D-Pad or Thumbstick?

[Ziggy]

Depends of the game.

[fastbilly1]

fighters, shmups, arcade classics - stick
rpg, puzzle - pad
fps, strategy - thumbstick/mouse

Almost the same, but I like puzzle games with the stick.

And I enjoy Adventure games with the Wiimote. Give me some of that patented waggle for Leisure Suit Lar...wait no.

[saturnfan]

I prefer no form of movement stick, I only use face buttons.

[fastbilly1]

I prefer no form of movement stick, I only use face buttons.

So you are a Game and Watch fan I take it?

[Jayson]

Depends on the game.

^^^ this.

I voted D-pad because given the chance to play a game that would control decently with either, would usually choose the D-pad over the thumbstick. Hell even with the Tony Hawk games, I preferred the D-pad.

[t0yrobo]

fighters, shmups, arcade classics - stick
rpg, puzzle - pad
fps, strategy - thumbstick/mouse

/thread

[wip3outguy7]

Depends on the game... as said before.

Since I picked up my HRAP2SA a few years ago, I have almost completely transitioned to playing Dpad related games with the arcade stick. I even play games like Tenchu (the first two) or Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, etc with the arcade stick.

I prefer keyboard & mouse when it comes to FPS, but that isn't really an option on consoles these days. Sooooo, I don't play a lot of the new first person shooters on consoles.

I'm ok with analog sticks for 3rd person shooters. Most of those games are riddled with platforming elements and cover mechanics that work better with face buttons and a nudgenudge shoot analog stick setup.

[MrEco]

It kind of depends on the situation. For 2D games and navigating menus the d-pad. For everything else a thumbstick.

But boy I wish we lived in a world where standard controllers came with a thumbstick and a d-pad. Hell, call me spoiled but I think two thumbsticks would be ideal. Too bad no controller like that has ever been invented.

Oh, wait.... :/

[Gamerforlife]

Yeah, depends on the game for me too. Of course, as an old school gamer I do heart dpads. Sometimes it is less about stick versus thumbstick and more about how finely tuned the game's controls actually are. To use Oddworld: Munch's Odysee as an example, Abe controls horribly and it's not the analogue stick's fault. It's not so bad as to ruin the game since its overall difficulty level isn't too high for the most part, but it makes some of platforming bits a little annoying

Oddly enough I have never been completely comfortable with arcade controls with fighters. I can use them and perform well enough, but I would occasionally miss a combo or special I was trying to pull off. Always seemed more comfortable using a pad for fighters, though even with pads I wasn't a perfect player I still felt like I had slightly more control. Of course, this only applies to the GOOD dpads(not shitty ones like the Dreamcast or Xbox 360 pads)

EDIT: And for the life of me I don't understand how PC players are comfortable with mouse/keyboard. I found American McGee's Alice so frustrating to play because of that. I gritted my teeth and got through it though because the game is so cool, but I am a controller for life gamer. Mouse and keyboard just feels alien to me unless it something like an RTS game or Lucasarts adventure game, but actually controlling an onscreen avatar without a controller just makes something in my brain go, "does not compute"

[Flodder450]

Depends on type of game

though i have the habit of using the Dpad on a PS2 racing game whenever i can