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360 Dpad watch.

B

brain_stew

Member
*UPDATE*


It seems the best contender may come from the most unlikely of sources. The Mad Catz "portable drum kit" includes a very spiffy NES style control unit that can be used as the perfect XBLA controller and its said to have the best dpad of any 360 controller. Detailed impressions in this post:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19831575&postcount=81

It can be had for<£12/$20 delivered worldwide from these two sources:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001B19BIO/

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Xbox-360-...dCatz-Rock-Band-Portable-Drum-Kit-(Xbox-360)-

Edit: Here are my impressions after receiving mine:

brain_stew said:
Well I just put the thing through its paces in Ms. Pac Man in MAME and make no mistake this thing is the real deal. I shit you not, its just about the most responsive dpad you'll ever come across and is about as good as a traditional Nintendo style cross shaped dpad can get. I can quite confidently say it is better than the classic controllers dpad and I am super hyped for Sonic 4 now, this thing is literally perfect for it.

Mad Catz, you're sitting on a gold mine here, add a couple of shoulder buttons, move the actual dpad slightly up and to the left, remove the drum pad inputs and sell it as the ultimate XBLA pad for $20. I think I might message MarkMan and get him to show the Madcatz team that worked on the SFIV accessories this thread, to see what they think.

Seriously, snap these things up whilst they're available for peanuts, once the word gets out these things won't be available at this sort of pricing for very long.
Click to expand...

Picture (courtesy of jarosh):

pad2.jpg








Right, with the announcement of Sonic 4 and an ever increasing XBLA library I think its about time I finally bought a 360 pad with a serviceable Dpad. Now, ideally I'd buy something that can double up as an extra 360/PC controller for 3D games as well, otherwise I'd probably just go with the SF4 pads.

Argos have a couple of third party options and I was wonderig if anyone who has used them could pass judgement on their Dpads?

First one is this:

2d19zrt.jpg


http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...02201&langId=-1&searchTerms=MAD+CATZ+XBOX+360

Its wired which isn't ideal but at £10 I can let it slide

Second option is this:

20zql1d.jpg


http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9240139/Trail/searchtext>XBOX+360+WILDFIRE.htm

Available in both black and white and both wired and wireless incarnations. As well as feedback on its dpad, if anyone has had success using it with Microsoft's PC wireless adapter dongle I'd like to hear about that as well.


Now obviously the third option is the SFIV pad, which can be had for around £20-£25 still, drawbacks being that its only useful for 2D games and is wired. just how good is the dpad on that sucker though? I've got a Saturn USB pad for my PC and that is my gold standard, if its comparable to that, I may just go with it anyway.

2mn0r2g.jpg



I considered the Hori pad but at £30+ its too rich for my blood. If anyone knows of another option (that doesn't involve sandpaper) I'm all ears.
 
M

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
I ran with the SFIV pad on the Megadrive Collection and it was perfectly serviceable for the price. Maybe even good.
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
whatever happened to those green xbox 360 controllers? I know they were only supposed to go to Europe, but there has to be some way to import them, no?
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
The second one looks exactly like the old Joytech Neo SE controller with a few tweaks, if it is based off of that design and they haven't made major improvements then avoid it like the plague. I had a Joytech Neo SE and not only was the D-Pad one of the worst I've ever used, but the triggers were completely unuseable.
 
The Faceless Master

The Faceless Master

Member
why did i think this thread would be about someone who put a digital watch readout in their 360 dpad so they could tell time without pressing the guide button??

MikeE21286 said:
whatever happened to those green xbox 360 controllers? I know they were only supposed to go to Europe, but there has to be some way to import them, no?
Click to expand...
people opened them up and they were identical to other 360 controllers.
 
S

Sew

Member
Hmm, the new Hori design looks nice. I've got the old one:

xbox360-horipad-blue.jpg


I love that little bitch to pieces. The d-pad is sublime. It addresses a couple of other niggles too, by recessing the Xbox button and making the Start and Back buttons more prominent. And Windows likes it too. It cost me nearly $100 at the time :| but that's what you get for living in Australia.

In summary, buy Hori.

(I'm going to go ahead and judge the two controllers in the OP by their price. I'd avoid them.)
 
A

a Master Ninja

Member
Am I crazy or did new official Xbox 360 d-pads get slightly better? I bought one not long ago and it's noticeably more responsive than the ones I've been using for years (although I suppose the heavy use my old ones got could account for the different feeling).
 
