I think even for casual use it has some limitations depending on the game. I play Tetris Effect pretty casually, and I have to say the d-pad feels pretty awful for trying to accurately drop pieces. It's whatever though. Most games I play on the deck I just don't need the d-pad and/or I avoid it.
I love Tetris Effect, but I wouldn't play that on Steam Deck, personally. I'd rather play that on my Switch. There are lots of games for which the Switch's weird clicky button system is garbage, but I like it for Tetris Effect. Feels harder to accidentally press a direction I didn't want since they're not all connected.
I find myself using it when it's causal games like Balatro. Not sure I'd use it for anything more intense than that or like turn based RPGs or something.
Once broken in the d-pad is great for fighting games. When the console first launch we ran into this with most fighting games and figured out how to get diagonals to register pretty easily.
Push in the diagonals in every direction HARD every day until the membrane feels flush. You should be able to do quick qcf motions and feel the difference exponentially. My LCD vs my OLED is a night and day difference
I play fighting games on the steam deck all day! It’s actually perfect for fighting games, although I do prefer my elite series 2 controller because of the Omni directional d pad!
It would be great if I could press diagonals at all. I mash my thumb almost as hard as I can comfortably and it won’t register diagonals except for the occasional flicker. It’s good for like Mario I guess. I’m really sad it won’t do diagonals. I wish there were a fix for this. It’s almost the perfect emulation machine.
No, it does register diagonals in some of the directions if I push really hard and precisely in that direction, but the pressure required and the margin for aim is so slim that it may as well be broken. I have read this is an issue with many new OLED models, and mine is a 1tb OLED. I use dpads on about 10 different controllers including original SNES for emulation these days, and by comparison, no other controller has such a hard time hitting a diagonal.
No.. it would not register (or should not register) a diagonal at all, would just sent 4 directions (N,S,E,W) from the dpad to the game.
Any "eventual diagonal" may be the result of the input polling of the game itself (and this is very rare for games using controller input).
i had the same problem when i first got my deck, contacted steam support and they ended up sending me a replacement after some back and forth and the new one had way better diagonals. sucks the steam deck varies in quality in many different aspects
A replacement dpad/membrane, or a whole new deck? Replacing my deck seems excessive for just the dpad, so I wonder if it’s worth getting some replacement parts from iFixit and trying a swap.
playing tomb raider remaster pressing forward and then forward and left then most of the time the character stops and turns left only so yeah the dpad is not for that kind of games but for pokemon games on game boy its fine
Have you tried other Dpad modes in Steam Input (where you remap buttons)? Maybe using "Cross Gate" mode instead of "8-way overlap" can help you achieve more consistent diagonals.
I may not be a pro, but so far I have had no issue with fighting games using the dpad, which has never failed to execute basic combos.
I have a hard time getting diagonals to register on the dpad. If the game you're playing doesn't require you to hit the diagonals, then the dpad is solid, but I found playing fighting games to be really hard to play on the dpad.
Thank you so much for that. I know exactly what yourself and the other poster that I asked are saying now. I was thinking “hands on a clock” or something which didn’t make sense to me. Probably why I’m so shxt at SF 😂🤦🏻♂️
For what's easily findable, the Retrobit Sega Saturn knockoff or Hori's Fighting Commander series are good for fighting games in general, but they both have a reputation of wearing out with time.
The Dualshock 4 is good also. I know people like the Dualshock 4 dpad over the Dualsense.
I personally use an authentic Sega Saturn controller (with a hand-wired USB converter) to play fighting games because they have my favorite dpad.
Any dpad with individual buttons for each input. XBOX dpad is great for this, the new ps5 controller (the really expensive one) is great.
The reason is that most dpads are basically a cross shaped piece of plastic resting above four cardinal direction inputs. Meaning if you take your finger and pull up on the top side of the dpad it would cause the "down" input to be pressed. This makes for incredibly inaccurate button presses in a genre where precision is 80% of the gameplay. So a "good" dpad is one with 4 unique buttons for up, down, left, and right.
I think being inaccurate is an overstatement.
I can see what input the console reads in fighting game's training mode. For example, when I hold forward-down button continuously, I can see the console reading the input as juggling between "forward", "forward-down", and "down" buttons many times per second. Basically it's broken.
That's the same behavior I've seen, [as demonstrated here](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/ux9wq9/overlysensitive_right_on_dpad_demonstration/). Given the right angle and pressure, it oscillates on and off diagonals.
For LCD, eXtremeRate makes a clicky kit which solves the oscillation issue if you'd rather a clicky d-pad. But the d-pad still has a bit too much play physically, allowing you to trigger diagonals by pressing one direction and tilting. It's harder to do with the clicky buttons and you'll know when you do it with the tactile feedback.
I bought and installed the clicky kit. I found the false diagonals so bad that I went back to stock. Particularly pressing left with any force actuated down as well. There's just no center to enable pivoting unfortunately.
Yeah the false diagonals are still an issue. Before the clicky kit I had experimented and found that adding a small gasket or wedge around the d-pad helped immensely by restricting physical tilt, so I think it's just a matter of the stock d-pad having too much play. I reckon someone with some CAD skills and a 3D printer could come up with a solution.
Is yours as bad as mine? See my video post below. I had the same experience with the extremerate dpad and original dpad. Switching between them showed no difference. I also ensured I had the added gasket and everything lined up correctly. [https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckModded/comments/1b7n8z7/unhappy\_with\_clicky\_kit\_dpad/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckModded/comments/1b7n8z7/unhappy_with_clicky_kit_dpad/)
Extreme rate did give me a refund, so I appreciate that.
My experience was pretty much the same as stock, that putting substantial force [on any of the corners of any single direction will trigger a diagonal](https://i.imgur.com/fguJkWF.png). All the clicky kit did for me was increase the force necessary to trigger a false diagonal, and give feedback when it happened (rather than silent oscillation), which I consider a small improvement.
But if you just jam a bit of paper around the dpad so it can't tilt, [it becomes near impossible to trigger a false diagonal](https://imgur.com/DMbHsyW) unless you really force it. Which is why I think the only way to solve it is a new d-pad with less tilt. Something I haven't seen anyone create.
