I have one, but it's for 360, and I have no interest in buying a gold account again. So if it's not really a big help like it is in Street Fighter I'll just get the game PS3.

depends on control schemes you are going with. If you're sticking with the mk route with no half circle motions normal controller would probably suit fine. If you're going with the sf controls yeah I'd recommend the stick. For me I've tried both and find more ease at remembering stuff with the sf controls, but found the quicker to execute route being the mk controls. Still fiddling with the game so my opinion might change.

Necessary? No. But it really does help a whole lot. Some combos are hard to tap out reliably on a pad.

Judging by the demo and how MK9 turned out, it seems a lot friendlier to gamepads than just about every other fighting game.

Jeff also mentioned during either the podcast or the Quick Look that he actually preferred the game on the gamepad, for what it's worth.

I got the Battle Edition with the stick. To be fair, I'm TERRIBLE at fighting games. I went through the tutorial with the stick and it just didn't feel right to me. I did it again using a gamepad, and thought it felt more comfortable. I may go back to the stick to give it another try, but it doesn't seem essential. If you have a stick, I'd say try it but don't be afraid to try both and see what works best for you.

it really depends on what youre used to using in fighting games. from what i saw in the quicklook, it seems to be a four button game, so a controller should be completely adequate.

Im using this and I love it. I have a mad catz tournament edition arcade stick, but have not used it much since I got this.

I'm trying to make a arcade stick for Wii U lol

Got this classic Mortal Kombat stick for $50 when I ordered game a week ago. I was a bit worried about the crazy button layout but honestly I couldn't ask for anything better. I left the button layout standard with A X and Y as attack buttons, B as power button. White button in middle (RT) is meter drain button, instead of block from MK. And that is it, grabs are red ones at same time, environmentals top two.

Not really. I always found that MK style games work better on controllers.

Nah. MK9 and this game are really Gamepad friendly. Was playing some Injustice with a controller yesterday and I was doing fine. This is from someone who generally uses arcade sticks for fighting games now.

I'm going to try out the game a bit more on a pad, because it feels a bit crazy at times with the standard layout of a fightstick. Definitely not necessary.

That being said I purchased the game at the same time as a friend that has been playing with a gamepad and we are about 50/50. I enjoy playing with stick more, but honestly I don't think it will matter much for the average person. Who you play and how you play them way more important.

I bought the SF x Tekken pad from Amazon. It was only $20 and it's really nice, reminds me a lot of the old 6 button Genesis pad. Highly recommended for the price, it's a no brainer.

I haven't played this yet but if it plays anything like MK games then a regular controller is better.

When it comes to dialing in combos, are you faster with your thumb or your other fingers?

Hori makes these gamepads that are pretty bad ass as well. I picked one up for 3rd party gamepad prices at gamestop and played through all of MK with it. Best D-pad I have seen on an X-Box controller by far.

I'm playing it on my xbox, first time ever playing a fighting game on an xbox (got the review copy for xbox) And i'm fucking pissed off by the crappy dpad. Any suggestions?

Get the MadCatz SF4/WWE/whatever pad. A stick is too big an investment to be worthwhile for an MK game if you don't already have one. The pad works great for every fighting game. These are my opinions.

@holyhackzack said:

Hori makes these gamepads that are pretty bad ass as well. I picked one up for 3rd party gamepad prices at gamestop and played through all of MK with it. Best D-pad I have seen on an X-Box controller by far.

Nice, that does look like a D-pad-ass-d-pad, and nice and big too!