Should I get a Fight Pad/Arcade Stick

[GeordieMagpie]

I use a PS3 controller, I'm a decent competitive player on fighting games, however I don't think I'm doing my best, so the question is. Should I get an arcade stick? Or a fight pad? Or just stay with my PS3 controller, personally I think I'm going to get an arcade stick, but what's your take on this?

[Kankuri]

Some people are better with control pads (PJS Latif, Wolfkrone) and some people are better with joysticks (Daigo, Poongko, J Wong, etc.) It all depends on what is comfortable to you. Most arcade sicks are decent right out of the box, but customizing is a huge majority of the fun. Replacing parts, artwork, structural components...it's all in good fun =D

Two extremely relevant pictures:
http://i.imgur.com/KkgZD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Skn4I.jpg

NINJA EDIT: My arcade sick is the MadCatz Street Fighter IV Standard Edition (SE). The parts that come default are horrible, and I've replaced all of it with high quality Sanwa parts. I have a JLF white ball top joystick, 6 white 35mm buttons, and 2 black 35mm buttons. I also had a close friend modify the joystick to be cross-compatible with PS3, as well as SNES, Dreamcast, PS1/2...and any other console in existence. I like the original design of the stick, so I didn't really want to mess with it a lot. I have thought about changing it here recently though.

You'll have to excuse the poor lighting in the pictures. My eyes are extremely sensitive to light =P

[Mechazod]

I use the official Nintendo arcade controller for the SNES for pretty much every arcade fighting game ever since I have various adapters to hook it up to different systems.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Super...0&tx=125&ty=33

I also don't sit it on my lap when I play. I have a large piece of wood paneling that I extend across my sitting chair that I put a piece of rubber padding on so it doesn't cause discomfort on my arms at the edges.

I don't really like using a standard controller cause the joystick just feels to loose for me and when I try using a D-Pad it ends up cutting into my thumb after a while.

[Blznsmri]

I'd take a joy stick over a controller any day of the week.