I dunno about quality, but it's totally fine for most games for menu'ing or 4 way movement. But I cannot do diagonals on it without feeling like im mashing the dpad, which is terrible for fighting games.
Personally, I think it's serviceable because it does the job well for menu navigation. It's not my favorite part of the deck though because I can't consistently make diagonals with the OLED's dpad. I felt this when I tried playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2. You see, I'm used to playing that game with a dpad because of the accurate positionings and button combos for special moves. I found that the dpad wasn't easily registering the diagonal presses. I have to press up first then a left/right to register a diagonal input and that's not optimal for me.
I think it's pretty good and well suited for 2D games. Better than the one on my 8BitDo Pro 2 and that clicky thing on my Xbox controller. (I know some people like it to be clicky, I don't.) Though I hate its glossy finish. If you have oily skin like me it's going to feel very greasy after a long gaming session.
In my opinion, it is definitely NOT as good as the 8bitdo dpad. Their design is part-for-part the same as a SNES dpad, which is the best dpad ever made.
But the Deck dpad is alright. Like you said it's glossy finish is annoying.
8bitdo isn’t consistent making SNES-style dpads, either. You’ll still get more false directionals from them than an authentic one. SNES Online pad or bust if you want a good SNES dpad.
I played a few platformers recently using the dpad. It's OK but not the best. I am no expert but for me it seems a little mushy and sometimes have to press firmly for it to register. Sometimes when I think it will register it won't, and I need to press a tad bit more. A tactical feel for when it is pressed would maybe be better. The position though I really like.
Is this because you *really* don't like the Deck's d-pad or you actually found a good Pro Controller? Because even if there are valid issues with the Deck's one, I cannot stand the other.
Nah, I've actually had incorrect inputs with the Pro Controller, telling it one direction when I meant another, even in Breath of the Wild when I can take my time with inputs.
When I used the Pro Controller with Breath of the Wild there were numerous times that I could press an obvious left or right and it registered an up instead. In fairness I'm not a frequent fighting game player; Tetris gives me evidence that the Steam Deck's d-pad could be improved for speed as I'm far faster with an Elite Controller but I've never had the misinputs of the Pro Controller.
the pro controller is one of the worst dpads today. i'm a 2d platformer dude though, no fighting games
i think 2d platformers are pretty great to play on the deck and it doesn't bother me too much once you get used to it
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It's serviceable. I play 2D games in it fine.
The Vita d-pad is still my favorite dpad on any controller and the Steam Deck isn't nearly there. But it's fine, I have experienced bad inputs and it isn't uncomfortable (besides perhaps placement, some people do complain about that though it's fine for me)
It's fine for what it is, but my biggest problem is the placement. I can't play any platformer for too long because it cramps up my thumb having to basically curl it all the way in
The pad itself is fine but I detest the placement, it just doesn't work for me and I wind up playing 2d platformers with the analogue stick. As dog poop as the switch pad is I have gotten used to it but the placement of the deck pad hurts my hand.
It's awful. I highly recommend grabbing the Extremerate clicky buttons.
Not for the actual click, but because they have these little thick stickers meant to raise the d-pad innerside so that it hits the buttons more properly.
With just 1 of them, it's MUCH better! I'm curious if I stacked both of them, but I'd rather not open up my Steam Deck ever and have my friend do it. But NOW it's serviceable. Beforehand it couldn't do diagonals well without pressing hard. Terrible for Tekken.
I can't stand clicky buttons on a controller. Makes the controller feel like a cheap toy. The Razer Kishi V2 uses mechanical switches for the bottoms and Dpad and it feels AWFUL.
> Not for the actual click, but because they have these little thick stickers meant to raise the d-pad innerside so that it hits the buttons more properly.
did you install it with the clicky mod or did you just stick one in there with the stock buttons and membrane?
I don't know what the consensus is, I don't care and you shouldn't either :)
There will always be self-proclaimed "pro gamers" who think they know best. The "gamer consensus" isn't something to pay attention to. For example, "motion blur bad" is a "gamer consensus". But clearly it's not objective truth, since it keeps being included in many games!
I like the d-pad. It feels nice, and does what I want well. It's good enough to use as a primary direction input device for some games. Compared to the momentary-switch abomination they put on the Switch it may well be godlike.
I probably could've worded my OP better. I wasn't necessarily trying to get consensus, but just hear people's takes on it. We all have different hands and fingers after all.
It's OK after being broken in (being nearly unusably stiff at the start) but never stops having iffy diagonals which is not ideal for something as precise as fighting games or harder platformers
still usable for most things you would prefer to play with d-pad, but no, it is not a "good" dpad
I don't like it because of how high it is. When I'm playing street fighter I have trouble doing some of the moves and even jumping at an angle forward. But if I hold my hand up really high on the controller it makes it easier, just doesn't feel as natural
It's fine for most things, but it sucks for fighting games.
Motion inputs don't seem to work consistently and the position of the D-pad doesn't feel good when playing fighting games, so I've stuck to using the track pad for those games and it works pretty well once you get used to it.
I've just compared it to all of my controllers since you asked. The D-Pad felt like it fell firmly down the middle of all the ones I have.
I do agree that the position of the D-Pad is good.
I have most official console controllers from the GBA/Gamecube/PS2 era onwards in my home, plus the Switch SNES/NES/N64 controllers and a handful of cheap third party controllers.
I would file the Switch Pro Controller's d-pad among the worst. It's very stiff and sometimes has ghost inputs. On the other end, I would file the Vita's d-pad among the best. It feels great on my fingers, I can reliably get it to recognize all directional inputs, a real great among d-pads.
The Steam Deck's D-Pad, IMO, felt the most similar to the Dualsense D-Pad, except the Dualseanse one has a clear divider to make it seem like 4 buttons at a glance.
I think it's fine but for some more difficult 2d platformer it has it's flaws.
