Best third party controllers for the original Xbox?

I'm sure you can find adapters for all MadCatz TE2s to be compatible, and you can't find anything pre-assembled better than the TE2s. You can only top them if you build one yourself or ask someone to do it for you, from the ground up.

But if you are not looking for anything custom, then TE2s are the best thing you can find for any console, all you need is the respective adapters.

Balder The main reason I'm even interested in getting a 3rd party controller is because I want a better D-pad for 2D gaming. The official Xbox controller D-pads are garbage (save for XBone) because they're pressure sensitive. I'm looking for one that isn't.

Capcom Vs SNK 2, Street Fighter Aniversery, Metal Slug 3, the numerous collections of arcade games (like Namco Anthology, Midway Classics Collection, etc.).

Those are very good games MeleeMonk. I always wanted Midway Classics Collection, but it was never offered digitally on the PS3.

Have you tried buying a good Sanwa fightstick? At least when it comes to the Fighters you mentioned, those become extra fun using one.

I didn't even know this existed. I totally see the usage with figthing games, but for other types games the Xbox controller is superior.

That would be great, except I hate the dualshock's D-pad just as much. XD Don't get me wrong though, it is objectively better for 2D games, so I do agree with you. It's just that I've tried playing SOR3 (Streets of Rage 3) on the Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PS3 with the DS3, and I couldn't play it even half as good as I did with the Genesis controller years earlier. It's simply too sticky to work for such a fast-paced game, which are the type of 2D games I'm into. It also is uncomfortable on my thumb.

I'm in the minority in that I prefer the Gamecube Controller's D-pad over the PS2 & Xbox's. Sure it may be really small and oddly placed, but it performs better for fast paced 2D games, and feels better too. TBH I've always thought Nintendo's D-pads were excellent, second only in quality to Sega's.

I agree with MeleeMonk, Nintendo D-Pads had always been the best in the industry, they had not been the best looking or the most ergonomic, but in terms of functionality they are better than anything Sony, Xbox and even Sega had ever produced.

That age is over since the mid Wii U cycle when the patent expired, so now I guess any company has the ability to produce that level of high quality D-Pads. I do see Cervantes point about the Saturn D-Pad, in general Sega and even Sony always had more ergonomic D-Pads than Nintendo.

The best case scenario is to have a D-Pad with the ergonomic feel of the Saturn and with the functionality of the GameCube. I'm sorry Balder but Xbox D-Pads had always been terrible.

The one thing Xbox has that is superior over other controllers are the triggers. I know some people won't agree with me, but try the Xbox One triggers and then try the PS4's ones, the Xbox triggers win. The triggers on the PS4 are a lot better than the ones for the PS3, and yet not as good as the Xbox One triggers.

I would say the perfect controller would have a Nintendo D-Pad with a Saturn ergonomic feel while also having the 6 bottoms layout, but with the top buttons as big as the bottom ones, the triggers like the Xbox One, the look of the DS4, but with the ability to swap the D-Pad with the left thumbstick whenever you want to, and the HD Rumble of the Switch along with the Switch's gyroscope and accelerometer responsiveness. It is not going to happen though.