I do consider myself a great "Pad Player" and have the ability to use either joystick or pad to play almost any fighting game. I still prefer a joystick over a pad, any day, but I am definitely comfortable enough paying on most pads. But before I go on, one thing must be established: to me, there is no greater pad than the original Japanese SEGA Saturn Pad. The Saturn Pad is the closest thing to a joystick that I have to getting the same confidence that my moves will come out. So naturally, when I first began to evaluate the Nubytech Official Street Fighter Anniversary Edition Controller, all basis of comparison is the Saturn Pad. So I put the pad to the test by going through various games and trying out how natural it felt and how easy it was for me to perform some of the more complex combos and techniques in these games. But before we get into those results, let's just go over some non-gameplay aspects.

The pads are of nice quality. They are lightweight, which is good, because a heavy controller becomes tiresome to hold for long periods of time. It feels solid enough and doesn't seem likely to break (though that's not an invitation to hurl your controller across the room, thinking it'll still survive). It's a comfortable controller to hold though it is a little thicker than I would like. Those with smaller hands, like me, may be slightly bothered by its width, and I've heard the same complaint from a few sources. You can get used to it after just a little bit, but slimmer would have been better.

This really is a great collector's item... you won't want to throw the box away for this item. In fact, the packaging and the artwork on the controller is so nice, I was almost reluctant to even take the controller out and actually use it, thinking it might be worth more to leave it in mint condition. The artwork from Udon on the packaging and the controller itself is really good for each of the four characters you can get (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, or Chun Li). If you are an avid collector of Street Fighter paraphernalia, collecting all four controllers would be a worthy investment.

One of the biggest strengths of this controller comes in the form of the 6 buttons. For Street Fighter games, the layout is exactly what you'd want: three buttons on top, three buttons on the bottom. All the buttons are the same size, something that even the Saturn Pad cannot boast of. The buttons, however (and this holds true for the two shoulder buttons as well) feel a bit stiff and not as responsive as the Saturn Pad's buttons. Also, I have a slight contention with the spacing of the Jab button and the Short button (Square and X). I think that the X button was placed ever so slightly too far to the right. Since you'll be wanting to use your Index and Thumb finger on Jab and Short respectively a lot in various fighting games (such as for Rolls in CvS2, Throws in 3S, and tagging to your first partner in MvC2), it would have been nicer if the Short button was a bit more directly UNDER Jab, as that feels far more natural for your hand. This will become a concern as you will see later in this review.

I have two other minor complaints about the buttons. The first is that the placement of the Start and Select buttons is awkward. Anyone who plays certain fighting games a lot, namely Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, knows that "Button Mashing" comes into play very heavily. One technique that players tend to use is the "Washboard technique" which, on pads, is simulated by taking your index finger and sliding it back and forth across all six buttons very quickly. The Start and Select buttons are inconveniently placed right above the top three buttons, which means during any period of violent button mashing, pressing these buttons on accident is relatively easy. This can result in a pause during a match or, even worse, a reset on games where hitting Start and Select at the same time instantly resets the game. Also, both buttons are small, so in attempt to press one button, sometimes you may accidentally hit them both, resetting games instead of pausing them.

Lastly, as a side note, this controller is definitely more suited to using the six buttons with your index, middle, and ring fingers (while resting the right side of the pad on your leg) than to holding the right side of the pad with your hand and only using your thumb. You do not get a lot of control of the buttons with just your thumb, especially since many games require multiple button presses at once for techniques such as "Kara-Throws" in Third Strike and "Roman Cancels" in Guilty Gear XX #Reload.

This is where the determining factor usually lies: how responsive is the Control Pad? Is it easy to do Super Combos? Spinning Pile Drivers? Instant Air Dashes? Everyone has different reactions to different pads, so it's really tough to say. I've seen people do the craziest things imaginable on the standard Dreamcast Pad, and I find that to be the most unusable pad in the history of Control Pads. So once again, I speak from the perspective of a player who prefers the Saturn Pad the most: the NubyTech controllers have probably the second-most responsive pads I have used. The same problems I have with the Saturn Pad are in large part the same problems I have here. For example, I'm still more comfortable performing Dragon Punch motions facing right than I do facing left. And it may be just my imagination, but it did feel like performing Dragon Punch motions facing left was more responsive on the NubyTech controller than the Saturn Pad. The NubyTech Pad has a larger range of motion, but the Saturn pad feels more precise and exact. Both have their strengths, depending on your personal preference, but overall I still prefer the Saturn Pad's control pad, but not by much.

And now, I'm going to go through a game-by-game evaluation of the pad and how comfortable I felt using it for each game.