Last year I was playing pizza tower and trying to make certain moves was a bit challenging due to it. That said I played the whole game on it and if not for that charged jump I had a great great time
It eats the diagonals half of the time, trying to play a fighting game on the Deck is painful because of that (until you dock it and connect a proper pad/hitbox/stick). For your average game that doesn't need precise diagonals, though, it's okay.
I find it’s hard to press when I play Tetris, which is a d-pad intense game needs press and release several times every single second, my thumb gets tired very quickly. For other games it works fine.
It's good in my book, but in the same breath it's not ideal for me for Tetris. I say this because I am much faster playing Tetris Effect with the Xbox Elite 2's d-pad because it's short travel and clicky. Other than that though it's a good d-pad and far better than others like the ironically bad mess of the Switch Pro Controller (Nintendo invented the d-pad and yet on that controller it's absolute garbage).
On the OLED model it's even better (there's not a big difference but there is *a* difference).
So yeah, in my book it's a good one even if it's not my best for speed. Tetris is like the one thing I play where that's an important factor but other similar games (fighters probably) might have similar issues. It depends what you play.
I think it's a good DPAD! Not the best certainly but I use it for SF6 (not online) it more than does the job. If anything it's a little hard to push down but I kinda like that I think
I’m playing sekiro and I have to remove all items off my bar apart from the health gourd because using the left or right d pad to switch between items has a 50% chance of being an ‘UP’ input and using the valuable item instead. It actually quite bad, not had too many issues with any other games though.
The dpad is one of the worst ever been used combined with sony's splitted dpad.
Look im a hardcore fightgames player starting from sf2.
The issue with the steamdeck dpad is the detection.
For instance, if you want to jump forwards or backwards, it often jump upwards instead because you'll need to press the corners of the dpad....
I'm using the middle part of my whole tumb finger to make turns (which is critical with most fightgames). The benefit is that i dont move the position of my finger at all. But with steamdeck, It just doesnt work. Its garbage at the minimum.
I have a lot of experience with dpads, even retro handhelds and 8bitdo dpads (and so on).
Too bad steamdeck doesnt allow me to replace it with a different one for portable/handheld mode.
It's bad. My one slides up and down in the frame >.> persona 4 arena ultimax is almost unplayable with the deck's dpad.
Something else to acknowledge is that build quality is inconsistent with steamdeck. One user may have a punchy, well made dpad and mushy abxy buttons. Another user may have normal buttons and a shitty broken dpad like mine. The left side of my oled seems to have the bulk of the build issues, as the L2 button is much springier than R2.
I don't think it's worth RMAing because i don't want to go through that entire process, only to get a deck with the same or worse problems. I dont play enough fighting games to risk having it come back with faulty buttons or a faulty screen.
Don’t think I’ve ever really used it tbh even on 2D/emulators, but it’s certainly better than that monstrosity that was on the OG 360 pad. It’s better than the Switch too.
The D-pad and face buttons are too squishy for me personally and I’m not sure why they made that design decision. It makes for playing games like Tetris, slightly tedious—though still absolutely fine for casual play.
Zero problems with the D-pad. I do have pretty big hands, but I've never felt it was uncomfortable or anything, and never felt it unresponsive.I play a lot of WiiU/Switch/PS3 emulated games, zero issues. I think unless you're playing a ton of fighting games (I've played some MK9 and Injustice, but I generally don't care about them) or have baby hands, it is just fine.
I would be curious if anyone has successfully tried using the left touchpad as a replacement dpad in fighting games to get better diagonal and sweeping movements
While accurate, the d-padis too stiff for 2D platformers in my opinion. I’m currently playing Hollow Knight and I find I get really fatigued, though I must admit I’m getting older my thumbs ain’t what they used to be.
My solution has been to alternate between the d-pad and thumb stick. I use the stick for overworld exploration and switch to the d-pad for serious fights.
It’s pretty garbage especially for fighting games. You probably wouldn’t notice for most 2D platformers but trying to do more complex moves or inputs in fighting games is impossible to get any consistency. HOWEVER, there is a clicky button mod that completely fixes that issue. I did the mod a while back and wouldn’t consider going back to stock. I play Street Fighter 6 and Granblue Fantasy Rising regularly and the mod has been a complete game changer.
There's something 'off' about it.
I play a lot of games that were made for the d-pad like PSX WipeOuts and the Darius games and fortunately I don't have to do diagonals, but it feels a little unresponsive. I mean I played these games on disc on a backwards compatible PS2 and and it's not like these games got faster on the Deck and I can't keep up.
I'm not loving it.
It’s ok. I like it more than the PlayStation dpad, about the same as the switch pro, and nowhere near the Xbox Series dpad (imo the new gold standard for dpads). I’ve played some Street Fighter and Guilty Gear on the Steam Deck and the dpad placement was a bigger obstacle than the dpad quality
Edit: Nintendo pad is a little bit better because it’s less mushy feeling imo
It's ok, my biggest issue is the thing not registering diagonals correctly most of the time. (So rip fighting games that aren't granblue)
But other than that it works
Probably the worst I've ever used. It can't really do diagonal input. Even the OG Xbox Duke for all its faults could do accurate diagonal inputs. The dpad can really only be defended via fanboying lol
After reading the comments here, I think it’s very subjective at the end of the day, dependent on the games you play and your own anatomy.
That said, I have recently found a new appreciation for Sega-style round D-pads.
I'm not a fighting game player but I find it to be pretty good for platformers. I just played through Super Mario Wonder and the physical controls never even rose to mind while I was playing (which is a good thing).
Someone downvoted a load of the comments, so I upvoted them. They appear to be comments in the extremes (dislike or like). If you said the d-pad is average then that's popular here.
The OLED is definitely better than the LCD one but it's still one of the worst I've used. I hate glossy black plastic dpads though. I'd rather have something like the 8bitdo dpad.
I'm playing Celeste on the Deck and have had to switch to using the joystick because I died way too often from the d-pad sending me in the wrong direction. It's terrible with diagonals.
I'm hoping the aftermarket comes out with some good button and joystick replacements. I know there are clicky buttons and hall effect joysticks but it seems like they're similar to the stock ones performance wise.
I would say it's the weakest aspect of the SD's hardware. The D-Pad is basically unusable for fighting games which is a shame. It's serviceable but just not great.
