Let's settle this - The definitive controller tier list 

Racing Wheel S-Tier, every other controller F-Tier.

decent vid but some pretty notable omissions, for example the ps4 steering wheel, guitar hero guitar, and the potemkin pizza box battlestation (with tom cruise top gun flip-guard SOCD activator switch)

My main reason for switching to Arcade stick back in the day was that using pad caused me a ton of wrist pain. Moving the motion to larger muscle groups (whole arm vs. thumb/wrist) allows me to play for hours on end day after day pain free, which is the only real thing that matters to me :)

As for the cognitive load of wrapping your head around Hitbox movement, that will all get baked into your Type 1 thinking with practice. The thing I struggle with on pad is the fine manipulation, articulating the same motions in a tighter, more precise space, versus the coarser manipulation of the larger controllers. It's like playing a miniature guitar versus a piano, or signing your name on a grain of rice versus a pad of paper. Just feels super claustrophobic to me.

I have to say that as a bass player, hitbox has made more sense to me than all the other controllers, cuz I was already used to "finger-work"

Blue. Toad. Rabbits. Glad you ended up doing this! I had a feeling your thoughts would be this well rounded and in depth. Your Hitbox videos led me to owning a Snackbox Micro Hitbox. It's been an amazing experience that has inspired me to practice even more lately. 🎸🦖

Some notes on pad that you missed. These show up in other Fighting Games outside of Street Fighter: ■ Pad has access to more macro buttons. Very relevant in Skull Girls and DBFZ who have a lots of 2-button combinations like Snapback and Vanish. You can also buy official Back Button Attachments for even more macro options. ■ Pad is *terrible* for Negative Edge characters, such as SF4 Juri or Zero in Marvel vs. Capcom. You need to either have awkward shoulder button macros or a claw grip (terrible for your wrists). ■ Arcade lever is great for Float Control in vs. games like DBFZ, where Super Jump Float determines a lot of neutral interactions. It is easy to accidentally use double jump on Pad, and float control is very unintuitive on All-Buttons layouts. ■ DPad + Analog stick SOCD tricks are very game-specific. In SF5, DPad down + Stick up = up, while in DBFZ DPad down + Stick up = down. ■ Modified DPad Buttons are great; the mod separates the single plastic piece into 4 individual buttons. Not only does it reduce the resistive force (no more charging thumb pains!), but it improves blocking precision, and unlocks additional SOCD tricks (DPad Left + DPad Right = Neutral) and shortcuts by skipping diagonals (2636 for Double QCF Super and 6246 for Half Circle Super in GG Strive) ■ For tournament setups without audio (especially at locals), you can plug Headphones into a pad, stealing the game audio. Especially nice with Active Noise Cancelling. More expensive boards for custom-built arcade sticks can also have this feature, but I've found it rare out in the wild.

K-Levers use a grommet instead of a spring pivot system, which allows you to snap back to neutral more quickly. Great for movement in Tekken with KBDs and wavedashing. But you can get a lighter tension grommet that lets you move more freely in 2D fighters. Works very well, honestly. Personally, I use battops on my Japanese levers because I like a more pronounced grip when I move. But that's just me. SOCD on Hitbox/Leverless also makes KBDs absolutely trivial in Tekken, and I love it.

I would also consider mechanical keyboard if you play on pc. Similar inputs to hitbox but you have a lot more options to customize like setting specific keys for throws or lp+mp+hp

Part of the reason I love French Bread's fighting games is they have an alternate input to dashing: ForwardAB. It's one movement rather than three, and it makes dash cancels and the like really consistent and fast. Makes movement on their gamea incredibly fun.

My biggest reason for switching to stick over pad is ease of access to repair/replacement parts. If I had a dollar for every d-pad I've destroyed playing fighting games, I'd have a few dollars, but nowhere near enough to replace the first busted controller. I'm aware that mods and extra parts are available, but I've never really been able to find what I need, and I'm way more uncomfortable taking a pad apart than a stick.