- Super Street Fighter II Turbo -
Super Turbo, more than any other Street Fighter game, requires confidence in Dragon Punch motions. Spazzing out on Ken's Jab Dragon Punch or getting a Reversal Fei Long Short Dragon Kick is a necessity. In other games, you may be able to rely on Crouch Fierce's as Anti-Air, Rolls as Wake-Ups, or Parries against Meaty Attacks. But in Super Turbo, you need to make sure your Dragon Punch motion is on if your character has it. Fortunately, this controller is very friendly to doing Dragon Punches. This is repeating what I said earlier, but I am still infinitely more comfortable doing them facing right than left, but I felt like performing Dragon Punches facing left was easier with this pad than the Saturn Pad. Having little faith that your Dragon Punch is coming out can really screw your game up completely. This pad definitely helps keep the confidence in your Dragon Punch at the top.

Outside of Dragon Punches, the most complex thing you get is Super Combos. Double Fireball Motion Supers are a breeze on the pad, and even landing them in Combos is no problem. Performing Charge up Supers (such as with Bison and Balrog), though, present a small problem, though not unique to this pad. Doing a Forward, Back, Forward motion on a pad is tough without accidentally hitting an up and accidentally jumping, and it does feel a tad more sensitive on this pad than others.

The last complex controller motions in this game are 360's and 720's. Performing 360's on a pad is a nightmare in general, and performing standard Crouch Short into SPD ticks with Zangief is not a problem. But walk-up SPDs and SPDs after a far Stand Short can be a hassle at times. On the pad, it's much easier to accidentally get Zangief's Green Hand by accident. And because performing 360 motions in general is much slower on a pad than a joystick, it's really tough landing any 360 at all with T.Hawk before he jumps. It happens a lot already on a joystick, so on a pad, it's that much tougher. But that definitely affects doing Zangief and T.Hawk's Supers even more as you now have to do 720's fairly slowly. So while you might be able to pull off Zangief's Jumping Down+Short into 720 if you start the motion right after you jump, good luck ever landing T.Hawk's Stand Jab into 720. Granted, this isn't a problem with this pad specifically. In fact, if you were to ever pull it off with a pad, this or the Saturn Pad would be the ones you would do it on.

- Capcom Vs. SNK 2 -
There's a larger variety of Super Motions in this game, but the leniency on them is far nicer in this game than it is in Super Turbo. So performing Combos into Supers with standard Capcom Double Fireball Motions or standard SNK Fireball Reverse Half-Circle Motions is a piece of cake. Everything is very comfortable when it comes to performing standard Combos. Also, performing S/N/K-Groove Run traps and Low Jumps are really effortless: in fact, I don't think I've ever had Low Jumps feel more responsive.

However, there are two areas in which the pad may cause problems: Custom Combos and Roll Cancels. For Customs, it's difficult to do, for example, Sagat's standard Custom: Jab Tiger Uppercut into Close-up Standing Fierce into Roll, repeat. The reason for the difficulty is the placement of the Short button that I hinted at earlier. If Short was almost directly under the Jab button, Rolling immediately after the Stand Fierce would feel more comfortable. As it is, though, your fingers can get fairly cramped trying to perform that quick combination of Uppercut Motions, Rolls, and a Standing Fierce. The slight stiffness of the buttons don't help either.

And, of course, you can't talk about Custom Combos unless you address Bison's Custom Combo of Death: Uppercut + Fierce ad infinitum. Now, keep in mind I can't even do the Custom properly with a joystick... I stink at it tremendously. But I can come close on a joystick. I can't even approach anything resembling the Combo on the pad, though again it is not a problem unique to this pad. So for those of you who intend to play A-Groove Bison hardcore, either get a stick or expect to do some major practicing of that Combo on this pad.

As for Roll Cancels, they can be quite finger-cramp-inducing as well because of the button placement and button stiffness. I'm trying to refrain from making this a "NubyTech vs. Saturn Pad" review, but I do have to point out that, on the Saturn Pad, the button placement is much more natural, with Short being more directly under Jab. Performing Roll Cancels on that pad feels far more comfortable, especially when it comes to Roll Canceling Blanka's Electricity. It's much more comfortable placing your Thumb, Index, Middle, and Ring fingers on Short, Jab, Strong, and Fierce respectively on the Saturn Pad than it is on the NubyTech controller to do that Roll Cancel, though the fact that the top three buttons are the same size as the bottom three give the NubyTech controller the one advantage over the Saturn Pad. But the button stiffness on the NubyTech Pad, again, causes an ever-so-slight annoyance.

- Street Fighter III: Third Strike -
Most of what could be said about Third Strike is covered in the Super Turbo and CvS2 sections. Doing Supers on this pad is extremely comfortable, especially since there are nothing BUT Double Fireball Motion Supers in this game (outside of the the two Grapplers). I could perform things such as Ken's Double Midscreen Jab Uppercut on the pad, very basic Genei-Jin Combos, Makoto's standard 100% Dizzy Combo on Akuma, and Hugo's delayed 720's without much problem at all.

