Dpads, Whats The Difference (No Flame Please)

[Exophase]

Im the only one that liked the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis D-pad.

Au contraire, the Genesis/Saturn raised-circular design is very well received, and is in fact the inspiration behind the Pandora d-pad.

 

[trix]

The raised circle D-Pad is probably my only gripe with the Pandora design. Not a deal-breaker, not even close, but I find the PS2 controller to be the most comfortable I've ever used, and it's D-Pad superior. All of the raised circle DPad's i've used I have hated. They make me suck at Mortal Kombat. I hope I'll get used to it, but I might have to carry around my USB to PSX adapter and a PS2 controller or 2 with my Pandora, which would kind of suck.

Ah well, there are still plenty of games where the DPad type wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

 

[TrashyMG]

Im the only one that liked the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis D-pad.

Au contraire, the Genesis/Saturn raised-circular design is very well received, and is in fact the inspiration behind the Pandora d-pad.

I'm also a fan of the Genesis style myself.

 

[quadomatic]

I'm thoroughly convinced that the Saturn d-pad is the greatest D-Pad ever conceived, and the Saturn controller very well may be the greatest piece of gaming hardware to grace this planet with its presence.

 

[Prometheus]

The SNES' controller is my favourite of all time, but the Saturn's is a *very* close second for me, so I'm sure I'll get on excellently with the Pandora's controls.

 

[Titcher]

I have to concur that the Saturn d-pad is by far the best. Just like the mega drive one, but rubber! Very comfortable and stops the sore thumb.

 

[trooper]

Yep, Mark me down as another one for the Megadrive pad, Definitely one, If not the best i have ever used.
I am not a fan of most of those fighting games, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat etc, But i do like a
pad that you can hit the diagonals without too much trouble.

The GP32`s stick come`s in at a VERY close second, Great for horizontal and vertical shoot-em-ups, Fighting games
(if that's your thing) and pretty much everything else too.

Trooper

 

[mindlord]

Sega lover here too. The Genesis (I'm a Yankee) D-Pad was great, and I was a terror on Mortal Kombat with it. The Saturn D-Pad was delicious. I'm not completely biased either since I've played extensively with SNES and PSX controllers as well. The SNES pad was quite good too, but the disc is superior to the cross in general. While the PSX controller was by far the most comfortable to hold thanks to the palm handles, the split crosspad D-Pad design is not ideal for many games.

I fear most people have a sour attitude to the disc style of D-Pad because so many knock-off controllers use them, but get the mechanics and ergonomics all wrong. * Mindlord glares balefully at the XBOX 360's D-Pad.

 

[kuru]

360 dpad feels kinda like a stick with a dpad super-glued to it. My fav pad is the saturn's "Nights" Controller with analogues on it. So much fun to use it on manx tt...

 

[Ferram]

I had a third-party PSX controller with a connected Dpad...I remember I was playing one of the Megaman games (X6, I think), and I was going at it pretty hard, and the whole DPad fell right off. I was choked, that was my very own controller...I never let my brothers use it.

Personally, my favourite was the one on the SNES.

 

[God Ginrai]

It's not like those Satan designed pieces of garbage that Sony tries to pass off as controllers. Seriously, as much as I loathe and despise Microsoft, they at least have some concept of comfort. I can accept that one size fits all doesn't work so well, but to make them midget sized and then not offer up an adult sized controller is just evil.

I can only assume that I must have some kind of freakish child-like hands, since they cope with the PS controller just fine.

Did I read that correctly; that you just favorably compared the 360's D-pad to the PS's?

I shudder to think of how large his hands must be. My hands are so big that the most comfortable controllers I've ever used were the Duke Xbox controllers and the PS3 controllers still don't give me problems. I actually prefer the PS3 controllers over the 360 controllers.

Maybe he's this guy

I'm a fellow Duke fan as well, although my hands are not so large.

As for Dpads, I'd have to rank them in this order For Me: Sega Nomad > Sega Saturn > Sega Dreamcast > Sega Genesis > Nintendo > Microsoft Duke >>> Sony Playstations > Microsoft 360

Sony was holding out as the worst Dpad I had ever used until I tried the 360 dpad. I would definitely have to agree with the sentiment about it feeling like a stick with a dpad super-glued to it. It doesn't even point along the correct axis. (Up on the Dpad mould does not actually point where Up actually is for the dpad movement, and so on for the other directions)

-God Ginrai

 

[Exophase]

Guess we've all learned just how subjective d-pad preferences are, huh? One person thinks Sony d-pads are the best, another thinks they're nearly the worst.

 

[God Ginrai]

Guess we've all learned just how subjective d-pad preferences are, huh? One person thinks Sony d-pads are the best, another thinks they're nearly the worst.

It really depends on what your gaming preferences are, IMHO. The Sony dpad is great for menus, which makes it good for most RPGs, which has always been a large part of Sony's game base. I like RPGs, but I also enjoy Fighters and Platformers, so I don't like such a dpad.

-God Ginrai

 

[SirAileron]

From having gone through all kinds of different controllers, d-pads, analog sticks, and the like... I've learned that the comfort of the d-pads depends on where you rest your thumb. While the Sega and Nintendo D-pads are comfortable at almost any angle, the PS d-pad is only wonderfully comfortable with a very severe vertical bias in the thumb's angling, much like a backslash in a web address ( / ). The cross and disc d-pads generally give you more comfortable leeway with angles both almost completely horizontal and vertical, though.

With this in mind, my natural grip is fairly close to that optimal angle for the Sony d-pad, so I've not a problem with it. One thing, though... the Dreamcast d-pad is nearly identical to the 360's d-pad both in terms of how loose it is, and how it reads the directions... so God Ginrai, how exactly do you find the Dreamcast's d-pad to be that high on the list, while its little brother is the bottom? Granted, the Dreamcast's D-pad is slightly easier to work with, but slightly above the worst is still pretty far down. Maybe you didn't use a first-party controller?

 

[Prometheus]

I've got two first-party Dreamcast controllers sitting here that have different d-pads, myself. One is substantially taller and "chunkier"/"blockier" than the other.

 

[SirAileron]

In that case, I must've had all the ones with the worst d-pads. :lol:

Seriously, though, I've taken apart just about all the controllers I have at some point or another. I even pieced a shattered Dreamcast analog stick guiding piece back together Krazy-glued that shit. The D-pads mechanisms for the Dreamcast and the 360 are virtually identical.

 

[Prometheus]

I've never seen an Xbox 360 pad in person, so I can't comment, but I will say that the taller/chunkier Dreamcast d-pad is a lot worse to use than the shorter kind, in my view. (It's too stiff and doesn't hit directions as one would expect. )

 

[SirAileron]

Oh, I absolutely agree. The d-pads that sit lower on the rotary axis have less room to wobble uncontrollably, and are easier on the mats. Also, the larger surface area that's pressing down allows for better circuit contact, and thus better response. (Man, I remember cleaning so many boards and mats.)

 

[WizardStan]

Guess we've all learned just how subjective d-pad preferences are, huh? One person thinks Sony d-pads are the best, another thinks they're nearly the worst.

I'm pretty sure we've learned that one person is a D-pad expert and another doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[Zor Prime]

Damn, nobody ever mentions NEC's D-Pads.

They've always been my favorites.