Official MK9 Xbox 360 D-Pad Solution Thread

[Macros]

I'm getting kind of sick of the standard Xbox 360 controller screwing up my special moves and combo's. Half the time I'm just kicking at thin air . I feel like I could be a way better player if I could just trust that whenever I input something, it will do what I want it to do. Sometimes when I play Sub Zero his slides don't come up, which is so frustrating because it just completely sets me up for losing when I'm locked out of using half the flexibility of a character.

I saw the Razer Onza controller in a store for a pretty cheap price. It looked like it had really good buttons, and a d-pad that is made up of different buttons (which should be good for MK right?). I have a Razer mouse for my computer and am very happy with it, but of course that says nothing about console hardware from the same publisher. After reading some reviews I'm not sure anymore. Many people mention that the d-pad is very sticky and the buttons are too big. So in short, it has very good accuracy, but not so good speed. It seems the stick is way better though, and is very accurate as well.

But, I just really want to know my options here. I don't want to pay alot of money for a controller or gamepad for a genre of games I may very well not like anymore after a while (MK9 is my first fighting game in years). I've also never used a gamepad and heard it takes some getting used to. Plus, I might prefer just getting a good all-around controller for other games as well. So lets say, a price range of 30-40 euros. What's my best option for that?

[Toxic]

Do you have the old 360 controller, or the one with the more precise D-Pad

[Macros]

The old one. I actually recently bought an old one again not knowing there was a new one out

Is it really that much better though? I heard the d-pad gets worse after a while.

[kostasishere]

I had the same problems with the fighting games and i search a lot to find a cheap controller with a normal dpad, the razor i think is the best because i have a keyboard and a mouse and the quality is great for sure also the dpad at the Onza is like PS2. The Wireless Controller with Transforming D-Pad i read it works almost the same as the first. Another company also with a cross dpad is Mad Catz and they have many models. I bought the Datel "WildFire 2 controller for Xbox 360 cable version" from EBay because of the cheap price

the Dpad works way better from the 360 and it also has Rapid Fire as extra, the quality is not the best but works fine anyway, they also have a model like the 360 but with a cross dpad i would suggest you to buy this one better "WildFire controller for Xbox 360"

[mesk]

I have the newer,silver 360 pad with the new d pad and i can vouch and say that for MK it makes all the difference.My buddy has has that newer pad since it came out (about 7 months) and he is a hardcore gamer and the dpad is still just as good as it was when it was new.not sure where you heard that the dpad gets worse over time.but TBH,if you are going to drop the money for a new 360 pad,it may be worth thinking about tossing in another 40 or so USD and getting a fight stick.all depends how dedicated you are to MK

[Timberwolf]

Give the Madcatz Fightpad a try. I got mine for $16, and it worked well to tide me over until I can dual-mod my arcade stick.

[Macros]

Haha, I got beat by some guy I know I could take if only my moves would have worked. I messaged him asking what he used and he said the Mad Catz as well. I haven't seen him screw up anything during the fight Plus I read alot of good thing about it too.

Just to be clear, the fightPAD is a controller right? Y'know, since terms like those can confuse me xD I also see there's a SF and a MvC edition out, anyone know the differense? Or is the MvC version not out for the Xbox 360 anyway?

Also, 16 bucks, really? Woah that's cheap. Did you get it used? As a quick price check, I see it on Amazon for 30 dollars used, 60 new. I'm trying to see if I can buy it locally though.

About the silver 360 controller, what I read was that the d-pad got "sticky" after much use, and tends to stay repressed somewhat. But then again, it seemed all the people who complained about it had used that thing pretty hardcore lol.

The Wildfire 2 looks pretty slick and I may have to look into that one as well if I can't find the other one for a reasonable price.

[Royal Penis]

Isn't weird to do blocks/ex moves since the RT is a button on the fightpad instead of a trigger?

[Timberwolf]

Haha, I got beat by some guy I know I could take if only my moves would have worked. I messaged him asking what he used and he said the Mad Catz as well. I haven't seen him screw up anything during the fight Plus I read alot of good thing about it too.

Just to be clear, the fightPAD is a controller right? Y'know, since terms like those can confuse me xD I also see there's a SF and a MvC edition out, anyone know the differense? Or is the MvC version not out for the Xbox 360 anyway?

