I've been playing both with the d-pad and analog stick on an original 360 controller and I'm not happy with either so far. Both have their problems and don't offer enough fine control to make me happy with this game. What has everyone else been using that they are happy with? I'm sure there's plenty that will say the original controller works fine for them, but it's not for me. 
 
Although, I can't see myself purchasing another controller just for this game, but I'm curious....

Kick it old-school, get a fight stick.

I have several of the top 10 scores in the world and last I  checked, I was ranked third in the game overall (dammit, I used to be first!).  I use the regular analog stick on the 360 controller and it works wonderfully. 
 
But yeah, the D-pad on the 360 controller is a piece of shit. Avoid at all costs.

Get the new 360 controller with the pop-out d-pad. It is definitely an improvement.

" Get the new 360 controller with the pop-out d-pad. It is definitely an improvement. "

" Kick it old-school, get a fight stick. "

I have a street fighter fightstick and i feel like it doesnt work very well with most arcade games....maybe i should try it with this. What setting do you guys use it has left stick right stick and dpad settings

I've been rolling with the analog stick, pretty good so far but when the game picks up speed it seems to cause indecision on Pacman's (or my) part. The fact that it's analog isn't exactly helping at umpteen miles an hour. Yet to try my Fightstick.

I was using my mvc2 fight stick on this game last night and it did not work for me at all.  Analog stick all the way.

I've used my fightstick with this, original Championship edition, original Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac-Man. It's not very good. It has the same problem the analog stick has in that if you're pressing two directions at once (mostly down but slightly right) it can think you mean the wrong direction. I even ordered a replacement stick with a 4 way gate ('+' sign) and I still preferred the xbox's analog stick over that.
 
The analog stick isn't great, but it's the best available once you get used to it. Short of getting an authentic Pac-Man stick modded (which I've contemplated doing, since I'm building myself an original Ms. Pac-Man machine), it's probably the best you can get.

I'll have to borrow my friends Street Fighter stick and give it a go myself and see. Thanks for everyone's input on this. 
 
On a side note, while it's not hard to get in the first place, but a cheap achievement get for No Mistakes is to set it on beginner and head yourself in a direction with a straight tunnel through the maze and just let it run.

The 360's (old) d-pad has fucked me on several occasions already. Just use the analog stick, it works just fine. 

" Get the new 360 controller with the pop-out d-pad. It is definitely an improvement. "

" Kick it old-school, get a fight stick. "

PS3 D pad. It was worth waiting a week just to avoid the shitty dpad on the 360.

I just use the analog stick, that works for me.

I like playing using a Street Fighter IV 360 Pad.