For the half-circle thing with hitbox, the best way I found of doing it was (for a half-circle forward / 41236); hold 4, hold 2+6, release 4+2. Much more consistent than trying to hold 4, then release 4 before holding 2, then hold 6, etc... The SOCD cleaner ensures that holding 4+6 down will cancel each other out so only the 2 (down) input comes out. This also made KoF and Guilty Gear playable, doing double half-circles and 63214+6H style inputs. 360's and 720's, I only found possible with the weird slide technique. I could do Goldlewis max charge 1080's with this though, which I had trouble with, even on stick. Tiger knee inputs are harder IMO. Try doing Dhalsim IA gales on hitbox and stick, stick is far easier. Same goes for things like Sagat kara fireball with f+HK. Overall I think stick is still better, except maybe for moving around in Tekken.

The biggest problem I had with hitbox was when I switch sides. Player 2 side really hard for me. Personally, I just love stick more, and I've become more casual over time, so I rather just use stick and have fun.

For years I always used a USB Sega Saturn pad to have access to 6 face buttons. I really loved that controller! Only downside was not having a select or PS button, so I switched to stick out of necessity.

@29:00 I've found the trick to getting half circles with HitBox is to press: back, back+down, back+down+forward (SOCD down), release back+down and press the required button. I was trying to do this previously with pressing two buttons at a time, and I would often miss the required down input, especially if I was pressing a direction just before the half circle. Now I use the three directional button press method, I don't have a problem with half circles anymore (and dare I say, I was tempted to go back to stick to perform half circles and 360s, but now I can execute them quicker and cleaner on hitbox, which eliminates the last reason I had to ever go back to play on arcade stick).

Blue Toad Rabbits! Love your stuff, mad respect for you and your continued contribution to the FGC. My love for fighting games has only begun and I can say a lot of that is thanks to you and everyone here.

@5:47 "Can you map analog stick inputs to paddles without breaking tourney regulations?". This is a question I've been researching. I have a Razor Wolverine Ultimate and the Ultimate V2 controllers. When I looked up EVO rules, it seemed to be acceptable to map inputs so long as they were only cardinal directions. But other tournaments seemed more strict on button mapping.

Well as a fighting game newbie planning to get into SF6, i actually didn't expect Arcade stick to come in 3rd place. Guess that exemplifies my newb staus but Im still getting one for SF6, Arcade sticks just seem so cool to me, and as a casual i was always terrible on pad, stick seems like it will be more intuitive for me when it comes to quarter circle and half circle inputs as mentioned in this video.

I subbed. Very well explained and, generally, pretty fair. Only ever seen you as a comentator and occasionally guy doing matches, Never realised how articulated and analytical you are.

Keyboard best Space for jump and ASD for back down forward is functionally a Hitbox but without the con of being checked for a potential bomb in an airport edit: and without the price tag jfc

As a controller player, the dash macro in games like strive have blessed me in many ways.

One thing I really don't understand about that whole hitbox conversation that make it really silly to me is: I just see a keyboard.

Half circles in hitbox are a nightmare. Donkey kick combos were really hard to learn.

Great video! The thing about pad that made it far worse for SF4 was chording (pressing a bunch of buttons at the same time), it is really awkward with a single thumb (instead of two fingers in the stick) and you needed that for plinking and fadc a lot. V-skill and V-Trigger needs also, but it is just a light touch just like a throw. Making lengthy chording not necessary anymore is vital to make these games more accessible

Snake Eyez actually used a fightpad in Street Fighter. They are pretty great and combine the benefits of the button layout from both sticks and standard pads with a dpad. I myself use one. If you want to try one then I highly recommend the Hori fighting commander or the Razor Raion fightpad. I use the Razor Raion and it's compatible with ps4/5 and PC.

I played pad (Seth/Ryu) during all of th SFIV era and what I really liked is that I would use dpad for most things but use the joystick for spds. What I found easier on stick, however, was plinking for harder links like cr. jab, jab, st. jab, sweep, etc. Overall, I do prefer pad but I love playing stick because it's so tactile and fun. Also, blue toad rabbits.

the hitbox cross up lets me do crazy stuff like easy instant overheads and allows me to do all kind of cool tech, but i still dont have to overhaul how i play, its perfect!

Another big thing for hitbox to consider is that due to input leniency in newer games, hitbox is very hard to get used to on retro titles. I play a lot of 3s on hitbox and as a necro main I can't tell you the amount of times ive dropped my bnb nado hook combos due to how specific the half circles have to be. That being said there are socd shortcuts that still work on retro. So to anyone who likes retro games AND hitbox stick with it!!!