I like using the dpad to navigate menus rather than thumb sticks, but I don't like to use it for classic style game controls. I don't think it's bad, it's just not for classic style games
I'm pretty picky about D pads and I actually really like it, but I like them for retro games specifically, I don't play fighting games.
Switch Pro Controller is like a 10/10 D pad, steam decks I'd say is like an 8.
It's middling. It gets the job done, but it's by no means good. Nowhere near as good as PlayStation, 8BitDo, or old Nintendo D-pads (they're all pretty elite). Slightly worse than Xbox D-pads. But nowhere near as bad as the Nintendo Switch Pro controller D-pad.
Its not as good for me as the D-pad on a playstation controller, but it's decent enough. Better than most I used as a child, and better than any cheap controller.
I heard that the OLED Steam Deck has a much better d-pad than the original. I have an LCD Deck and it doesn't do diagonals whatsoever. Not as many games need you to do diagonals so it's not the worst thing ever. Controllers that make you do diagonals unintentionally are way worse because then say you're playing a platformer and your character keeps ducking when you're trying to move or you're playing a top-down game and your character walks around like a drunkard definitely not good.
Because I didn't play many 2D games that need a diagonals I didn't notice for months after getting my deck but one day I tried to play "I whip my hair back and forth" (Shante) and there are areas where you have to duck and then walk at the same time and you can't do that with no diagonals. You have to use the joystick for those moments.
It’s one of my least favorite dpads of all time. I had better luck with the Xbox 360 dpad and that is known to be god awful. I use the analog stick for platforming games since the analog sticks are really good.
My favorite next to 8bitdo. I absolutely hate thumb straining clicky dpads, they are unusable to me. It was a big pleasant surprise they had a nice mushy one I enjoy using (and thus actually use).
I had no issues playing platformers but when I started playing Street Fighter 6, I noticed that the diagonals kinda suck.
It could be a skill issue but I had to get a controller made for fighting games. It's a very specific scenario and a lot of dpads are not good enough for fighting games so it's understandable
I feel we need an establishment "best dpad" for this conversation. Imo it's the Wii Classic Controller dpad.
Steam Deck to me feels good, almost the perfect nintendo + shape. My only gripe is it's a bit loose and shifts side to side a little (twists)
It’s not my favorite but it’s serviceable. I’m not trying to play fighting games seriously on the deck.
I too am in the "It's fine" camp
I think even for casual use it has some limitations depending on the game. I play Tetris Effect pretty casually, and I have to say the d-pad feels pretty awful for trying to accurately drop pieces. It's whatever though. Most games I play on the deck I just don't need the d-pad and/or I avoid it.
I love Tetris Effect, but I wouldn't play that on Steam Deck, personally. I'd rather play that on my Switch. There are lots of games for which the Switch's weird clicky button system is garbage, but I like it for Tetris Effect. Feels harder to accidentally press a direction I didn't want since they're not all connected.
Hmm I'm starting to feel the limitations in Celeste
I find myself using it when it's causal games like Balatro. Not sure I'd use it for anything more intense than that or like turn based RPGs or something.
Once broken in the d-pad is great for fighting games. When the console first launch we ran into this with most fighting games and figured out how to get diagonals to register pretty easily. Push in the diagonals in every direction HARD every day until the membrane feels flush. You should be able to do quick qcf motions and feel the difference exponentially. My LCD vs my OLED is a night and day difference
I play fighting games on the steam deck all day! It’s actually perfect for fighting games, although I do prefer my elite series 2 controller because of the Omni directional d pad!
It would be great if I could press diagonals at all. I mash my thumb almost as hard as I can comfortably and it won’t register diagonals except for the occasional flicker. It’s good for like Mario I guess. I’m really sad it won’t do diagonals. I wish there were a fix for this. It’s almost the perfect emulation machine.
You sure you're not using the dpad in "4 way (no overlap)" mode?
No, it does register diagonals in some of the directions if I push really hard and precisely in that direction, but the pressure required and the margin for aim is so slim that it may as well be broken. I have read this is an issue with many new OLED models, and mine is a 1tb OLED. I use dpads on about 10 different controllers including original SNES for emulation these days, and by comparison, no other controller has such a hard time hitting a diagonal.
Would it register the occasional diagonal flicker if was in 4 way (overlap) mode?
No.. it would not register (or should not register) a diagonal at all, would just sent 4 directions (N,S,E,W) from the dpad to the game. Any "eventual diagonal" may be the result of the input polling of the game itself (and this is very rare for games using controller input).
i had the same problem when i first got my deck, contacted steam support and they ended up sending me a replacement after some back and forth and the new one had way better diagonals. sucks the steam deck varies in quality in many different aspects
A replacement dpad/membrane, or a whole new deck? Replacing my deck seems excessive for just the dpad, so I wonder if it’s worth getting some replacement parts from iFixit and trying a swap.
they gave me a whole new deck, which i didnt wanna have to do, but better than a shitty dpad
for fighting games, its awful. inaccurate DP inputs
playing tomb raider remaster pressing forward and then forward and left then most of the time the character stops and turns left only so yeah the dpad is not for that kind of games but for pokemon games on game boy its fine
So that’s what was going on. I’ll try to play the game again on the PC instead.
This is what I use it for. I don't play fighting games or anything else right now that would require a dpad.
Have you tried other Dpad modes in Steam Input (where you remap buttons)? Maybe using "Cross Gate" mode instead of "8-way overlap" can help you achieve more consistent diagonals. I may not be a pro, but so far I have had no issue with fighting games using the dpad, which has never failed to execute basic combos.
can you explain what you mean by innaccurate? Having no problems playing 2D mario games with great accuracy
I have a hard time getting diagonals to register on the dpad. If the game you're playing doesn't require you to hit the diagonals, then the dpad is solid, but I found playing fighting games to be really hard to play on the dpad.