R

RickA238

Member
Just file the inner part of the white plastic "wall" around the d-pad on the official 360 controller. I didn't even have to take the controller apart, I just used a metal nail file blew out the white plastic scraps afterward. Took about ten minutes. I did it a year and a half ago in anticipation for SF2HDR, and I've never looked back. I can honestly say that it's the best d-pad I've used (with the possible exception of the Neo-Geo CD controller).
 
S

Sew

Member
I sanded back the wall on one of my original pads. It stopped hitting the sides thus became more responsive, but it's still a miserable excuse for a d-pad. The entire construction of it is wrong - if you pull a controller apart you see that it's a puck thing on an extender so it can hit contacts that are a mile away. This makes the whole action wrong. A d-pad should be a flat disc with central pivot and short throw, ala SNES.

It all comes down to opinion of course, but on the other hand I'm right.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
CcrooK said:
The Hori pads are pretty nice.
Click to expand...

Its definitely looking like the front runner. Any other options than Play Asia for shipping to the UK? The £8 for shipping makes it a pretty pricey option.
 
R

RickA238

Member
Sew said:
It all comes down to opinion of course, but on the other hand I'm right.
Click to expand...

Greater throw makes the 360 pad more forgiving/less stiff than the SNES pad. SNES d-pad isn't as great as people make it out to be. Feels toyish and cheap, and it takes forever to break in as well. Rose-tinted nostalgia IMO.
 
S

Sew

Member
RickA238 said:
Greater throw makes the 360 pad more forgiving/less stiff than the SNES pad. SNES d-pad isn't as great as people make it out to be. Feels toyish and cheap, and it takes forever to break in as well. Rose-tinted nostalgia IMO.
Click to expand...
Granted, the SNES pad is a dull pad these days. Nintendo have improved their pads infinitely since then, but the core design is still the same. And I cannot overstate how perfectly the Hori fits my rigid view of what a d-pad should be. :D
 
2

2Good4u

Banned
JonnyBrad said:
With the wireless 3rd party one - i thought MS didn't allow wireless 3rd party pads - or is that no the case anymore?
Click to expand...

They are, but they have to purchase a license or something
 
ResidentDante

ResidentDante

Member
a Master Ninja said:
Am I crazy or did new official Xbox 360 d-pads get slightly better? I bought one not long ago and it's noticeably more responsive than the ones I've been using for years (although I suppose the heavy use my old ones got could account for the different feeling).
Click to expand...
No I don't think you're crazy, I thought so myself. I got a black new controller at the end of last year and I compared it to my older white pad. And just visually the d-pad on the black controller sits lower in the casing than on the white pad.
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
Monty Mole said:
Wired only?
Click to expand...
360 wireless is expensive as hell to license, so third parties don't bother. Notice that music game peripherals and the Tekken sticks are the only officially licensed wireless 360 controllers.
 
A

Aru

Member
MikeE21286 said:
whatever happened to those green xbox 360 controllers? I know they were only supposed to go to Europe, but there has to be some way to import them, no?
Click to expand...

I got a green controller for 1 € when I bought my 60 GB Pro.
Don't bother looking for it, I couldn't tell the difference with the standard d-pad while playing SF2 HD Remix.

And it's been confirmed that it's basically the same controller.
 
Majima Everywhere System

Majima Everywhere System

Member
RickA238 said:
Just file the inner part of the white plastic "wall" around the d-pad on the official 360 controller. I didn't even have to take the controller apart, I just used a metal nail file blew out the white plastic scraps afterward. Took about ten minutes. I did it a year and a half ago in anticipation for SF2HDR, and I've never looked back. I can honestly say that it's the best d-pad I've used (with the possible exception of the Neo-Geo CD controller).
Click to expand...


This is what I recommend. Back in the day, I made a Youtube video in response to some guy spending a half hour taking apart the controller to dremel the white plastic wall. Just slip some sandpaper in there and go about your business.

I took down the video because I thought it was dumb. Little did I know that having nearly a million views on Youtube was some sort of achievement.
 
Z

zeelman

Member
I bought that first controller because I thought the D-Pad would be good, but it is no better then Microsoft's controller.
 
A

Arpharmd B

Banned
a Master Ninja said:
Am I crazy or did new official Xbox 360 d-pads get slightly better? I bought one not long ago and it's noticeably more responsive than the ones I've been using for years (although I suppose the heavy use my old ones got could account for the different feeling).
Click to expand...

I don't know but something happened to the build over the years.