For dashing with a stick you don’t need to move the stick as far as possible for the input to be read, most sticks you can move it an extremely small distance and have the input be read, even with moving the stick as far as the gate allows the speed is very comparable to that of button input movement

I just switched to a hitbox layout to test it out... and my brain is totally scrambled. your words sum up all the things I am experiencing atm. as I am getting better at it sometimes I wished the up button was the down button and other times I wished it was the other way around... I know it will take a lot of time but I think this will take way more than the time I switched from a controller to a stick due to how un intuitive the button placements are.

Love Bison in Alpha 2/3, but being a pad player (too cheap rn for a good stick) means death to my thumbs. Thank you for bringing this up.

I went from pad to leverless and the motions felt really intuitive to me. It never felt like "individual button press" like button by button but more of a string where I do a certain motion with my fingers. Doing half circle forward is the most intuitive thing ever, you just roll your hand from left to right. About the SOCD tricks, to me of course it is harder cause you have way more "codes" to remember but that's only because it is a layer of execution deeper that no other controller can do. At even type of requirement it's more comparable. If we talk accessibility, we shouldn't bring the highest execution requirement imo, we talk skill floor not ceilling. (skill floor still behing higher than any other controller ofc)

I get a lot of shit for it, but I do just fine playing with a Xbox styled controller while using the analog stick. Personal comfort will matter way more in the long run, so make sure you put that at the front of your controller decisions. (BlueToadRabbits)

Ive never met a pad player who wasnt injured by their controller. Thats often overlooked imo

This video is spot on, I mimicked a hit box button layout on my keyboard and it’s OP

Coming from a background of playing guitar, switching to hitbox/leverless has really helped me. The dexterity is kind of similar and I feel it makes the controls a lot more rythmic. I understand that due to the SOCD stuff, some things dont work how they would logically on stick/controller but my musician head has adapted and I see my combos more like playing a lick on the guitar now.

The first controller *I* played Street Fighter on was that one that had two giant buttons-one for punch, one for kick. You got different results depending on how hard you pressed (or more "pushed") the buttons, though since SF1 was a bit of a button-mashing game, it didn't much matter. Once you figured out "fireball motion", you were more or less set until Thailand. And then you really needed "weird uppercut motion" to win.

A topic that people don't really talk about is that you literally CAN do SOCD on arcade stick. Very often you have extra buttons on stick (usually the right two buttons L1 and L2 on my stick), you can bind those buttons to directions and execute SOCD moves! In some games you have the option to do this in game, like Tekken 7, and if the game doesn't provide this option you can achieve the same result on the steam controller options or the console options.

Korean levers have the issue of dash inputs solved, and the answer is rubber grommets for that sweet near instant return to neutral. Pair that with some modified switches, actuators, and/or shafts, and you are ready to dash for days. Also, there are various techniques used for fast dashing that I'd argue are on par with button presses. You have to remember people were dash canceling and IADing links back in the arcades on stock Seimitsus/JLFs with those tight af controls so it is definitely possible; much harder than pad and hitbox for sure, but still possible.

Blue Toad Rabiits. Real talk your content has been some of the best to listen to while working when your not in a bracket or playing rank. You provide a great level of detail and solid observation. Highly recommend.

Took years for FGC to learn that keyboard is the superior way to play the game after all, because when you think about it that's what the hitbox layout is pretty much, and that's how I used to play most fighting games in the past but people trashed me by saying I was crazy/stupid for doing so, man, we came a long way.

Blue toed rabbits, the fight pad was my favourite controller of choice for playing SSFIV. However I destroyed my membrane in a few months across 2 different fight pads and gave up on them. (Down+left stopped working completly). Ultimately switched to hit box in 2013 for the memes.

BLUUUUUE TOAD RABBITS. Love your vids Brian. You really helped my RU-vid game, your content creation tip videos are my favorite kind!

Blue. Toad. Rabbits. Love the breakdown. Especially the use case for character move sets.

In the stick section, I definitely know the audio cues thing is a big nerf. When I played comp. Smash, GC controllers were so clicky I could tell when my opponent hit a shoulder button and could cover that option. So to cover that option for myself I swapped around my face button and shoulder button inputs 😂

Really nice video, Hitbox does have its cons yet most old people considered hitbox as cheating. I tried using keyboard lately and playing from another side is very different experience since you are using different fingers for me its harder to master than sticks but when you finally learned it, its the most precise controller out there.

