D-pads have been around for over 45 years and hardware companies still keep releasing controllers with shitty d-pads. Whenever a new controller comes out, it's always a dice roll as to whether the d-pad will be good or not.For example, Nintendo literally invented the modern d-pad as we know it, and yet the Switch 2 Pro controller's d-pad is trash.Why haven't companies created the perfect d-pad yet? One that's perfect for precision platformers, fighting games and whatever.
because everyone only cares about sticks. 2D platform fans and FGCtists are a major minority
>>751073673Lost technology.
>>751073673d-pads were perfected on the xbox series x controller. It's a shame they fucked up everything else; the shoulder buttons use long pegs that break over time, the analogs wear out, the construction is unnecessarily overcomplicated which makes changing the face button membranes annoying, and the USB connector wears out and stops connecting after a few years.
'Cause the average tard plays sidescrollers with analog sticks. It's over.
>>751073673Nintendo dpads aren't even good at fighters.
>>751073673tiger did that before nintendo
Hori controllers usually have good D-pads.
What controllers have good dpads?
>>751074419Sega Saturn
>>751073673>One that's perfect for precision platformers and fighting gameDont' these two groups want different things out of their dpads? I like using the modern xbox pads for tekken because the tactile feedback makes it easy to troubleshoot sloppy inputs while playing. Where as on a playstation pad I find it difficult to tell where down ends and downforward begins. But everyone else seems to prefer the ps pad so I dont know.
>>751074419ENTER
>>751074419Sega Saturn and the Vita.
>>751073673If your gold standard is the Super Nintendo D-pad, then you don't know what a good d-pad is, you're just parotting "Old good. New bad. " without thinking critically at all.
>>751074449Disk shaped dpads are the most optimal and least tiring on your thumb, but Celeste trannies are adamant a dpad has to be cross shaped because they hate being able to smoothly hit diagonals.
>>751074419Gulikit Elves 2
>>751074419Currently? It's a tie between the latest Razer models and Vader controllers, their disc d-pads are the best in business in terms of design and internals.It has become a new standard lately though so it's only a matter of time before more manufacturers adopt the same design, if you want to go for the best you simply have to check who has:>Floating disc pads>An actual pivot, you won't believe how many manufacturers still skip this to this day>Microswitches, membrane is and always will be inferior in both feedback and durability
>>751074517any teardowns? what microswitch does it use
One problem i multiple patents on different designs and mechanics. A Nintendo style gamepad going back to the NES differed from a Sega style one from the MegaDrive on forward, differed from PlayStation which needed to do the "individual buttons on the cross separately, so we don't get sued by Nintendo" etc.
>>751075226Didn't that patent expire a decade ago?
>>751073950>the shoulder buttons use long pegs that break over time,I bought both a Series X and a base PS5 on launch to play Team Ninja games (games that require a ton of holding down L1 to block and timed L1 for parries in some games), and the L1 button on the Dualsense began getting stuck and stiff frequently after only a year of regular play. Meanwhile, my Series X controller's L1/LB is still in perfect shape years later.I'm not saying your experience with your Series controller was wrong, but it's just that controllers in general are a complete crapshoot in terms of QC. Some can last years without issues while others go to shit within months.
>>751075830more like 2 decades ago or sumthing
>>751074419If you don't care about accuracy, then pick whatever d-pad is most comfortable for you.If you do care about accuracy, then the d-pad must at least pass the Contra test to check if you get accidental diagonals or not. Pic related.
>>751075830The eldest one did, but it has still been an issue of why things weren't just >making best thingbut rather >making thing legally distinct that won't get us sued
>>751075031Would you recommend this controller or is this an instance of "only one part of it is good but the rest is cheap shit"?
>>751074350No they didnt. Look at one of those things in use and you'll realize it doesnt actually function like a dpad at all. First off, its fucking massive and meant to be pressed with outstretched fingers. Second off, the "buttons" hardly compress or allow you to roll you finger from one to another. Its basically no closer to a dpad than the arrow keys on a keyboard.