Like my 360 D-pads that came out in 2006 were total trash out of the box. Then my 2007 pad was ok for a while then turned to dogshit after 6 months. However my 2008 controllers were much nicer and to this day still work great. Still can't play Street Fighter with them, but for games like Metal Slug or Megaman 9 they works like a charm.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
I thought auto button pressing / tempo switches was banned from 360 controllers and MS do not allow it?

Oh that says analog control and speed, what is that doing?
 
D

DoubleTap

Member
Diablohead said:
I thought auto button pressing / tempo switches was banned from 360 controllers and MS do not allow it?

Oh that says analog control and speed, what is that doing?
Click to expand...

It adjusts the sensitivity of the analog sticks. I've never touched it as I'm fine with the default setting. I've been using it to play PES 2010 on PC and the only thing that bothered me in the beginning was to not hit the extra face buttons. I got used to it quick. Yeah, the D-Pad is great. Not "saturn pad" great but works as a dpad should.
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
I use the Street Fighter 4 pad for playing 2D games. Works great with most title, and the switch on the back lets you use the d-pad as the left or right analogue stick too. There was one game where I had to change it to the left analogue stick for navigating menus and then switch to d-pad for gameplay.

No rumble though, that's my only real complaint.

EDIT: Also not as good as a saturn pad, but about as close as you'll get I'm afraid. If they ever do a proper Saturn pad re-release for the 360 I'd be all over it. USB Saturn pad works on PS3 doesn't it? Maybe buy Sonic 4 on PSN.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Dead Man Typing said:
I use the Street Fighter 4 pad for playing 2D games. Works great with most title, and the switch on the back lets you use the d-pad as the left or right analogue stick too. There was one game where I had to change it to the left analogue stick for navigating menus and then switch to d-pad for gameplay.

No rumble though, that's my only real complaint.

EDIT: Also not as good as a saturn pad, but about as close as you'll get I'm afraid. If they ever do a proper Saturn pad re-release for the 360 I'd be all over it. USB Saturn pad works on PS3 doesn't it? Maybe buy Sonic 4 on PSN.
Click to expand...

I would but I've haven't been able to justify a replacement for the PS3 I had nicked while sticking to a student budget, and I've got quite a few Live Arcade games that would benefit from a better Dpad anyway, Sonic 4 is just the title that'll make it a serious priority.

I think I'll go with the Street Fighter pad, I'd switch to the Hori if I could get it delivered for £30 or less to the UK, but buying it from Play Asia means it'll cost me nearly £15 more than a SF pad would which doesn't seem worth it for the 3D game support (which is a secondary consideration anyway).
 
R

Red

Member
a Master Ninja said:
Am I crazy or did new official Xbox 360 d-pads get slightly better? I bought one not long ago and it's noticeably more responsive than the ones I've been using for years (although I suppose the heavy use my old ones got could account for the different feeling).
Click to expand...
I recently got one and think it's actually a lot worse than what I've used in the past. The entire d-pad slides when I try tapping one of the buttons, like it's about to fall off or something. You can shake the controller and actually see the pad rattle around like it's hanging on by a thread. Much less responsive than other 360 controllers I've used, although I'm guessing it was a manufacturing defect. But I'm so used to avoiding the 360 d-pad that I never bothered returning it :lol
 
L

LakeEarth

Member
The quality of the function of the dpad on a standard Xbox 360 controller is directly related to how centered it is. If it's right in the center, then it works fine. However, if it's off-center at all, it will hit the sides of the plastic rim and it will miss inputs. This is why you see forum posts going "hey, did they fix the problem??", because they just so happened to get a well-centered dpad. It doesn't last though, because after a while you can actually move the position of the dpad with your thumb.

I got my 360 a week early, and just by playing Hexic and moving around in the menus I could tell that the dpad was shit. FIVE YEARS and they still haven't fixed the problem. They ALMOST have the perfect controller and they just won't take that extra step.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
Sew said:
Hmm, the new Hori design looks nice. I've got the old one:

xbox360-horipad-blue.jpg


I love that little bitch to pieces. The d-pad is sublime. It addresses a couple of other niggles too, by recessing the Xbox button and making the Start and Back buttons more prominent. And Windows likes it too. It cost me nearly $100 at the time :| but that's what you get for living in Australia.

In summary, buy Hori.

(I'm going to go ahead and judge the two controllers in the OP by their price. I'd avoid them.)
Click to expand...
the D-Pad on this one is great but the buttons are mushy;
I workd great for Pac-Man CE but it the mushy buttons makes it a pain to play Virtua Fighter 5.
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
Aru said:
MikeE21286 said:
whatever happened to those green xbox 360 controllers? I know they were only supposed to go to Europe, but there has to be some way to import them, no?
Click to expand...
I got a green controller for 1 € when I bought my 60 GB Pro.
Don't bother looking for it, I couldn't tell the difference with the standard d-pad while playing SF2 HD Remix.