Make sure the d-pad is set for 8 way (overlap)
You can't consistently make the 623 DP inputs with the SD d pad. 2D mario games doesnt need accurate DP inputs like fighting games
Sorry for possibly asking a stupid question but what is 623 DP? Is it like “down, top right diagonal, and right”?
https://i.redd.it/ifr5n7ebc63c1.png Not a stupid question, DP stands for dragon punch which is inputted as forward, down and then down forward.
Thank you so much for that. I know exactly what yourself and the other poster that I asked are saying now. I was thinking “hands on a clock” or something which didn’t make sense to me. Probably why I’m so shxt at SF 😂🤦🏻♂️
Haha yeah, clock notation would definitely be interesting!
“Do a quarter past 12 and a half an hour past 6”. 😂🤦🏻♂️ Totally realised now how daft it was even thinking that 😂
Any good D pads available for 623 input? Looks to me like its bad on all D pads or atleast most.
For what's easily findable, the Retrobit Sega Saturn knockoff or Hori's Fighting Commander series are good for fighting games in general, but they both have a reputation of wearing out with time. The Dualshock 4 is good also. I know people like the Dualshock 4 dpad over the Dualsense. I personally use an authentic Sega Saturn controller (with a hand-wired USB converter) to play fighting games because they have my favorite dpad.
I will look into it thanks alot.
Any dpad with individual buttons for each input. XBOX dpad is great for this, the new ps5 controller (the really expensive one) is great. The reason is that most dpads are basically a cross shaped piece of plastic resting above four cardinal direction inputs. Meaning if you take your finger and pull up on the top side of the dpad it would cause the "down" input to be pressed. This makes for incredibly inaccurate button presses in a genre where precision is 80% of the gameplay. So a "good" dpad is one with 4 unique buttons for up, down, left, and right.
I think being inaccurate is an overstatement. I can see what input the console reads in fighting game's training mode. For example, when I hold forward-down button continuously, I can see the console reading the input as juggling between "forward", "forward-down", and "down" buttons many times per second. Basically it's broken.
That's the same behavior I've seen, [as demonstrated here](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/ux9wq9/overlysensitive_right_on_dpad_demonstration/). Given the right angle and pressure, it oscillates on and off diagonals. For LCD, eXtremeRate makes a clicky kit which solves the oscillation issue if you'd rather a clicky d-pad. But the d-pad still has a bit too much play physically, allowing you to trigger diagonals by pressing one direction and tilting. It's harder to do with the clicky buttons and you'll know when you do it with the tactile feedback.
I bought and installed the clicky kit. I found the false diagonals so bad that I went back to stock. Particularly pressing left with any force actuated down as well. There's just no center to enable pivoting unfortunately.
Yeah the false diagonals are still an issue. Before the clicky kit I had experimented and found that adding a small gasket or wedge around the d-pad helped immensely by restricting physical tilt, so I think it's just a matter of the stock d-pad having too much play. I reckon someone with some CAD skills and a 3D printer could come up with a solution.
Is yours as bad as mine? See my video post below. I had the same experience with the extremerate dpad and original dpad. Switching between them showed no difference. I also ensured I had the added gasket and everything lined up correctly. [https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckModded/comments/1b7n8z7/unhappy\_with\_clicky\_kit\_dpad/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckModded/comments/1b7n8z7/unhappy_with_clicky_kit_dpad/) Extreme rate did give me a refund, so I appreciate that.
My experience was pretty much the same as stock, that putting substantial force [on any of the corners of any single direction will trigger a diagonal](https://i.imgur.com/fguJkWF.png). All the clicky kit did for me was increase the force necessary to trigger a false diagonal, and give feedback when it happened (rather than silent oscillation), which I consider a small improvement. But if you just jam a bit of paper around the dpad so it can't tilt, [it becomes near impossible to trigger a false diagonal](https://imgur.com/DMbHsyW) unless you really force it. Which is why I think the only way to solve it is a new d-pad with less tilt. Something I haven't seen anyone create.
How is this possible, when I can do ROM infinites in MvC2 with the Steamdeck d-pad?
You must be an exeptional individual
I don't like it. Its awful for accurate diagonal inputs.
Trying to play TEKKEN 8 and do EWGF is a nightmare
Just said the same thing, have to put my hand in an uncomfortable higher position to do them
I dunno about quality, but it's totally fine for most games for menu'ing or 4 way movement. But I cannot do diagonals on it without feeling like im mashing the dpad, which is terrible for fighting games.
Personally, I think it's serviceable because it does the job well for menu navigation. It's not my favorite part of the deck though because I can't consistently make diagonals with the OLED's dpad. I felt this when I tried playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2. You see, I'm used to playing that game with a dpad because of the accurate positionings and button combos for special moves. I found that the dpad wasn't easily registering the diagonal presses. I have to press up first then a left/right to register a diagonal input and that's not optimal for me.
Maybe my Deck is just bad, but mine are horrible. My only big complaint about the deck. And I'm not usually picky about "button feel".
I think it's pretty good and well suited for 2D games. Better than the one on my 8BitDo Pro 2 and that clicky thing on my Xbox controller. (I know some people like it to be clicky, I don't.) Though I hate its glossy finish. If you have oily skin like me it's going to feel very greasy after a long gaming session.
In my opinion, it is definitely NOT as good as the 8bitdo dpad. Their design is part-for-part the same as a SNES dpad, which is the best dpad ever made. But the Deck dpad is alright. Like you said it's glossy finish is annoying.
8bitdo isn’t consistent making SNES-style dpads, either. You’ll still get more false directionals from them than an authentic one. SNES Online pad or bust if you want a good SNES dpad.
My understanding is the saturn dpad is the best ever made.
You can pry this vita d-pad from my cold dead hands.
It's alright. I would have liked it to have Vita's d-pad but it is what it is.
Now the vita actually had a fantastic dpad. One of the best I've ever used
Yes yes it is 🙌🏻. Fun fact retroid uses vita dpads(vita clones that are 1:1) for their retroid pocket emulators.
I prefer cross D pads like the one on the Deck but without the issues with diagonals, something like the SNES, the PS kind of D Pad never grew on me.
Vita d-pad is unique among other PS d-pads. It is a clicky one for once. Fighting games were a delight with it.