Also, 16 bucks, really? Woah that's cheap. Did you get it used? As a quick price check, I see it on Amazon for 30 dollars used, 60 new. I'm trying to see if I can buy it locally though.

About the silver 360 controller, what I read was that the d-pad got "sticky" after much use, and tends to stay repressed somewhat. But then again, it seemed all the people who complained about it had used that thing pretty hardcore lol.

The Wildfire 2 looks pretty slick and I may have to look into that one as well if I can't find the other one for a reasonable price.

Madcatz has several products, however their gamepad is called the "fight pad." they have two arcade stick models called "fightsticks" and these come in standard edition and tournament edition varieties. Fightpad is the cheapest, then the SE fightstick, and then the TE fightstick. The fightpad is a good entry level controller for fighters, and if you go on eBay you should be able to snag one brand new for around 20 bucks.

[Macros]

Isn't weird to do blocks/ex moves since the RT is a button on the fightpad instead of a trigger?

Good question, I never really thought about special moves. Block would just require some practice I guess, but how do you do Cage's flip kick for instance? You use two fingers or curl your hand or something? Or should I just set R2 to L2 in the menu?

Also, for some reason the Xbox 360 versions sell for around 40 bucks on ebay, while the PS3 version comes as cheap as 16 :S

[José Monzón]

I would suggest to get a EvilController plus evil-pad. (www.evilcontrollers.com). But it isn't cheap, 109$ . I think this modified standard controller is better because it's your regular controller with better analog and digital inputs and you can still use it for all your games. Same buttons, same all as your normal XBOX controller, but better d-pad and analog copied from PS dualshock (which I love). It is not a new controller, it's a xbox controller WITH replaced d-pad.

I've also seen they sell the cover and the d-pad! for around 20 bucks. You get the screw driver and you can replace it in your very own xbox original controller. Mmmm looks interesting.

I don't really know the manufacturer. I've order one recently and payed with paypal in case it's all a lie :P. So I cannot really tell you go for it because I haven't received it yet, but give me a couple of week (I'm european, it will take a while to get my order).

I've youtube'd it and all I saw were happy people.

I'm pretty sure, the top chart of MK online aren't using your average controller... they never miss a combo! And I want to kick their butts!!! hehehehe.

[DCR]

I would suggest to get a EvilController plus evil-pad. (www.evilcontrollers.com). But it isn't cheap, 109$ . I think this modified standard controller is better because it's your regular controller with better analog and digital inputs and you can still use it for all your games. Same buttons, same all as your normal XBOX controller, but better d-pad and analog copied from PS dualshock (which I love). It is not a new controller, it's a xbox controller WITH replaced d-pad.

What the hell, that is by far the craziest D-pad I've ever seen. Obviously I can't really judge it without playing it, but holy crap, good luck trying to play Street Fighter on that thing. Even an angled jump looks like it would be a total pain in the ass. I can't imagine that this was in any way created with fighting games in mind.

[Timberwolf]

What the hell, that is by far the craziest D-pad I've ever seen. Obviously I can't really judge it without playing it, but holy crap, good luck trying to play Street Fighter on that thing. Even an angled jump looks like it would be a total pain in the ass. I can't imagine that this was in any way created with fighting games in mind.

I've actually seen some good reviews for it, however I have not used it so I cannot judge for myself. I imagine that the D-pad is similar in some aspects to the Dualshock's "directional buttons," however the DS is technically a D-pad since it is still a rocker disc. The Evil D-pad may be adequate for Mortal Kombat, however as you said, Street Fighter would be a pain. Guile's Ultra is already nigh-impossible on a Dualshock, and on an Evil controller I'd wager it would not even be worth trying.

[Macros]

Still can't find a mad catz fightpad for a reasonable price that ships to the netherlands. If anyone knows where to find such a thing, I'd be much obliged. I don't usually buy stuff online so feel like I don't really know where to look lol. :/

Most of the ones I find through google are PS3 ones, and it's hard to find them under 40 bucks anyway. Since I keep seeing people mention they got it for like 20 bucks, I'd rather keep searching lol.

[severage]

I'm getting kind of sick of the standard Xbox 360 controller screwing up my special moves and combo's. Half the time I'm just kicking at thin air . I feel like I could be a way better player if I could just trust that whenever I input something, it will do what I want it to do. Sometimes when I play Sub Zero his slides don't come up, which is so frustrating because it just completely sets me up for losing when I'm locked out of using half the flexibility of a character.

