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[King Gilga]

Any one who doesn't say Neo Geo is a tragic lost cause.

 

[orborborb]

This is like complaining that your cereal isn't soggy enough.

almost all cereals need to spend a certain amount of time in milk to reach optimal texture and flavor transfer

 

[baddvision]

saturn model 2

 

[Saint of Killers]

You prefer one of the best d-pads ever to one of the worst analogues ever? Shocking.

HA!

God, I hope so. Vita analog sticks are the worst!

xD

It's a pretty straight forward choice, but it's the first time I have ever preferred playing digital to analogue. Hence the use of 'even' in my post.

 

[Muzicfreq]

DS4 with Vita D-Pad needs to be a thing

 

[Kadin]

SNES is the only one that immediately came to mind.

 

[Breads]

I never really considered it but yeah, Vita's tactile feedback and angular interlocking 4-button design is the most intuitive, accurate, and comfortable D-pad I've ever used on a controller.

lol to people saying 360.

It might be a great controller overall but the d-pad was atrocious in certain instances. Never was this more apparent then trying to use diagnal hotkeys in bethesda RPGs. Am I going to equip the Shiskebab, use a stimpack, or change my current ammo. Let's roll the dice and see what upper-right gives me!

 

[Weevilone]

It's the Saturn without a doubt.

 

[Firebrand]

Mega Drive II. No other D-pad I've tried comes close.

 

[Slayer-33]

Xbox 360

Hard to believe that arguably the best controller of all time has the worst D-PAD of all time lol..

Shit was way past abysmal

 

[Degen]

well it's gotta be the Dualshock 4 because-- hold on, I accidentally pushed the Share button again


My answer is the Dualshock 2. Wish I could try an authentic Saturn pad but I can't be bothered to track one down

 

[Muzicfreq]

well it's gotta be the Dualshock 4 because-- hold on, I accidentally pushed the Share button again


My answer is the Dualshock 2. Wish I could try an authentic Saturn pad but I can't be bothered to track one down

HOW?!

 

[Elitist1945]

The Vita, no contest

 

[saturnine]

Could have been the Vita if not for the design being one of the worst dirt magnet I've ever seen.

I'll pick the Wii U gamepad/Pro Controller one.

 

[Degen]

HOW?!

Street Fighter 5

I look at the controller and ask myself the same thing

 

[Nintendoga]

The Vita's D-pad is pretty godlike.
The 360's D-pad is pretty fucking garbage. Only thing holding it back from being the perfect controller.

 

[SuperCambot]

Followed closely by

 

[HyperHip]

Stiff out of the box, but it breaks in quickly after a few hours. People forget how stiff many of those old pads are as anything you'll see today will be well used and/or softened from the rubber oxidizing over the years. Rose colored glasses from getting older and all that too.

Hmm I'll keep going at it then, the Saturn layout plus cross pad sounds like a godly combo provided that dpad is up to snuff.

 

[Neff]

But NGPC (again if it counts) is by far the GOAT for clicky thumb controls. It rivals Sanwa and seimitsu joysticks in terms of 8-way accuracy while being totally operable with your thumb. It needs to be felt to be believed. Bow before your master:

Was gonna say this, or this

 

[ColonialHawk]

SNES controller (shoutout to the SN Propad) followed by the Wii U Pro controller followed by the Xbox One controller.

 

[C-Sword]

(In that order)

1) Vita
2) Snes
3) Saturn
4) DualShock 2

I mainly play fighters and I hate the DS4's dpad

 

[jackal27]

I want to say Vita, but it's just not all that durable. Still, it's great.

SNES for me followed closely by the DS lite.

 

[honestrade]

Saturn d-pad for me. Playing the SF Alpha series on Saturn with a Saturn controller was amazing back in the day.

 

[moomoo14]

Definitely the Vita. It's such a colossal improvement over the PSP that it's kind of shocking.

 

[Spukc]

game boy micro !

countless hours of metroid , sonic , mario and ofc the reason i got this .. street fighter alpha 3 i am more skilled on this system then any others.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Hard to believe that arguably the best controller of all time has the worst D-PAD of all time lol..

Shit was way past abysmal

A controller automatically gets disqualified to run as the best controller of all time the second it has the worst-anything on it.

As good as the 360 controller is that pathetic excuse of a Dpad should remove it from any list of best controllers ever. Ergo the 360's is good but no way close to absolute best.

The new and revised Xbone S Controller on the other hand....

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

Pro controller

 

[Swimmer9800]

The Gamepad's D-pad is phenomenal.