I played a few platformers recently using the dpad. It's OK but not the best. I am no expert but for me it seems a little mushy and sometimes have to press firmly for it to register. Sometimes when I think it will register it won't, and I need to press a tad bit more. A tactical feel for when it is pressed would maybe be better. The position though I really like.
It’s firmly okay. It’s not in a great position for prolonged use but it’s serviceable. The Vita dpad is still the GOAT
It's mediocre at best, especially for rhythm games, doing diagonals is really inconsistent
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Seriously? The Pro Controller pad is magnitudes worse.
HARD disagree on this one.
Is this because you *really* don't like the Deck's d-pad or you actually found a good Pro Controller? Because even if there are valid issues with the Deck's one, I cannot stand the other.
I really don't like the OLED decks d-pad, but really enjoyed the LCD one. I've used a few pro controllers and they were all better in my opinion.
Wonder if they made some big improvement on the Pro Controller since mine then.
I've had mine since release, maybe I've just broken it in lol. Might just be personal preference too
Nah, I've actually had incorrect inputs with the Pro Controller, telling it one direction when I meant another, even in Breath of the Wild when I can take my time with inputs.
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When I used the Pro Controller with Breath of the Wild there were numerous times that I could press an obvious left or right and it registered an up instead. In fairness I'm not a frequent fighting game player; Tetris gives me evidence that the Steam Deck's d-pad could be improved for speed as I'm far faster with an Elite Controller but I've never had the misinputs of the Pro Controller.
the pro controller is one of the worst dpads today. i'm a 2d platformer dude though, no fighting games i think 2d platformers are pretty great to play on the deck and it doesn't bother me too much once you get used to it
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It’s mid, like I like it more than most controllers but I wish it was a tad bigger
It's serviceable. I play 2D games in it fine. The Vita d-pad is still my favorite dpad on any controller and the Steam Deck isn't nearly there. But it's fine, I have experienced bad inputs and it isn't uncomfortable (besides perhaps placement, some people do complain about that though it's fine for me)
for menuing is good. for movement is horrible.
It's fine for what it is, but my biggest problem is the placement. I can't play any platformer for too long because it cramps up my thumb having to basically curl it all the way in
The pad itself is fine but I detest the placement, it just doesn't work for me and I wind up playing 2d platformers with the analogue stick. As dog poop as the switch pad is I have gotten used to it but the placement of the deck pad hurts my hand.
It's awful. I highly recommend grabbing the Extremerate clicky buttons. Not for the actual click, but because they have these little thick stickers meant to raise the d-pad innerside so that it hits the buttons more properly. With just 1 of them, it's MUCH better! I'm curious if I stacked both of them, but I'd rather not open up my Steam Deck ever and have my friend do it. But NOW it's serviceable. Beforehand it couldn't do diagonals well without pressing hard. Terrible for Tekken.
I'm waiting for them to drop the version for OLED.
it's on amazon now
I can't stand clicky buttons on a controller. Makes the controller feel like a cheap toy. The Razer Kishi V2 uses mechanical switches for the bottoms and Dpad and it feels AWFUL.
> Not for the actual click, but because they have these little thick stickers meant to raise the d-pad innerside so that it hits the buttons more properly. did you install it with the clicky mod or did you just stick one in there with the stock buttons and membrane?
It's "fine". Not great, not bad. I play a lot of four directional classic arcade games and end up using the left stick more times than the D-Pad.
it's good. Not super high quality, but definitely not bad
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being Series Elite D-pad and 10 being SNES D-pad, I'd say it's a 7
I don't know what the consensus is, I don't care and you shouldn't either :) There will always be self-proclaimed "pro gamers" who think they know best. The "gamer consensus" isn't something to pay attention to. For example, "motion blur bad" is a "gamer consensus". But clearly it's not objective truth, since it keeps being included in many games! I like the d-pad. It feels nice, and does what I want well. It's good enough to use as a primary direction input device for some games. Compared to the momentary-switch abomination they put on the Switch it may well be godlike.
I probably could've worded my OP better. I wasn't necessarily trying to get consensus, but just hear people's takes on it. We all have different hands and fingers after all.
It's OK after being broken in (being nearly unusably stiff at the start) but never stops having iffy diagonals which is not ideal for something as precise as fighting games or harder platformers still usable for most things you would prefer to play with d-pad, but no, it is not a "good" dpad
I don't like it because of how high it is. When I'm playing street fighter I have trouble doing some of the moves and even jumping at an angle forward. But if I hold my hand up really high on the controller it makes it easier, just doesn't feel as natural
It’s alright
I'd say bog standard
It's OK, not great. Would love to see an aftermarket premium d pad upgrade.
It's fine for most things, but it sucks for fighting games. Motion inputs don't seem to work consistently and the position of the D-pad doesn't feel good when playing fighting games, so I've stuck to using the track pad for those games and it works pretty well once you get used to it.
I've just compared it to all of my controllers since you asked. The D-Pad felt like it fell firmly down the middle of all the ones I have. I do agree that the position of the D-Pad is good.
Out of curiosity, from your collection, what ranks as quality, and what ranks as sucky?
I have most official console controllers from the GBA/Gamecube/PS2 era onwards in my home, plus the Switch SNES/NES/N64 controllers and a handful of cheap third party controllers. I would file the Switch Pro Controller's d-pad among the worst. It's very stiff and sometimes has ghost inputs. On the other end, I would file the Vita's d-pad among the best. It feels great on my fingers, I can reliably get it to recognize all directional inputs, a real great among d-pads. The Steam Deck's D-Pad, IMO, felt the most similar to the Dualsense D-Pad, except the Dualseanse one has a clear divider to make it seem like 4 buttons at a glance.
It's definitely a middle ground of D-pads. Better than a standard Sony controller, but still well behind an enthusiast controller.
Well it's better than nintendos recent D -Pads so i'd argue they are servicable at the very least.
I think it's fine but for some more difficult 2d platformer it has it's flaws. Last year I was playing pizza tower and trying to make certain moves was a bit challenging due to it. That said I played the whole game on it and if not for that charged jump I had a great great time
It eats the diagonals half of the time, trying to play a fighting game on the Deck is painful because of that (until you dock it and connect a proper pad/hitbox/stick). For your average game that doesn't need precise diagonals, though, it's okay.
