The best d-pad you've ever used?

[Mondegreen]

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)

 

[emigre]

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

 

[FAST6191]

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

 

[spinal_cord]

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

 

[yuyuyup]

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.

 

[shaunj66]

The original fat Nintendo DS for me.

 

[reprep]

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

 

[Tomobobo]

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.

 

[BORTZ]

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.

 

[Hells Malice]

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.

 

[Tomobobo]

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?

 

[BORTZ]

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.

 

[Clydefrosch]

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.

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.

 

[Joe88]

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)

 

[Mondegreen]

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

 

[Hungry Friend]

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.

 

[RevPokemon]

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

 

[Catastrophic]

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.

 

[The Catboy]

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.

 

[RevPokemon]

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?