The joypad companion to Madcatz Street Fighter IV themed joysticks, this pad inspired on the excellent Sega Saturn design of old does justice for fighting game fans that prefer a joypad over a joystick since the standard Xbox 360 pad is ill equipped to handle a fighting game. It's also an excellent alternative for those who want to be competitive, but are held back by a budget that does not allow a fancy joystick.
If you've ever played games on a Sega Saturn, or if you've ever held the 6-button Sega Genesis Control Pad, then this pad is going to look and feel like an old friend. Back during its time, the Sega Saturn was a dream console for fans of Capcom's 6-button fighters due to its 2-D performance and its controller configuration, which was ideally suited for those titles. Thus, when Madcatz set off to design their pad alternative to a joystick and the woes of Street Fighter players on consoles with less than ideal standard controllers, they looked to the Saturn and came up with this very well designed pad.
Holding it for the first time is a pleasant feeling. It feels extremely light, thus it is possible to hold it on the left hand alone so the right hand can hover on top of the buttons, allowing it to hit more than one button at once should it be necessary (such as pressing Y and B at the same time to activate a Focus Attack in Street Fighter IV with the default control layout). The oversized buttons also help with that goal. There are no analog controls of any kind on this pad. Madcatz' goal with it was to create a fully digital pad for games that didn't require analog control, so both analog sticks and the triggers are gone. In place of the triggers, the pad features two bumper-like buttons. Interestingly, when choosing the six button layout, Madcatz decided to place both the right bumper and the right trigger on the face of the pad, so the bumpers are left trigger and left bumper from a default controller, which is odd, but it does fit the default configuration scheme in Street Fighter IV. The back of the pad is a rubber mat that feels comfortable to hold, and even though it is not as curved as the pads that inspired, it still feels comfortable to hold.
The raised directional pad at the left raised some concerns with me at first. Instead of a recessed pad like those found on a Nintendo or Sony product, it is a raised, oversized disc that feels floaty and gave the impression that it may take a little getting used to. Thankfully, extended use of it corrected that first impression, as it has turned out to be a very precise input device. Not as good as a joystick, which is my preferrence, but I can see how pad fans can really enjoy it.
The Xbox Guide button is set at the bottom middle of the pad, where it is mostly safe from accidental access. The Back and Start buttons flank it, and there's a "Turbo" button left of the back button to activate the Rapid Fire mode. There's also a little light right of the start button to serve as a visual cue related to the Turbo button activation. It's not as effective as the lights in the Fightstick in this function, but that's the sacrifice they chose to make to keep the feature in its smaller form factor.