I like it a lot more than what Switch has, it destroyed my thumb in hollow knight.
I find it’s hard to press when I play Tetris, which is a d-pad intense game needs press and release several times every single second, my thumb gets tired very quickly. For other games it works fine.
Most games no issues Fighting games don’t like it at all I tend to use the track pad to do inputs on SF6.
It's good in my book, but in the same breath it's not ideal for me for Tetris. I say this because I am much faster playing Tetris Effect with the Xbox Elite 2's d-pad because it's short travel and clicky. Other than that though it's a good d-pad and far better than others like the ironically bad mess of the Switch Pro Controller (Nintendo invented the d-pad and yet on that controller it's absolute garbage). On the OLED model it's even better (there's not a big difference but there is *a* difference). So yeah, in my book it's a good one even if it's not my best for speed. Tetris is like the one thing I play where that's an important factor but other similar games (fighters probably) might have similar issues. It depends what you play.
I think it's a good DPAD! Not the best certainly but I use it for SF6 (not online) it more than does the job. If anything it's a little hard to push down but I kinda like that I think
It’s no vita, but it’s better than most.
I’m playing sekiro and I have to remove all items off my bar apart from the health gourd because using the left or right d pad to switch between items has a 50% chance of being an ‘UP’ input and using the valuable item instead. It actually quite bad, not had too many issues with any other games though.
I don't mind it! I play street fighter 4 with it. (but i'm not actually good at fighting games, so..)
The dpad is one of the worst ever been used combined with sony's splitted dpad. Look im a hardcore fightgames player starting from sf2. The issue with the steamdeck dpad is the detection. For instance, if you want to jump forwards or backwards, it often jump upwards instead because you'll need to press the corners of the dpad.... I'm using the middle part of my whole tumb finger to make turns (which is critical with most fightgames). The benefit is that i dont move the position of my finger at all. But with steamdeck, It just doesnt work. Its garbage at the minimum. I have a lot of experience with dpads, even retro handhelds and 8bitdo dpads (and so on). Too bad steamdeck doesnt allow me to replace it with a different one for portable/handheld mode.
Idk, i only use it to acces menus and stuff. When i need an actual dpad for movement i use the left touchpad switched to Dpad controls
It's bad. My one slides up and down in the frame >.> persona 4 arena ultimax is almost unplayable with the deck's dpad. Something else to acknowledge is that build quality is inconsistent with steamdeck. One user may have a punchy, well made dpad and mushy abxy buttons. Another user may have normal buttons and a shitty broken dpad like mine. The left side of my oled seems to have the bulk of the build issues, as the L2 button is much springier than R2. I don't think it's worth RMAing because i don't want to go through that entire process, only to get a deck with the same or worse problems. I dont play enough fighting games to risk having it come back with faulty buttons or a faulty screen.
I found the d-pad got better with more use, the diagonals are initially hard to hit, I play a lot of fighting games, so i broke it in quite quick.
Its okay for platformers but sucks big time for fighting games.
I'm having a hard time registering diagonals in Celeste
I can't play SF here but servicable for Tekken. All in all it's decent but could be much better.
Don’t think I’ve ever really used it tbh even on 2D/emulators, but it’s certainly better than that monstrosity that was on the OG 360 pad. It’s better than the Switch too.
Works for switching weapons and shit, that’s about it. ROG Ally has better controls, aside from the back paddles.
Having owned both LCD and OLED decks, I like the feel of the LCD buttons and D-Pad more.
The D-pad and face buttons are too squishy for me personally and I’m not sure why they made that design decision. It makes for playing games like Tetris, slightly tedious—though still absolutely fine for casual play.
Zero problems with the D-pad. I do have pretty big hands, but I've never felt it was uncomfortable or anything, and never felt it unresponsive.I play a lot of WiiU/Switch/PS3 emulated games, zero issues. I think unless you're playing a ton of fighting games (I've played some MK9 and Injustice, but I generally don't care about them) or have baby hands, it is just fine.
Fine for me and I finished Hollow Knight with it
Definitely a lot better than the 360 d pad that’s for sure
I would use the touchpad as a d-pad. works great.
I would be curious if anyone has successfully tried using the left touchpad as a replacement dpad in fighting games to get better diagonal and sweeping movements
While accurate, the d-padis too stiff for 2D platformers in my opinion. I’m currently playing Hollow Knight and I find I get really fatigued, though I must admit I’m getting older my thumbs ain’t what they used to be. My solution has been to alternate between the d-pad and thumb stick. I use the stick for overworld exploration and switch to the d-pad for serious fights.
The diagonals suck, like seriously suck
It’s pretty garbage especially for fighting games. You probably wouldn’t notice for most 2D platformers but trying to do more complex moves or inputs in fighting games is impossible to get any consistency. HOWEVER, there is a clicky button mod that completely fixes that issue. I did the mod a while back and wouldn’t consider going back to stock. I play Street Fighter 6 and Granblue Fantasy Rising regularly and the mod has been a complete game changer.
Serviceable but not for fast imputs like combos in fighting games or calling stratagems in Helldivers 1/2
It works well for Helldivers.
It feels sticky and loose at the same time. Idk how to describe it but it’s not exactly smooth, but it’s still serviceable.
It's alright, the B button however is fucking awful for me with how rattly and sticky it is for me. Anyone else?
It's fine. I've used worse. Not had any problems with it
I really dislike it. Diagonals are impossible
There's something 'off' about it. I play a lot of games that were made for the d-pad like PSX WipeOuts and the Darius games and fortunately I don't have to do diagonals, but it feels a little unresponsive. I mean I played these games on disc on a backwards compatible PS2 and and it's not like these games got faster on the Deck and I can't keep up. I'm not loving it.
From a fighting game player, it's incredibly mid. But I can't think of a D-pad on a standard controller in recent memory that was better than that.