I saw the Razer Onza controller in a store for a pretty cheap price. It looked like it had really good buttons, and a d-pad that is made up of different buttons (which should be good for MK right?). I have a Razer mouse for my computer and am very happy with it, but of course that says nothing about console hardware from the same publisher. After reading some reviews I'm not sure anymore. Many people mention that the d-pad is very sticky and the buttons are too big. So in short, it has very good accuracy, but not so good speed. It seems the stick is way better though, and is very accurate as well.

But, I just really want to know my options here. I don't want to pay alot of money for a controller or gamepad for a genre of games I may very well not like anymore after a while (MK9 is my first fighting game in years). I've also never used a gamepad and heard it takes some getting used to. Plus, I might prefer just getting a good all-around controller for other games as well. So lets say, a price range of 30-40 euros. What's my best option for that?

You say you saw an onza? I had one, and for the first month, it was amazing. I prefer the regular controller for FPS games, but for MK the razer onza (I was using the standard edition) is amazing. The d-pad is great, didnt have any problems with it. Unfortunately, after the first month, the right trigger just stopped working. Im getting it replaced though. I would really recommend it if you love this game to death like I do. Until I get my new one, I randomly jump in the air when I try to teleport with Scorpion......I hate the dpad on the normal one, so Im basically playing Bad company 2 whenever I have freetime

[Drexiel]

I'm using PDP's Versus Fightpad on my PS3 and it works awesome... first time I heard or used this controller was when the 360 VS FP came out (has a marvel design)... it's pretty good and every button in it is microswitch

[sans power]

The xbox transforming d-pad is ok, to me it actually is harder to perform moves because you have to really press down on the dpad. If I was you, I'd go with that cross dpad controller that person posted. It's really similar to the n64 dpad and n64 dpads were the 2nd best next to the PS dpad. That would probably be your best option, especially since MK specials aren't actually programmed as quarter-circles. For example Sub's freeze is down, forward, you can do a quarter-circle but the way it's actually programmed is down and forward. So, I'd recommend using a fightpad with a cross dpad.

Just my opinion

[Grew-Wolf]

Buy the new xbox controller with improved D-pad, the silver one
I pull all my beautiful combos with it

[Macros]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I've ordered myself a mad catz SSF fightpad. You all had some good suggestions, but for the xbox silverlight I just don't want to buy another standard controller since I already have a bunch lying around (normal ones, sure, but they work fine for any game except fighters). For the Razer Onza, I read too many stories about the controller having a malfunction after a few weeks/months. I also read a few about that on the mad catz fightpad, actually, but far from as many. And it really does seem like a better choice for just fighting games (which is all I really want it for). The Wildfire looks good, but not as high quality from what I can tell. Anyway, you can't keep putting off a decision, so I just went with what seemed best to me

Also, seems like a general stickied thread for which controllers/fightpad/fightsticks to buy would be useful since I've seen at least another thread pop up with someone asking the same question.

Edit: it may take a while for me receive it since I think they need to restock first (but was the same everywhere I looked anyway), but I'll be sure to post my thoughts about it then once I've played around with it for a while.

[3mag5num7]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I've ordered myself a mad catz SSF fightpad. You all had some good suggestions, but for the xbox silverlight I just don't want to buy another standard controller since I already have a bunch lying around (normal ones, sure, but they work fine for any game except fighters). For the Razer Onza, I read too many stories about the controller having a malfunction after a few weeks/months. I also read a few about that on the mad catz fightpad, actually, but far from as many. And it really does seem like a better choice for just fighting games (which is all I really want it for). The Wildfire looks good, but not as high quality from what I can tell. Anyway, you can't keep putting off a decision, so I just went with what seemed best to me

Also, seems like a general stickied thread for which controllers/fightpad/fightsticks to buy would be useful since I've seen at least another thread pop up with someone asking the same question.

Edit: it may take a while for me receive it since I think they need to restock first (but was the same everywhere I looked anyway), but I'll be sure to post my thoughts about it then once I've played around with it for a while.

Badass. I play on 360 too and have been considering picking one up from Amazon. Whenever you get it, I'd love to hear whatcha think. I'm starting to get more serious about fighting games and the P.O.S. D-Pad on the 360 controllers is a bit of a hindrance lol.