller (FIM 425, equivalent to €138 in 2021) introduced to the Finnish public in issue 2/87 of Mikrobitti magazine. Jyrki J.J. Kasvi’s favourable review stated that “hooking up the Cobra to your game port will make Thargoids shudder”. Thargoids are the worst enemies in the space trading game Elite. The technical quality and good components of the controller were praised, but the high cost made it inaccessible to most hobbyists, which elevated it to nearly mythical status.

In retrospect, the Cobra was an exceptionally well-built controller, but its large size makes it less generally usable. The massive control stick is best suited for flight simulation, for example, but this is hampered by the fact that the Atari connector does not really support analogue joysticks; each direction can be either on or off.

Alberici continues to manufacture industrial components, including joysticks for industrial use and parts for coin-operated machines, but it no longer sells game controllers to consumers.