Amazing video! I know you don't like tier-lists, but I really hope you make more videos like this. (Blue toad rabbits)

Brian with the sweet Blue-Toed Rabbit tech; also excellent video as always!

Unironicly the S+ god tier controller is keyboard, you can find one at the cheapest price of all the others, light weight, easy to carry, everyone has one, you can remap your button layout to whatever you want. Unironicly can't find anything bad about it other than you might need a PS4 adapter but even then it could be cheaper than a pad

Does the PS4 pad stuff apply to the PS5 controller?

Ngl I mained Goldlewis on hitbox for a while. It was actually pretty chill! It’s more of a timing challenge to get the inputs rather than the “motion” of your fingers. I think of the hitbox movement buttons as an upside down stick, and for some reason that clicked in my head to make the shape of the motions intuitive on hitbox

Using D-pad + left stick feels weird at first, but you just do it for a while and it becomes second nature. It's not nearly as big of a shift as switching to keyboard type of movement, since they indeed function so similarly, it's not a new kind of job for your left thumb to wrap your head around. I kinda hate the bit my thumb has to travel, but whether they control the same thing or have a unique function, it feels really cool to flash between them and maybe even do a bit of claw. Also, one usually irrelevant mark against the PS5 controller: My god start and select sink into the controller. I always instead use the two buttons in the very center if possible.

the ordinary pc keyboard deserves a mention as so many people play on pc these days

Ty Brian because ive been waiting to buy a controller for fighting games specifically. Not a tier list guy, but i respect the stache, and the opinion.

I started using a keyboard recently. I feel it's pretty similar to an hitbox but way cheaper...still, i immediately noticed this "weak finger" thing you mentioned so i was wondering if there's a way to train that finger?

twewy ost for bgm is refined taste. great job as always Brian.

I'm so happy I switched from pad to leverless. Main reason, I was sick of controllers breaking

The biggest thing that jumps out to me about the Hitbox is all the cons you listed can eradicated by just putting in a ton of time and learning how to use the controller. You didn't actually give cons with the device itself like you did with a pad or arcade stick.

Blue toad rabbit really changed my playstyle ngl. Thanks for the list and opinions

Realistically arcade stick should be the only tournament legal controller ex. Game was made for originally a arcade stick pads and hit box's break the game in certain ways that weren't intentionally meant to be invok3d during game play

I agree, hitbox and certain types of pads are the best. Arcade stick to me is like B+ tier now, the lever mechanism is so 1980's design.

Blue Toed (or Toad) Rabbits. Started watching you cause if your inspirational grappler videos on DNF Duel. I’ve always liked grappler and watching you made me play him even more. Now I’m a regular viewer of your RU-vid videos and twitch streams because of that. Love your content!

In SFIV you also get synergy with plink and slide. If you do crMPLP plink with Gen, you can get hp hands by doing a very simple slide LP, MP, HP and ex hands with additional macro button at the end. Decapre crMK into LP hands you can doubletap+plink crMK with LP and then slide HP, MP, LP or you can slide from LP, MP, HP for heavy hands and macro into ex hands. Double tap and/or plink into a simple slide one way. Much easier to learn then alternative input methods...

keyboard >>>>>

Thinking of getting a Qanba Drone. Sticks look so fun to play with.

are there hitbox layouts that are less cramped? movment buttons are so close to attack buttons if you would want to use your right thumb for lk your left thump for up would cross with ur other thumb if you have your hands flat agains the case, seems like it would uncomfortable or annoying. toughts?

Blue toad rabbits! As someone who's first fighting game was sfv, the decision between pad and arcade stick was mighty difficult. However, It still seems like the adage of "go with what you're comfortable with and you'll see results" still holds up and will for all newcomers

Really dig the content!

What’s the medley Brian_F has playing in the back? I love menu music in fighting games.

is it really impossible to do a perfect flashkick on stick? can't you get it if you manage to get the stick from down to up in less than 1/60th of a second?

