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:
Picture (courtesy of jarosh):
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
Picture (courtesy of jarosh):
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:
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:
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.
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.