Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV FightPad - Ken Review

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So I picked this controller up about a month ago and at first, I thought this was one of the best purchases ever. It improved my gameplay significantly over the standard Xbox 360 controller. Then over time, the buttons and dpad started to lose their sensativity. It's gotten to a point now that I don't land my moves any more as regularly as I used to. Thanksfully, the Madcatz Tournament Stick is made from much better components. If this gamepad were not so expensive relative speaking, I would have given it a 3 star but given the price of $40, it drops to a 2 star.

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This is a good fight pad and the D-Pad does work much better than both the Xbox analog stick and the Xbox D-Pad. However it does look and feel kind of cheap. The artwork is great, but it looks like it will soon chip away to white plastic. If you love fighting games and can't afford a $100 stick I would recommend this, but I would never pay more than $40 for it. They will make more, so just be patient. Don't over pay for this now. It's just not worth it.

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As some people have stated, this controller is light and feels a bit cheaper than the XBOX controller and no, there's no vibration and it is wired; but who cares?! I really don't. If you want to be able to pull off moves without having to access awkwardly positioned buttons, you should pick up one of these controllers. The d-pad is such a great improvement. I only jump when I mean to now and I can pull off moves on the first attempt! If anyone has ever played any of the street fighter games on Sega Saturn, like Xmen V street fighter, Marvel v street fighter or any of the street fighter alpha games, you will know that the Sega Saturn controller had the best setup for playing street fighter games. I particularly thought the Nights controller was great for playing street fighter since the buttons were a little more spread out. Those controllers were PERFECT in my opinion. This is not quite up to that par, but it is VERY close. It is an absolute improvement over the XBOX controller. I can't see how anyone could be disappointed with it. It will definitely make things easier and make the game more enjoyable.

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV FightPad - Ken

If you remember ever using a sega saturn controller, it was excellent for fighing games. It was small and compact, and the Dpad was large enough for accurate input movement. I bought this Madcatz controller hopeing for something similar to the sega saturn controller. To my surprise, this madcatz controller is MUCH LARGER than a saturn controller. In order to make the cuircitry for the home, and turbo buttons, the controller is double the thickness of a saturn. This makes it a bit uncomfortable, especially when trying to press the Blue & Green buttons.

In 3D fighting games where I press Blue & Green to perform a grab, my thumb often hits the Red button accidentally. This is because the controller is so large, you often hit an 3rd button when you are doing a grab.

I bought the "Max Shooter" adaptor plug, which lets you use a PS2 controller on a 360. It works perfectly, and I use the ps2 controller to play Virtual Fighter 5 on my 360.

I will still keep this Ken controller to play Marvel vs Capcom when it comes out on Live. The Dpad is actually very responsive. So I will give it credit for having a good Dpad. I just do not like the large overall size of the controller.

P.S. If you (or a friend) have a Dreamcast, you can purchase a seperate adaptor for the Dreamcast which lets you use a sega saturn controller on a Dreamcast. That is how I played Marvel vs Capcom in the past on my DC.

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I am surprised at the high rated reviews this product has gotten. I am a fighting game enthusiast and know a good Dpad when I try one. I loved the old-school Nintendo Dpad, and the Playstation 2 Dpad is also very good. They offered precise feel and control. When I got my Xbox 360, I was shocked at how poor the Dpad was on that controller. Everything else, including the analog sticks are so perfect, but the Dpad is clumsy and ineffective. I'd try to hold back to block and end up jumping or doing some other random direction.

So after reading some reviews on different products, I thought I'd give the Madcatz fightpad a try. When I received the package, I already had a gut-feeling that it was no good. This was confirmed moments later as I tried to play with it.

1) The diagonals were very difficult to locate and I couldn't hit them with any consistency. Very bad news in a fighting game. I found that I had to hit a precise 30 degree angle from the down position to get down-back, and that should be 45 degrees, not 30. But this could have been a defect in the particular controller I got, and might not be an issue in others.

2) However, I'm sure for all of these controllers, the feel of the pad would be the same. The floating Dpad is very loosey-goosey. While this makes it very easy to throw fireballs, any slight pressure will move you away from your intended position. So if you needed to hold back to block, you might accidentally jump or duck.

3) The construction/material of the controller feels very light and cheap. This wouldn't have bothered me too much if the controller worked great but it didn't, and this only added to my disappointment.