>>751075868I know, it's idiotic. I have a 360 controller that worked perfect for about 8 years (with the occasional manual fixes like cleaning, changing membranes, etc) until the RB broke on a the main IC level. My series x controller went through multiple shoulder button parts, USB-C connectors resoldered so many times the board cooked, then changed the entire PCB.After that I got a Gulikit ES Pro and the USB-C port started giving after two fucking months, right now I turned the cable upside down and it's no longer randomly disconnecting, but fuck. At least that one only cost me $40.Apparently Razer has a controller that has extra support for the USB-c cable, but their pads are stupid overpriced.
>>751073673Because no one cares about d-pads on 3D controllers and everything was being patented while they were still relevant.Stop being normalfag cattle and stop demanding d-pads on everything, just buy a fucking 2D controller that does the job competently, you do not need to switch between playing a 2D game and a 3D game on the same controller.We do not need yet another SNES controller with bottom surgery or another Dreamcast clone, 5th gen is over and 3D is not just a fad that's going to go away.>>751075830Doesn't matter. The actual performance of d-pads is so irrelevant that adapting them now would be abandoning recognizable BRAND energy and games on specific platforms ended up adapting to the strengths of weaknesses of the d-pad on those specific platforms anyway, so making them better in one way will just make them less reliable in another.>>751076027>niche testJust means it's going to fail some other test. Every d-pad test is just a test for whatever platform the author preferred when they were a kid.
Give me all of your clicky and precise dpads that can be bought in current day brand new with 100% diagonal accuracy
>>751076586I wish game controllers did more to follow mechanical keyboards in allowing players to easily "hotswap" busted parts. Imagine if you could easily hotswap a faulty d-pad or analog stick the way you could hotswap a faulty key on a mechanical keyboard. That way, your controller can last far longer.
>>751076447I would not recommend it to anyone as a good all-around controller for every genre. I use it because I like small controllers and symmetrical sticks but the d-pad is definitely the main selling point
>>751074517>gamesir
>>751073673>Why haven't companies created the perfect d-pad yet?They did.It's on fuckin Xbox and NO ONE copies it.
>>751073673Can't we fucking have separate buttons instead? It's clear no one knows how to make dpads, just give me four independent buttons not connected by plastic kind of in the joycons.What are the drawbacks?
>>751077470Good joke. Xbox dpads are mediocre
>>751076972Isn't gulikit the one also selling TMR analogs replacements for every other controller?
>>751078051I wouldn't mind this but I don't like Nintendos execution of it.
>>751076959>Imagine if you could easily hotswap a faulty d-pad or analog stick the way you could hotswap a faulty key on a mechanical keyboard.Most parts can be swapped, like membranes, the top button mechanism on the series x pad. Mechanical d-pads like the ones on the series x or gulikit don't ever really go bad. Switching the analogs requires soldering but they are not very difficult to switch and once you pop in some hall effect ones, they'll never go wrong either.My problem is that the retarded mobile charger usb-c cable keeps getting too loose and the only way to switch that is to break out the hot air desoldering station. Really fucking annoying and the connectors on it are extremely tiny too, plus surrounded by even smaller SMD components, so even if you are decent at soldering there's a good chance you'll fuck it up. Whoever came up with this connector needs to be quartered and his parts hanged up in public display.Hell now I want a controller that has a NON-DETACHABLE wire. Does such a thing exist? It's probably why my wired 360 pad lasted nearly a decade.
>>751076447>>751076972>>751078154I have the Gulikit ES Pro. That one is very comfy but the USB port started giving me problems after 1-2 months already. I'm using it exclusively wired.The Elves 2 has membrane-only buttons and d-pad so it's probably not as comfy. And if they use the Sega Saturn shape then they should've made it have ABCXYZ layout. Up side is that the LT RT shoulders are both mechanical and digital triggers. And it's only $30 so that's pretty good all things considered.