The only thing that was tough to do on the pad was Kara-Throws. Doing Kara-throws with Alex weren't bad, since he uses Fierce for his Kara-Throw, which gave me comfortable space between my Ring Finger for Fierce and my Thumb/Index fingers for the Throw. But when I had to use the Strong button with Akuma, for example, it gets really cramped again thanks to the button placement problem. And I actually had the most trouble doing Chun Li's Kara-Throw, since you have to use the Forward Kick button, which creates all sorts of "Finger Twister" games.

- Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 -
I'm definitely not the best evaluator of a controller for MvC2. I don't really play the game and have never learned any of the really advanced Combos before. In terms of basic use, it felt fine, and doing "Tiger Knee'd" Air Hyper Viper Beams off of Standing Roundhouse with Cable was a breeze... I think it was actually the easiest time I've ever had doing it. Doing simple Double Jump and Air Dash Combos was a bit tricky, because the buttons of a pad do kinda get squished, but after trying a few times, I got accustomed to it quickly again.

But as for advanced things, well, I have no basis of comparison 'cause I've never been able to do them on a joystick or Saturn Pad either. I can't do Magneto's standard Infinite, for example: I've never bothered to learn it. But I figured, since I needed to evaluate the pad, no better time than the present to try!! So at first, I was just trying to learn the basic timing of the repetition portion of the Combo: Super Jump Short into Forward into Downward Air Dash Short into Forward and repeat. I tried it switching between the NubyTech Controller, the Saturn Pad controller, and a Hori Stick. My level of success was about equal on each of the controllers, which is definitely a good sign for the NubyTech controller. Eventually, I got to a point where I could consistently get the moves out and keep the Combo going for short periods of time on all three controllers with about the same amount of effort. So it's definitely suitable for MvC2 play, especially given the fact that I've seen some crazy people doing insane stuff in this game with DreamCast pads!

- Guilty Gear XX #Reload -
For Guilty Gear, there was never a problem with doing moves and performing the basic Combos. Everything comes out fine as Guilty Gear doesn't contain a great deal of complex motions. I was able to do some nice, long COmbos with Jam and even some Jump Install Combos with the likes of Bridget. It all felt very comfortable save for two areas: Roman Cancel and Instant Air-Dashing.

Roman Cancels is the same ol' story: button placement is awkward, and I'm guessing that 90% of GGXX#R players use Punch and Kick and Slash 90% of the time to do their Roman Cancels. And once again, the placement of Short slightly too far to the right makes doing this awkward, especially in the middle of a long quickly-paced Combo. At least Kara-Throws or Roll Cancels are pretty isolated: when you are going to do them, it's not in the middle of 5 other quick controller motions and button presses. But pulling off Roman Cancels in an instant during complicated Combos can be a bit tougher. I actually found myself missing Roman Cancels every so often. It was rare, but it never happens on any other controller I've used.

Instant Air-Dashes weren't too much of a problem, but I could definitely perform them less consistently on the pad than I can with a joystick. I couldn't get them out as low to the ground as it takes longer to tap Up-Forward, Forward on a pad than with a joystick. Also, trying to do an IAD into a special move, something that characters like Jam do a lot (IAD into a Gekirin (QCB + Kick)), was giving me a bit of trouble. I came out with Down + Kick in the air instead a lot more often with the pad than I should have. I got much more used to it eventually, but because it's much harder to distinguish between Up-Towards and just plain Towards on a pad than it is on a joystick, the IADs will definitely be a bit less accurate.

In the end, I came away liking the pad a whole lot. I hold the Saturn Pad in VERY high regard, and to find a pad even remotely close to being as good was something I almost felt would be impossible. But I have to admit, this pad impressed me a lot, and it is now easily my second favorite pad. My game-by-game review above probably sounded far more harsh than it should have as everything I talk about is really just nitpicking. In actuality, I'm betting that if I used the pad for more than just the couple of days I did for this review, some of those problems would become undetectable after I got really used to the pad. So I definitely recommend not reading too much negativity into my complaints above: they are there just to help isolate some issues you may run into. But really, the pad is excellent for fighting game play. It really is a very beautiful controller, giving it an extra incentive as a collector's item.

So I would definitely recommend the pad 100% for those who prefer the pad and grew up playing Fighting Games on the SNES with the SNES pads. It's definitely one of the better pads you'll ever be able to use for fighting games.

For further questions, please mail jchensor@shoryuken.com and make the subject line begin with 'CONTROLLER REVIEW:'"

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