# The best d-pad you've ever used?



## Mondegreen (Jun 11, 2015)

What's the best d-pad you've ever used, on any kind of controller or handheld? Mine's the d-pad on this USB SNES controller (I guess it's probably what the real SNES d-pad is like but they're all old and mushy now)


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## emigre (Jun 11, 2015)

Last gen was a terrible time for D pads. I'm glad things have improved with the Duellshock 4/XBONE/Wii U.


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## FAST6191 (Jun 11, 2015)

No microswitches, no chance of it being the best. Got microswitches? Now we can talk.


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## spinal_cord (Jun 11, 2015)

fficial SNES cntrer cmes first in my bk. Dammit my O and L keys are sticking again.


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## yuyuyup (Jun 11, 2015)

FAST6191 said:


> No microswitches, no chance of it being the best. Got microswitches? Now we can talk.


NGPC d-pad is obviously great, but I hated the multiple clicks that register when you hit the diagonals.


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## shaunj66 (Jun 11, 2015)

The original fat Nintendo DS for me.


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## reprep (Jun 11, 2015)

gba micro has a great dpad even though it is small.


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## Tomobobo (Jun 11, 2015)

The fat DS's d-pad wins you guys. 

You can snake so hard with Mario Kart DS it's insane that the little d-pad doesn't melt.


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## BORTZ (Jun 11, 2015)

Any of the nintendo ones are probably a safe bet. I would not vouch for the DS lite nor the O3DS. 

Conversly, the absolute worst I have ever used is the Xbox 360, until the revamped controllers come out, later in 2010 or something.


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## Hells Malice (Jun 11, 2015)

Bortz said:


> Any of the nintendo ones are probably a safe bet. I would not vouch for the DS lite nor the O3DS.



Pretty much this. Whenever I think good dpad, I think snes for some reason.

also vita.


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## Tomobobo (Jun 11, 2015)

Yeah the twisty d-pads on the newer $70 xbox 360 controller is kinda boss.  But it's $70, and it's still bad.

The original flop-pad on the regular 360 controllers is a joke.  How do the street fighter players even do it?


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## BORTZ (Jun 11, 2015)

Tomobobo said:


> Yeah the twisty d-pads on the newer $70 xbox 360 controller is kinda boss.  But it's $70, and it's still bad.
> 
> The original flop-pad on the regular 360 controllers is a joke.  How do the street fighter players even do it?


I cant tell you how many times I pulled out the wrong gun in Gears 2 and payed for it with my life.


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## Clydefrosch (Jun 11, 2015)

Until recently, I would have said microswitch ones like the pspgo has, but I recently ended up with one of those buttons needing a little more force than just hitting the clicking point (i  can make it click several times without registering the button, need to push it down a little further and I worry its only making it worse over time), so I guess there really are no perfect ones.

with a smoother surface, I'd say snes and ps1/2 would be the next best ones.




Tomobobo said:


> Yeah the twisty d-pads on the newer $70 xbox 360 controller is kinda boss.  But it's $70, and it's still bad.
> 
> The original flop-pad on the regular 360 controllers is a joke.  How do the street fighter players even do it?



its true that the round pad is bad, but for fighting games, it manages to still work better than the sticks.


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## Joe88 (Jun 11, 2015)

nintendo forgot how to make dpads after the ods
and it getting worse with every revision, n3ds/o3ds are the worse dpads yet (not 360 bad but still terrible)


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## Mondegreen (Jun 11, 2015)

I've actually had a better experience with the N3DS xl dpad than the small O3DS, that one was horrible


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## Hungry Friend (Jun 11, 2015)

Sega Saturn model 2 controller ; there is no other correct answer. Other than expensive joysticks, this pad is the best gamepad available if you wanna play fighting games, and there are adapters available that you can buy that allow you to hook SS controllers up to your PC. I have a multi-input adapter that has a Saturn, N64 and PS2 adapter and if there's any input lag I haven't noticed it. Makes emulating fighting games much more fun.


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## RevPokemon (Jun 11, 2015)

Depend I'd either go SNES or D's fat personally


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## Catastrophic (Jun 12, 2015)

DS Phat's or GBA SP's d-pads are my absolute favorites. Not only are they comfortable to press but you can really feel that you are pressing them and are highly responsive. I hate d-pads that don't register if you don't press them hard enough even though you can feel the buttons go down. I also like the d-pads on NES and SNES controllers if they are responsive, but unfortunately they age.

DS Lite's d-pad on the other hand is so unacceptably terrible that I just can't use it. I've had my hand on like 3 DS lites as I've bought and traded some things and not one of them had a good d-pad.


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## The Catboy (Jun 12, 2015)

I've always found I enjoy using pretty much all the Nintendo D-Pads. Although the best I've used was the D-pad for my Gamecube after I modified it so I can press all the buttons at the same time. I found it had less resistance compared to the unmodified version.


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## RevPokemon (Jun 12, 2015)

Crystal the Glaceon said:


> I've always found I enjoy using pretty much all the Nintendo D-Pads. Although the best I've used was the D-pad for my Gamecube after I modified it so I can press all the buttons at the same time. I found it had less resistance and I was able to respond after in games.


What does it look like modded?


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## The Catboy (Jun 12, 2015)

RevPokemon said:


> What does it look like modded?


Nothing external has changed, I just opened it and filed down the little nub inside of it preventing the buttons from all being pushed.
It's also useful for booting the Wii into recovery mode.


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## RevPokemon (Jun 12, 2015)

Crystal the Glaceon said:


> Nothing external has changed, I just opened it and filed down the little nub inside of it preventing the buttons from all being pushed.
> It's also useful for booting the Wii into recovery mode.


OK well that's good (probably great for emus and retro games on Wii)


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## Tom Bombadildo (Jun 12, 2015)

I've been quite partial to the Vita's D-pad, easily one of the better handheld one's out there.

The DS4 controller's D-pad is also significantly improved from the DS3, as well as the Xbox One's controller which has vastly improved on the shitpile that was the 360's controller.


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## Wellington2k (Jun 12, 2015)

Nintendo's are usually the best. After all, they invented them in the first place.


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## WiiCube_2013 (Jun 13, 2015)

Any of the PlayStation controllers and then Nintendo. That separated D-PAD is just so comfy for retro/fighting/platformers games and whatnot.


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## Joe88 (Jul 7, 2015)

Also I got to say, the vita's dpad is great, probably the best mobile gaming system dpad to date, and yes I have used almost all of them (GB, GBP, GG, GBC, GBA, GBASP, GBM, NGPC, PSP, ODS, DSL, 3DSXL, N3DSXL)


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## Hungry Friend (Jul 8, 2015)

It seems most of you haven't used a Sega Saturn Dpad(model 2 controller) because in my eyes it is the undisputed king of dpads and the only dpad that's actually good enough to use competitively in fighting games. All those fight pads that Mad Catz makes are modeled after the SS pad but are cheaply made and shitty compared to the real deal. The 6 face buttons also help(namely in Capcom fighters) but the SS dpad makes it very easy to pull off even complex moves in series like King of Fighters very consistently.


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