>>751075031>>751076447the elves is not a very good controller. the dpad is awesome and the form factor is surprisingly comfy but other than that it's not amazing. it's 30 bucks after all. if the dpad looks good to you then get the TT max/pro instead.on an unrelated not i redeemed a gamesir g7 pro and i actually really like the dpad on that. i held off because every review says it sucks but apparently i am a weird guy who likes weird dpads.
>>751076673Bump
>>751078051this. it's literally perfect. most games nowdays just use the dpad as a second set of face buttons anyway, it completey prevents accidental diagonals, and even for games that you control mostly with the dpad, it feels better than a traditional dpad. there is no reason to ever connect the buttons together, it only makes the dpad worse.
>>751073673The half a century old patents and ideas didn't change. Just the optimization on how to make them cheaper did, down to sacrificing on build quality.
>>751073673DPads should be replaced by a 3x3 grid of buttons
>>751076673the g7 pro and vader 5 have clicky dpads
>>751074419Vita, the Sega reverse dpad, the later two battery variants of the PS2/Xbox era Logitech wireless controllers with the individual springs under each directionThose are the only truly great dpads. The regular Sega dpad from later Genesis and Saturn controllers is alright.
>>751074419>>751076673I bought this a few weeks ago because most of the reviews were positive. Now since all of the buttons are mechanical it is noisier than a standard membrane controller. But if that doesn't bother you it's a very good controller. D pad is very accurate with all the standard motions (360s, DP, qc and hc) and I can hit half circles without it skipping down, which a lot of otherwise good dpads struggle with. It's also really good at hitting diagonals without hitting the adjacent cardinal directions accidentally. Very useful in UNI2 (my character has an anti air on down forward).
>>751081957I might have to throw away my biases against those weird raised dpads, sounds pretty good
>>751074172This baffled me the first time I saw my sister do this. And she mostly plays on PC, so, it's not like 2D and 3D movement on buttons it's a issue to her, but the moment her hands touch a controller she defaults to using the stick for everything.
>>751073673When you achieve perfection it's harder to sell newer products afterward.
>>751073673>the best dpad ever made of on a fight stick throttlewhy
>>751074419>Mega Drive 6 button>all Saturn controllers>SNES>N64>Wii U ProIf only they'd put the GBA SP on a controller I'd just use that.
>>751073673Dualshock 2 d-pad BEST d-padBEST
>>751081707That's a great idea, Homer.
>>751083925Oh and the Virtual Boy d-pads, those are sublime.
>>751083940>DS2 d-pad>d-padIt isn't a pad, it is segmented. It is just 4 extra buttons. It's a lie. Might as well just make them round at this point.
>>751084040It is in fact one single piece pad.
>>751074419Not anything 8bitDooDoo or SAAR, that's for sure.
>>751074419I'd say the steam controller if it was in a better location
>>751083502>>751083940A membrane pad can never be the pinnacle of dpads. Know your place boomers.
They have. What they haven't perfected is saving every penny possible without getting too many returns, they're still working on that.
>>751074419
>buy a Super Famicom pad abput ten years ago>isn't stained piss yellowed and beaten to shit since the Japanese don't treat their pads like garbage>never needed another pad for 2d sinceStill the GOAT.
>>751073673>Why haven't companies created the perfect d-pad yet? One that's perfect for precision platformers, fighting games and whatever.Sega did. It's 6 button megadrive dpad, and the saturn dpad.
>>751073673I think vita has a good d-pad. the type that's not separated. might be even better if it was more concave.I wonder if the dpads that are almost like disks are good.
>>751085065Good luck playing games with L&R2
>>751085065Mine needs more force for the left pad and it's driving me nuts. I should probably open and clean it.
>>751085065>chinese clone controllerGrim. I have SNES and Famicom controllers and the labeling is perfect. What a lazy clone.
>>751085065>he doesn't have the first party bluetooth SNES controller from the Nintendo storeGrim.
