In order here, we have the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Saturn, the third-generation Playstation, the Dreamcast, the Xbox 360 and finally, the Madcatz Fightpad. These are not the only pads that exist, obviously. What’s more, all of these pads are for consoles – no arcade stick representation (whether it be ball-top or bat-top), and no hilarious shots of the Gravis Gamepad.
What’s so dangerous about what I’m showing here? What I am showing has been the source of anguish and debate on the internet since gamers began communicating with one another about their pad of preference. The console warriors have debated for years about the lifespans, libraries, and exclusives for their respective system of choice. One of the sticking points have been (of all things) fighting games; what systems had what games, animation differences versus arcade ports, and playability.
First up, with the advent of fighting games in the early nineties, we had the rivalry between the Super NES and the Sega Genesis portrayal of Street Fighter II and its aftermarket clones (i.e. Champion, Turbo/Hyper, Super). While it’s important to note that the fight started here, it had nothing to do with d-pads. No one said “Man, I would’ve hit that move if I hadn’t been slumming it on this GEN-EH-SYS pad!” The biggest beef anybody could have at that time had to do with “Ugh, using shoulder buttons is awkward,” or “Man, the way you laid out your buttons is wrong.” Button-wise, the Genesis’ three button pads were the most inferior, requiring pressing Start in mid-match to switch between punches and kicks. The Super NES is second place (hold on, haters – I’m about to make my point. Chill out) due to the almost built-in need for players to want to have their go-to moves at their thumbtips (because using the L trigger on an SNES pad when trying to do a quarter or half-circle makes your palms hurt, and those who had grown during the NES era weren’t accustomed to triggers for twitch gameplay yet). The Sega Genesis’ 6-button controller had the arcade layout (yay, no configuration necessary) and responsive controls until your angry brother decides “NO FAIR!” and flings the controller into the fishtank.
The next fight was between the Sega Saturn and the Playstation. Having been the natural evolution of the Sega Genesis’ 6-button controller, the Saturn controller has become a treasure to many (some regarding it as the best fighting controller that has ever existed). Its immediate rival, newcomer Sony Playstation, introduces a d-pad configuration unseen before: a directional pad that is one piece underneath but four separate pieces above. In addition to a different d-pad, trigger buttons were introduced that nearly turned every finger and thumb a person had into an extension of their video game avatar. The winner of these two, as most know, was the Sony Playstation – not because of its ease-of-use, ergonomics or anything like that, but because of sheer market penetration! The Playstation wiped the floor with Sega in the market, bringing more players into the mainstream than any of the previous video game audiences before it. In fact, many herald the Playstation d-pad as “best ever” simply because they grew up with it and are used to it.
The Saturn had the capability to play tag-team fighters (e.g. Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter) in nearly arcade-perfect ports (additional memory required, yes I know), while the Playstation did not have the memory within it to allow for two-on-two matches. What’s more, the Playstation versions of fighters suffered from framerate hitches and deleted frames, whereas the Saturn was a more complete package. Unfortunately, because of the market penetration, American gamers were never able to experience much of Saturn’s capabilities as the system was practically shelved in favor of the newcomer. Sony flooded America with good stuff whilst Sega kept most of its jewels in Japan. But let’s sidestep all that for a moment, and talk explicitly about the pads themselves.
This may all come down to thumb size and personal preference, but when looking at the Saturn and Playstation pads, one has to wonder how anyone found four separate directional nubs comfortable. The Saturn, like its predecessor, had a smooth face that could be rolled and responded appropriately to quarter-circles and the like. The Playstation was less forgiving, causing the early adopters who rolled their thumbs over the nubs to develop blisters, calluses and other unsightly problems before switching up their posture (and even then, not being able to have the same reactivity they once did with a solid pad).
(in case you’re wondering where Nintendo was during all of this, don’t – they mostly stayed out of the d-pad wars by not having games for their systems that catered to discriminating fighters’ tastes. If you must know, their d-pad technology hadn’t changed much between the SNES, the N64, or the Gamecube (aside from its size on the Gamecube controller, perhaps))
A few years after the Saturn ducked out, Sega returned with the Dreamcast. It sported a raised d-pad that came out a half-inch above the controller, a reduced face button quantity, analog triggers, and an analog stick with a very small range. While the d-pad was solid and rolled appropriately, some remarked that the raised design had the flaw of having too sharp of edges. Others remarked that the shape of the controller was “hand cramp city,” due to its shallow tooth design. Only hands that trained themselves for the pad found any joy in it, regardless of its responsiveness. Sony killed this one too, introducing a dual-analog controller that also led the way to their new system that dominated the Dreamcast’s market, the Playstation 2.
Before the next real “stage of battle,” Microsoft created two perfectly decent d-pads for fighting games. The Xbox Duke, roughly the size of a dormroom microwave, had the same d-pad as the Microsoft Sidewinder with a raised switch for added rolling ability (how can I NOT bring up a PC controller when talking about Microsoft? Nearly impossible, but I digress). When people crying for homogenization in controller sizes got their wish, Microsoft released their Japanese version (dubbed the S for small) of the controller to the American market. The d-pad for the S was flattened with a raised cross. Still perfectly rollable but not as contoured as the Duke.
This brings us to the current generation of d-pads. In the white corner, we have the challenger weighting in at who gives a shit. From Redmond, WA, the Microsoft Xbox 360! In the black corner, the reigning d-pad champion of the world, the Sony Playstation 3! Now, as far as d-pads, who wins this fight?
It’s a draw. Both are terrible for their own reasons. The Playstation, having been the enduring champion, never felt a need to address its callous-inducing ergonomics. The Xbox 360’s controller, through some form of bizarre affliction no one understands, has a d-pad considerably less responsive than its previous two incarnations. Its design makes pressing down the new left. One can never tell what hat their hitting, even when looking directly at the pad as they move their thumb across it. To play off of an old Fragmaster quote, “In a fight between the PS d-pad and the 360 d-pad I would have to choose Playstation, but fuck you for making me choose." Oh wait.
In trots the Madcatz’s PS3 and 360 Fightpad. Having spent the Playstation 2 generation as a hobbyist fighter upgrade, the PS2 fightpads were a treasured rarity with one glaring flaw – the button layout at the face had to be configured in-game to register properly. When developed for the current generation consoles, Madcatz thankfully thought ahead and homogenized the button layouts to properly tailor to the defaults of Street Fighter IV (while still having the same general layout as other mainstream fighters by Aksys, Neogeo and others).
Funny thing about the Madcatz controller, though – people who have “gotten used to” the Xbox 360 controller appear to favor the 360’s pad over the Madcatz. Whether it’s a case of conditioning has yet to be actually proven, but it would also lend some credibility to the idea that the only reason why the Playstation d-pad has been tolerated for this long is merely conditioning. Either that, or the fact that “REAL” fighting game fans just gut the controllers and make their own arcade sticks themselves, bypassing the quarrel entirely. Can’t argue with Sanwa parts, right?
On a final, if any of you feel that I’ve underrepresented the NEC TurboGrafx-16, the Neo-Geo AES, the 3D0, or the Wii, I sincerely apologize. Feel free to enter in your piece in the comments with the caveat that it’ll play second-fiddle to the mainstream rant.