Blue Toad Rabbits - I was sent here to hear an opinion on different controllers from a friend. I recently got back into fighting games and haven't played one heavily since SF4. In close to middle age I'm not able to use a pad as it destroys my hand, and I need it for work (PS5 controllers DPad doesn't do this to me but that is a side note). I picked up a stick to get into fighting games and have come across the problem of a square stick vs an octagon stick's precision, and my shoulder tends to hurt after long sessions. So now I'm on the path of trying to learn a Hitbox variant and am going down the path of trying to learn that. The reason for mentioning these cons is the mention of fingers with the Hitbox and how other versions have similar problems that might catch someone off guard who is trying to learn the game.

would you recommend buying an arcade stick if you have troubles performing something like tekken grabs? maybe its just me but i have alot of troubles actually timing 2 buttons the same time on controller. i also got alot of troubles with half circle motions. should i just stick to a dpad or should i specifically switch to a stick because of that? I know that a stick doesnt inherently make you better but i think that like this video shows there are some good pros and cons for each controller. Thanks in advance! :D

30:07 this is something you realize playing piano for the first time

It's possible to setup K levers for 2D play but they are definitely stock setup for 3D games like Tekken. The recoil and stuff he is talking about is the grommet tension system. Japanese levers like Sanwa use spring tension. I.e a literal spring that goes around the shaft that the actuator closes up and holds. With a k lever there is just a groove in the body that holds a large rubber grommet where the tension comes from you moving the shaft of the lever in the direction you want and it hits this grommet to pop back rather than a Sanwa spring style system that just uses the spring to snap back to neutral. So with different tension grommets, different sized shafts (i.e a smaller shaft with less diameter will have farther throw which means literally a farther motion you can move the lever with your hand with a larger deadzone before actuation of the switch). You can also have different sized actuators to effect the deadzone and how quickly you activate inputs and directions etc. If you see the Otto DIY kits people use on Sanwas the V2 is doing this. It's using a grommet tension system for your sanwa rather than a spring system.

Blue Toad Rabbits! Looks like a lot of folk didn't watch the video 😮 great content as always Brian!

The title said "Definitive Tier List" so I clicked, liked, commented, and subscribed.

You can also use hitboxes with no SOCD. They don't have to be left + right = neutral. Left + right = neutral is just the most common one currently but i suspect that will change.

Blue Toad Rabbits, I was clicking around for the parts I was interested in XD Some comments on fight pads and non-Japanese sticks, two sections you didn't seem to know much about: The main benefit of a fight pad is that for games that let you map r3 and l3, you have easy access to all 10 buttons, and in SFV you make hitbox players cry with your extra functionalityᵗᵐ in training mode. Plus, some people really prefer the feel of floating d-pads or crosspads. Snake_Eyez is notoriously great at walking 720s on a floating d-pad, and ProblemX makes great use of a Hori Fighting Commander. As far as Korean Sticks go, the highest profile player to use one was Infiltration. While certainly a Persona Non Grata, it serves more as an example that you absolutely can have success playing on a Korean joystick at the highest level of street fighter. Korean joysticks are well represented across multiple games, and if a player is nostalgic for the feel of American joysticks, short collar Korean joysticks which are designed to fit inside Japanese enclosures are a great alternative to buying/fully assembling a stick on their own. Speaking of American sticks, there are considerable downsides in terms of assembly and availability. There are currently only a couple of preassembled commercial options, neither of which work on current gen consoles, so you better be happy using a screwdriver. Nonetheless, John Choi still rocks a MAS and he is the last American to win a Street Fighter EVO back in 08, so again personal preference is what's going to matter here.

the Gamo2 K28 will always be the top tier controller for me. it's a keyboard, has multiple profiles (mostly for rhythm games) that you can be free to try out and learn, 1 keyboard profile for pc, 2 FGC with SOCD included profiles, 4 customizable PS4 and 4 switch configurations where you can map any button on the board to any input you want (you can totally play WASD + hitbox up button).

updated list with keyboard for tekken 8 coming out

A friend of mine in high school had a few versions of that SF4 fightpad. I used them a couple times and unfortunately didn't really end up caring for them. I first started playing on a 360 controller and then upgraded to an arcade stick a few years after. Comparing the two, I remember kinda hating the mushiness of the fightpad overall in comparison to a standard sanwa arcade stick. It was quieter, but it definitely was not as satisfying to work with. Anyway, there's my two cents. Love the channel Brine 👍🏻 Keep it up

Hitbox Goldlewis certainly take some practice but it's really not bad once you've put in some hours.

I need one for sf6 now. Do you still think the ps5 pad is equally as good as in sf5?