And it's been confirmed that it's basically the same controller.
Click to expand...
Maybe you just got a non-limited one.

The European limited green one supposedly has eight contact points instead of four, and can do 16-direction digital. On games that can't do 16-direction digital (which is just about all of them), it rolls smoother (because it has twice as many "clicks" of lesser strength) and won't screw up/get tricked into delivering a false straight or diagonal nearly as often, because all of the contact points are active in any game (regardless of whether it was programmed to use the 16-directions), so if your pad twitches "just a little", the controller knows that it wasn't a full movement and can disregard smaller errors.

People tore them apart. They're real. And they've never come to America, and probably never will.

LakeEarth said:
The quality of the function of the dpad on a standard Xbox 360 controller is directly related to how centered it is. If it's right in the center, then it works fine. However, if it's off-center at all, it will hit the sides of the plastic rim and it will miss inputs. This is why you see forum posts going "hey, did they fix the problem??", because they just so happened to get a well-centered dpad. It doesn't last though, because after a while you can actually move the position of the dpad with your thumb.

I got my 360 a week early, and just by playing Hexic and moving around in the menus I could tell that the dpad was shit. FIVE YEARS and they still haven't fixed the problem. They ALMOST have the perfect controller and they just won't take that extra step.
Click to expand...
IMO, the whole idea around the Xbox D-pad is flawed. It's an inch tall bottom half of a joystick, pretending to be a D-pad, making it a bad joystick and a bad D-pad.

I think I also remember some people explaining once how the little interlocked fingers of exposed copper on the circuit board are all turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction from what would make an effective contact point. Edit: Google image search says I'm wrong. Maybe MS fixed it.
 
R

rollingstart

Banned
If I had to buy one now, I'd probably go with the new Hori 6-button one. It can even be used with regular 360 games, which is nice.

The Mad Catz pad is alright. I have a couple saturn pads, and while it doesn't compare, it's still good for what it is. Biggest problem with it is that, unlike the saturn pad, the d-pad seems mostly tailored for fighting games. It is larger, mushy and directions aren't as defined. If you play a game that requires you to go from a pressing forward to down (think the duck slide from Mario 3), it feels pretty awkward and doesn't register everytime (mix of the unnatural size and muscle memory). For fighting games it's great, though. The face buttons are responsive and nice, if not a bit too flat. Shoulder buttons require too much of a push because of how they're clicky, but it's not too bad. It is quite a bit larger than the saturn pad, too. Main reason I still use it is because I have the PS3 version and it's wireless; nice to use on the PC when playing games off my TV. I have a 360 one also but I haven't really used it yet.

Realistically, nothing is better than the saturn pad. The only things I want from the saturn pad are for the top three buttons to be the same size and style as CBA, a bit better shoulder buttons, and a select button.

brain_stew said:
Segmented Dpad!? Hell no!! :lol
Click to expand...

They have mentioned the d-pad design is a work in progress. Whenever they show the final design of it, I'm planning on buying it if it looks good, and if not, the Hori one.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
jetsetfluken said:
It wouldn't just "work" would it? Is there a special adaptor or something? Info please.
Click to expand...
USB Saturn controllers (by Sega Logistics) (avoid getting scammed by knock-off imiatations)

are plug-n-play

square, triangle, X and Circle are already properly mapped on the controller.
Shoulders are L1 and R1.
L2 and R2 are where Hard Punch and Hard Kick should be (Z and C on the controller)

If you turn on your PS3 with a USB Saturn Controller plugged in.. it gets recognized as PLAYER ONE

If you plug the USB controller after you already had another controller turned on... it will get recognized as the following player (example PLAYER 2 if you already had one plugged in before)
 
V

vgachi57

Member
gutter_trash said:
http://sdtekken.com/tech-area/converters/xconverter-360/
3847439755_6e327022bd_o.jpg

and plug in your favorite PS2 controller, weather it is Dual Shock 2 or PS2 Saturn Controller
*requires a wired 360 controller for it to function
Click to expand...
whoa, i didn't know they made that. anyone have one that can vouch on the quality or responsiveness? and why do you need a wired controller? there's 2 usb ports on the front of the 360 so you plug in a standard wired in one port and this adapter to the other?
 
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