The Great Joystick Debate

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I’m aware there’s already a thread called this, but that’s about ball vs bat sticks. That’s a big debate in itself, but the debate I want here is about how we prefer our sticks to FEEL. There’s no right answer, so stay a while and have fun!

 

[SoThankful]

The N64/GameCube sticks are legendary. I would like to try the Neo Geo Pocket sometime.

 

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

NOTCHED STICK!

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Clicky sticks are all digital, but I'll still take a good arcade style stick over any analog ones. Playing games on an arcade stick just feels best.

 

[SliperyHippo]

While I don't think the pad sticks are "the best feeling - most accurate" sticks, I think they're a really cool way to reduce the footprint of older portable devices that I think we've lost in the age of the steam deck and ROG Ally and I wouldn't mind if a new portable came out that retained this older design.

 

[bjork]

You haven't truly played video games until you've experience the condom-free Atari skeleton

 

[Dyne]

View attachment 119047
You haven't truly played video games until you've experience the condom-free Atari skeleton

How lewd!

 

[Poppet]

There is something very satisfying to the notched controller, I think is the tiny clack-clack-clack noise it makes when you move it around.

Arcade sticks also feel stupidly amazing, I like the force it needs lol

 

[PhrawzT]

View attachment 119047
You haven't truly played video games until you've experience the condom-free Atari skeleton

That's all I had growing up as my dog chewed my original Atari controllers.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I'm weird but I prefer concave sticks (the padded ones) then followed by notched simply because of the thumb's adherence whereas smooth sticks are feeling like they'd accidentally make my fingers slip.

Clicky arcade sticks should be considered as a separate category simply because they're analog and better suited for arcade games like shmups and fighting games.

 

[PurpleShoes]

I have a NGPC and it's legendary. The stick on it actually feels a lot tighter than the Neo Geo CD Pad or Kidneybean stick. I only have like three games for the Pocket Color, most of the time it just gets used as a fidget toy haha. I want microswitches in everything, including D-pads.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

Notched Stick and Smooth Stick are nice but since I can't choose both I will have to choose the Smooth Stick mainly because it has a freer and more fluid mobility.

 

[Dodgykebaab]

When I hear "Joystick" I think of something along the lines of this:

But we seem to be talking about analouge sticks on joypads.

---

So best Joystick:

But best analouge stick:

 

[Mopeybloke]

Smoothsticks.

But also...

 

[MajesticSiN]

I've always preferred clicky sticks

 

[TallGrass]

I really enjoy the resistance-adjustable sticks on the Vader 4 Pro, it's pretty awesome being able to tailor resistance on a per-game basis for max precision vs smoothness.
I also have to agree with SliperyHippo on wanting to see more "slider"-style sticks on new devices. While having a full stick is good and all, it kills me seeing them on "pocketable" devices. Instantly negates the point of making a small handheld in my opinion.

 

[Lena CE]

The answer for me is really whatever the game in question is designed for. It's a cop out answer, but while the N64 gets a lot of flak, I absolutely love how N64 games feel on an N64 pad and they almost never feel quite right on any emulator (official or unofficial) using any other kind of controller. I guess broadly I prefer the standard "smooth" stick but I also adore the feel of clicky, mechanical sticks and games like Smash just never feel quite as fun on a non-notched stick.

 

[Allyourbased]

psp nub lovers rise up

 

[Badseed Badseed]

You know no one is picking this piece of crap

 

[Sonic Boomer]

I tried to find my Atari 2600 joysticks to show them in a video, my mom says we threw them away because I insisted we do since I hated them.
I never could play anything right with those things and the 2600+ Pacman edition came with one such joystick and even tho it's brand new, no. just no. I can't use it either.

as a kid I'd use my Atari 2600 Jr. controllers that had a dpad if you removed the plastic joystick bit and to this day I use those controllers for both the Atari 2600 and C64.

for the 2600+ I just use my wirless 7800+ controller and if I need more precision I just connect an original 2600 Jr. one.

As for Joysticks, I'd say only properly made, well made arcade sticks are acceptable for me, anything else is more trouble than worth.
Don't get me wrong I love arcade sticks

 

[Tetronomicon]

I'm gonna have to go with a notched stick. I like the eight cardinal direction spacing on those. Similar to an eight way arcade stick.

Interestingly enough, even though the Wii is my least favorite Nintendo console (I genuinely think the Virtual Boy is better :D), the Classic Controller Pro is probably my favorite controller just behind the Wii U Pro Controller (which is probably my favorite traditional analog stick controller as well).

PSP is my favorite pad stick and I can't really say anything about a click stick considering I've never used one (at least not for very long).

 

[ColonelKurtz]

I only play retro games with digital input so the NGPC/arcade style sticks are my ideal. I have all these retro handhelds and the analog sticks are all completely useless for me and just get in the way because mapping dpad input to an analog stick always feels awful.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

This?

It has a better grip to me.

 

[TheSoulWalker TheSoulWalker]

The Gamecube stick was so good that every fightstick I buy has to have it's square gate replaced by an OctoGate

 

[Graw]

I like the modern smooth analog sticks but the GameCube sticks were good too. The n64 sticks were absolute trash and probably the worst joysticks ever designed. I don't think I knew a single person who owned an n64 that didn't have at least one controller with a fucked up joystick. I don't really like the PSP style circle pad things very much either. I also find the big flight simulator style joysticks to be awkward to use.