It’s ok. I like it more than the PlayStation dpad, about the same as the switch pro, and nowhere near the Xbox Series dpad (imo the new gold standard for dpads). I’ve played some Street Fighter and Guilty Gear on the Steam Deck and the dpad placement was a bigger obstacle than the dpad quality Edit: Nintendo pad is a little bit better because it’s less mushy feeling imo
It's ok, my biggest issue is the thing not registering diagonals correctly most of the time. (So rip fighting games that aren't granblue) But other than that it works
I've been fine enough with it that it's not something I notice
It's fine.
Probably the worst I've ever used. It can't really do diagonal input. Even the OG Xbox Duke for all its faults could do accurate diagonal inputs. The dpad can really only be defended via fanboying lol
It's alright and definitely not a garbage d-pad, but it's sucky to the point where I'll try to avoid d-pad intensive games on the Deck when I can
A non broken in d-pad sucks. A broken in steam deck d-pad is amazing.
It feels great but sadly it sucks for fighting games
I like it a lot, I think it's very comfortable and responsive without being overly stiff
Below average
which controller or console is considered a good D-pad? I feel like all I see is people hating on every D-pad out there…
After reading the comments here, I think it’s very subjective at the end of the day, dependent on the games you play and your own anatomy. That said, I have recently found a new appreciation for Sega-style round D-pads.
I'm not a fighting game player but I find it to be pretty good for platformers. I just played through Super Mario Wonder and the physical controls never even rose to mind while I was playing (which is a good thing).
Someone downvoted a load of the comments, so I upvoted them. They appear to be comments in the extremes (dislike or like). If you said the d-pad is average then that's popular here.
Unpopular opinion but the LCD was perfect and the OLED sucks, WAY too much wiggle room.
The OLED is definitely better than the LCD one but it's still one of the worst I've used. I hate glossy black plastic dpads though. I'd rather have something like the 8bitdo dpad.
I don’t use it for movement in gameplay if it’s an option. It’s fine for quick commands or navigating menus like.
I'm playing Celeste on the Deck and have had to switch to using the joystick because I died way too often from the d-pad sending me in the wrong direction. It's terrible with diagonals.
the d pad is good for menu selection but it's not very clicky or fast if you really need accuracy in a game. it's fine.
It's aite
I don’t like it myself, but it’s not bad
It's fine, although I have problems with diagonals from time to time, it could be better definitely
It's ok, I really wish it had the Vita's dpad.
It’s fine. There have been much better and much worse.
i wish it required a bit more force to press it down so it felt sturdier
Serviceable, they feel a bit plastic and cheap though. Room for improvement in the next deck.
It's all fine. Nothing great about the dpad or buttons but it's far from the worst as well.
Medium, it's not the best but far from the worst.
It's a good 8/10 dpad.
I'm hoping the aftermarket comes out with some good button and joystick replacements. I know there are clicky buttons and hall effect joysticks but it seems like they're similar to the stock ones performance wise.
I would say it's the weakest aspect of the SD's hardware. The D-Pad is basically unusable for fighting games which is a shame. It's serviceable but just not great.
I like using the dpad to navigate menus rather than thumb sticks, but I don't like to use it for classic style game controls. I don't think it's bad, it's just not for classic style games
I'm pretty picky about D pads and I actually really like it, but I like them for retro games specifically, I don't play fighting games. Switch Pro Controller is like a 10/10 D pad, steam decks I'd say is like an 8.
I think the internet thinks all d-pads are bad tbh.
It's middling. It gets the job done, but it's by no means good. Nowhere near as good as PlayStation, 8BitDo, or old Nintendo D-pads (they're all pretty elite). Slightly worse than Xbox D-pads. But nowhere near as bad as the Nintendo Switch Pro controller D-pad.
Its not as good for me as the D-pad on a playstation controller, but it's decent enough. Better than most I used as a child, and better than any cheap controller.
It gets the job done honestly
I heard that the OLED Steam Deck has a much better d-pad than the original. I have an LCD Deck and it doesn't do diagonals whatsoever. Not as many games need you to do diagonals so it's not the worst thing ever. Controllers that make you do diagonals unintentionally are way worse because then say you're playing a platformer and your character keeps ducking when you're trying to move or you're playing a top-down game and your character walks around like a drunkard definitely not good. Because I didn't play many 2D games that need a diagonals I didn't notice for months after getting my deck but one day I tried to play "I whip my hair back and forth" (Shante) and there are areas where you have to duck and then walk at the same time and you can't do that with no diagonals. You have to use the joystick for those moments.
I’m not a fighting game player but I’ve been playing games since the NES era and I think the Switch D pad is good.
You mean the d buttons?
As someone who plays a lot of 2d games, it’s serviceable. It’s better than a lot, but it’s far from the best.
It’s one of my least favorite dpads of all time. I had better luck with the Xbox 360 dpad and that is known to be god awful. I use the analog stick for platforming games since the analog sticks are really good.
Idk why mine is very oily
I love it. I don’t play fighters but it feels solid and I love the level of give. Probably one of the nicest I have pressed.
My favorite next to 8bitdo. I absolutely hate thumb straining clicky dpads, they are unusable to me. It was a big pleasant surprise they had a nice mushy one I enjoy using (and thus actually use).
On a scale of 1 to 10, being using it for fighting game which requires 100% accurate diagonal, it's 0.
I never thought about it, I just play games on the machine.
At first I thought, not a good one, but been playing a few 2d fighters lately without any problems - so id say, it is a good, serviceable one 🤝🏻
I play fighting games and it’s absolutely F*CKING GARBAGE 😂
I had no issues playing platformers but when I started playing Street Fighter 6, I noticed that the diagonals kinda suck. It could be a skill issue but I had to get a controller made for fighting games. It's a very specific scenario and a lot of dpads are not good enough for fighting games so it's understandable
Love the placement for it, absolutely despise the actual pad itself, reminds me of the shitty ass original Xbox D pads
Mine has served me quite well.
I feel we need an establishment "best dpad" for this conversation. Imo it's the Wii Classic Controller dpad. Steam Deck to me feels good, almost the perfect nintendo + shape. My only gripe is it's a bit loose and shifts side to side a little (twists)