 

[Occam]

Best: Saturn, Vita, PS4.

Worst: Microsoft

 

[Occam]

Xbox 360

Rarely if ever has there been such an incredibly incorrect first post on NeoGAF. For shame.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Xbox One. Clicky > all. Massive improvement from the mushy pap that was the 360's DPad.

 

[Glowsquid]

PSP is, in my opinion, the clear worst on a major platform. I'd put it far below 360.

Depends on the revision. The original is indeed abominable but the 3000's model is lovely.

 

[Awakened]

Of the controllers I own:

1) Elite Dish
2) SLS Saturn USB
3) Wii U Pro
4) Neo Geo Pad USB

The Elite's dish is like a clicky, smoother surfaced Saturn D-Pad and is super responsive, comfortable and actuates without much force. Quarter and half circle movements to pull off special moves in SOTN come out pretty easily so I think it's got great precision. I play lots of 2D side scrollers and some shmups and haven't had any breaking down or double input issues using it as my primary movement method in those games. And I've had it since launch so I've put a decent amount of hours using it as my primary PC pad. I don't like the cross D-Pad option as much since it's harder to actuate like the Wii U Pro D-Pad and fatigues my thumb more.

The one downside I've noticed is that sometimes it will squeak if I change directions too quickly during heated gameplay. Just the metal rubbing on the plastic I guess.

 

[Spiritwalker]

+1 for the Vita!

On the other hand, the PSP Go probably has the worst and most shallow buttons I've used. I don't recall the other models being too bad though.

 

[Bakkus]

It might actually be the Vita, which is funny because all of Sony's previous consoles have had despicable designed ones. The empty space areas hurts the thumb so bad I have no idea how more people don't criticize it, PS3 being the biggest offender of them all.

Other than that, the Saturn is really good. So is the Classic Controller Pro for Wii, aswell as Wii U Pro Controller and Gamepad. Ca't echo the people saying SNES. Doesn't feel that responsive when you press it. Though that may have to do with age.

 

[Kill3r7]

Best: Saturn, SNES, VITA

Worst: The rest but more specifically (X360)

 

[Nerd_Incognito]

No love for the original Dual Shock?

My Street Fighter Alpha days are forever tied to this d-pad.

 

[Keihart]

What did I do?lol


I'm surprised not many people are doing this in the FGC, but I learned growing up in Nigeria to make the motions come out easy on the snes or ps pad, just cover your thumb with a light cloth, and it'll make ish slide real smooth. That's pretty much why I never had blisters on my thumb and still don't to this day.

sliding your finger on Dpads is not how you should do circular motions, what is this? first grade?

You should put your finger on the middle and lean it towards the directions desired, its more precise and no blisters.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I'm currently in love with my vita's d-pad. It is super comfortable and has great feedback.

 

[Justin Bailey]

SNbESt.

 

[Polioliolio]

NES and SNES.. no contest.

DS4 is a hell of a lot better than Xbox360 I can say.

 

[grizzelye]

SNES

 

[Panajev2001a]

Historically, the SNES and Saturn (J) are my favorites. That clicky thing on the NGPC was pretty good too IIRC.

All current consoles/handhelds have excellent d-pads IMO.


God, I hope so. Vita analog sticks are the worst!

Not worse than 3DS circle sticks come on .

 

[Skyzard]

Vita is very good. Makes it even better to run emus on. Dual Shocks have always been stiff for me but I've not tried the PS4 stick yet.

X1 is okkkkkkaay... better than x360 at least.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Guys, SERIOUSLY, if Sony ever made an elite ps4 controller with a VITA d-pad. Would you buy it?

Yes.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Vita dpad is my favorite. I don't like the DS4 dpad. It's very harsh on my thumb. I wish They'r put a slightly larger vita dpad on the DS4

 

[Nerrel]

Wii U gamepad/pro is my favorite at the moment. New 3DS XL is tied.

The DS4 pad is nice, but not as nice as the U Pro; it just feels a little grainier and less sharp to me. Xbox One feels overly clicky, like a cheap computer mouse, but at least it's better than the 360.

 

[Marceles]

I'm a fan of the SNES d-pad, but I was really impressed with the Vita d-pad. Being able to 100% Ultimate Marvel 3's combo missions on a handheld system is a testament to that

 

[CO_Andy]

There's not a better dpad on this planet.

 

[Vegetable Lasagna]

Genesis/Saturn. I also had various Ascii pads for SNES/Genesis that were pretty damn good. As for recent consoles, the Xbox Elite Controller isn't too shabby.