The American release of the Saturn controllers looked like the Genesis 6 button pads. The Japanese ones were a little different and smaller. Sorry, but when I see a 10 year old kid beat the hell out of some buttons, and beats a skilled player on Tekken, I call that button smashing.
Again, skilled players don't lose to button smashers, EVER. All it means is that the skilled player wasn't so skilled at all.
I own a Japanese Saturn, so I know what the controllers look like. But know this, they were quite frail. I must've gone through three or four of them through the life of my Saturn. The worst things that happened to my PS Dual Shock controllers were sticky buttons caused by spilling something into the controller.
Hey three or four? That's how many playstations and PS 2 I've been through. I really like the Dual Shock when I play Disgaea. The guys that were playing were pretty skilled, but when you have two hit death moves on games, it makes it easy for a newbie to pick it up. And speaking of arcades, does anyone still go to arcades here? About 15 years ago there were 6 different places for arcades around my city, now there is only one I could think of.
Back when the Dreamcast was the only console with Marvel vs. Capcom 2, I used to play fine with the ASCII 6- button pad for the Dreamcast. Of course when I went to the arcade I didn't mind playing the arcade version using the joystick. My Sonson, Cable, and random character team could get up some pretty good winning streaks. At home, I just don't feel comfortable using a joystick to play my console games. Although, I will admit, for Virtua Fighter 4, if you want to master Akira, you BETTER use a joystick, that is the only way I can get some of his moves out...I just don't see how it is possible with a PS2 dual shock.
As for Viewtiful Joe, I have been playing it for the past week on the PS2. Dante's cool and all, but I still like Joe better. I still have yet to unlock Alastor, but I plan on trying soon. Yeah, I know he's not that great, but he's my favorite Viewtiful Joe character.
EDIT: If anyone interested, Oupost.com has Viewtiful Joe for PS2 for $19.99. Shipping will most likely kill the deal, but still...
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4156233...IN_RSLT_PG
It's about time they brought that game to a different console.
I've broken 3 PS brand Dual Shock 2 controllers just from everyday use. If you want a good ps2 controller go wtih the 1/2 sized DS2 controllers as they last longer and are way better plus it has macro. Oh yeah!
Just because someone uses an arcade stick does not make them play better playes than people who use pads it all depends on what you train on, perhaps arcade stick people think that the sticks feel more comfortable etc.. and then can play better, but people who use arcade sticks are no better than people who use pads, it all depends on the person, and each one has its advantages and dissadvantages. Plus who cares if you can't play properly in the arcades, I pay alot of money for a game and I play it and get good, I don't pay and play so that I can pay even more money to just fight some stangers in an arcade and show off to people.