Okay so Street Fighter IV is coming out on Tuesday right...I put $10 into the game so all I have to pay now is $49.99 plus tax with it.  But I also want to play this highly anticipated video game in the best way as possible so I was thinking of buying the Akuma Fightpad for the game.  But I keep hearing that the diagonals are really bad and only a small percentage of people have gotten their controllers with no problem at all.  Plus this product is $39.99 and, uhm, yeah that's kind of a lot of money, plus I already have money saved up for Resident Evil 5 so I'm not trying to spend too much and I also wanna save to get Guitar Hero: Metallica.

So anyways, the thing is, should I buy the Street Fighter IV Akuma Fightpad or just spend my extra money on GTA IV: Lost & Damned or  New Super Mario Bros for DS? (or simply put, another low priced game)

Go with the controller, if it doesn't work return it.

IGN gave the controller a good review, saying, "the D-pad translates exceptional to in-game commands and performs much like a full-sized fight stick."   

2 games is better than 1. (Get Lost and Damned).

I got a Fightpad, I really like the thing. 

D-pad : Diagonals are harder, but some people will find that a problem and others won't.  It's both a negative and positive.  This will require you to play the game a bit more like a joystick.  Your moves have to be a bit more intentional, and it's harder to jump by mistake.  I found over using it for the last week or so that my moves have come out more often because I'm inputting them more clearly.  My SSF2THDR play has certainly improved somewhat.  I still think doing moves like Zangief's 720 is going to be near impossible for anyone on this pad, but the 360's thumbstick would just send you jumping around wildly so it's not a loss compared to the default 360 controller at all.

Buttons : Buttons are the best I've ever used on any gamepad or joystick ever.  These things are so friggin perfect.  They're flat and the way they spring up just feels so right.  The 6 face buttons is going to be a big benefit over other gamepads in SF4 because there seem to be more moves that require you to press MK and MP and such.  I don't know how they'll hold up long term, but right now they're a dream.

Misc : The headset port on my Fightpad sometimes cuts out, which is a certain sign of cheapness in that respect.  Cord is nice and long and doesn't bother me.

Non SF4 games : Turbo works really well on this controller and can help a lot.  Games like Pac Man CE and Robotron play much better on this pad than ANY other joystick or gamepad.