Hi, I’m a GL main who plays hitbox, and I only wanted to state that after I heard the point mentioning it

For the algorithm! I am glad that fighting games are more comfortable on console pads (and keyboard) now, it removes a big "perceived barrier" that you need a fight stick to play fighters.

im jus glad to see my “hi future me” comment at the beginning of one of these, 4th wall breaking irl indeed

im learning fighting games for the first time with sfv on keyboard mimicking hitbox, its been very difficult learning the inputs and learning to release my inputs at the right time. hoping to get a stick by the end of the year, not sure which one

Is there a leverless stick that works for ps5 and or Xbox series x? I want to get the snack box micros for its convenience but it doesn’t work on ps5 I think.

A big pro of pad is having trigger buttons. For 6 this is gonna be huge since parry has a really awkward motion on stick (mp+mk)

where would you rate "mixbox" i was thinking about buying a cardimod which will convert my arcade stick to a mix box

BTW Brian did you know Problem X still uses a Hori Commander Fightpad? They seem to still used by a buncha people just not as sought out since regular pad abd hitbox and is much more co commonly known I guess?

One thing people never mention about SOCD on ps4. You can change the sticks LS RS to be positioned RS LS. All you need to do is go to accessibility menu or just steam controls. This makes it way easier to do some crazy things and its never even acknowledged in any tournament rules so its always legal?

I actually played MKX using both d-pad and the toggle. Made for instant air teleports playing Shinnok.

I spent an hour practicing a Dudley combo in 3rd Strike with 4 one-frame links that are all half circle inputs (and 4 additional half circle inputs) on keyboard today and the amount of times I'd drop cause I didn't properly piano my fingers was infuriating. I've played keyboard for over a year and have it setup exactly as a hitbox layout would be and I STILL will fumble the inputs sometimes. Hitbox is definitely not for half circles

I'm curious where the Hitbox Cross|Up would fall on your list.

I recently got into fighting games and was really inspired to dive deep and learn as much as possible. I also replaced my playstation controller with a kitsune. Many of the ergonomics reasons apply moving from a two finger tiny buttons controller, but the biggest thing is consistency. There was nothing ever more frustrating than abilities not going off because the d-pad is one single piece, so doing left-right inputs would often inadvertently press up/down depending on how high or low my thumb was on the L/R button. I would go into practice mode with characters and if their moveset featured more than one niche use case L-R input I would just skip the character because I knew that it would be frustrating. It's partly a skill issue, going from the furthermost edge to furthermost edge on the d-pad helps make it easier to make the input more accurate, but for me it was just a 100% consistency issue where I want to press the buttons and the input I made to translate into the game. Also, being new to fighting games, and also many people saying that leverless controllers require a lot of muscle memory re-learning and practice, I thought I might as well start with something that solves the problem I have and people think is great. I've been having lots of fun with it now, with none of the previous frustration where 10% of the time my input just wouldn't execute because of the directional buttons being what they are.

I wanted to say something regarding people using both Dpad and analog stick on ps4/ps5 controller. I learned how to play SF4 with my dad who used the analog stick, and never even thought about using the Dpad until playing sf5. I find it very hard to dash with my thumb with the analog stick, and I do everything in the analog stick (dp, fireball, quarter circle motions etc), but when it comes to dashing or cancelling something in vt, I dash with the Dpad and quickly go back to analog. SOOO yes, I may be an exception and i've never seen anyone do this, but some people do use both. I do not use them for SOCD because I can't even play the game well enough, close to hitting diamond and can't even get the basics in, so not even gonna try SOCDs, but when and if I get at a higher level, I may consider that. Even though, Thanks for the video Brian! Still watching btw. @Brian_F

Maybe its bc I've played piano most of my life, but the prospect of coordinating pushing and lifting fingers in rapid succession doesn't seem like that much of a challenge.

blue toad rabbits, was pretty fun to listen to, the future generations of games accomodating for pad and button box certainly very good

15:30 for ps4 pads hurting thumbs, that shit was real for me. When i was learning sfv i developed calluses on my left thumb just from play cammy/ken and practicing DP motions. There was a stretch where i had to stop playing because the left side of my thumb was so sore all through the day. At some point i started using an xbox controller instead of ps4 to use the control stick on it instead of dpad, just so i could keep playing pain-free. One of my biggest motivations to get an arcade stick was to be more comfortable on my fingers, and it was succesful in that. (Also anime games that required IADs or holding buttons while pressing others like how balrog's TAP works were much harder for me on pad. I *cannot* play yuzuriha on pad.