For everyone who enjoys any type of arcade game (or using the D-pad at all), the Street Fighter controller is here as a savior.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has become a champion of the next generation video game consoles, but avid and amateur gamers alike have always harped on one major flaw with the powerful system: the D-pad is horrendous.
Since the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation One consoles, the controllers arrived with not only a D-pad, but with mini joysticks as well. Players marveled at the relative ease that avatars could be moved on the bright screen via these ‘sticks.
But many games, such as fighting games like those in the Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Marvel Vs. Capcom series have long required a directional D-pad to perform moves (when a full size arcade machine’s mega-joystick was not around). The micro joysticks cannot begin to replicate the steady up, down, left, right accuracy of the D-pad.
PlayStation maintained one of the best D-pads throughout its three consoles, but the Xbox 360 – for all of its luster and amazing graphic spinning – fell utterly short of functionality. To rectify this, the accessory maker Mad Catz worked with Capcom to release officially licensed Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV Round 2 Fightpads.
For just shy of thirty-five bucks at Amazon, a Street Fighter controller allows for a tremendous upgrade in gaming on the 360. The Fightpad is similar in shape to the 360’s standard controller, but it contains a grip-like surface on the back, a shiny and gorgeous picture of many of Street Fighter’s most interesting and infamous characters, and a reformatted button layout.
The 360’s standard clunky two top button on either side has been scrapped and the RB and RT buttons have been relocated to form an ergonomic six-button layout that helps greatly with any game that requires fast button mashing. The Xbox 360’s mini joysticks are gone, and a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) 8-way floating D-pad rests in their place, ensuring the most accurate movement imaginable.
There are no batteries required, as this controller is wired in with ten feet of cord, and there is a button capable of invoking the D-pad to act as a joystick in a game that requires more than the amazing arcade experience!
You have to play with this to see just how infinitely improved and adept this controller is at gaming.
