"8BitDo claims they spent 3-years developing this controller and their attention to detail shows. Take for example the movement of the d-pad. Great care was taken to match the motion of the original Neo Geo CD pad. I have what looks to be a lightly worn example from a boxed Neo Geo CD. Both 8BitDo and the original pads have a 2.5-3mm dead zone in any direction, followed by a 2-2.5mm switch engagement. Both sticks also require 1.8N of force to engage the switch and 3.8N of force to max out the travel.
The face buttons of the 8BitDo controller measure in at 1.0N of force, again, just like the original Neo Geo CD controller."
That is some obsessive amount of matching it to the original controller, quite impressive.
"This might very well be personal preference, but I would like to test a smaller dead zone on the d-pad. It would require some physical modification to the stick but I think I would prefer less play in the switch activation. A stick allows for more precision than a traditional d-pad, but at the cost of speed. The shorter the throw, the faster the reaction but the you give up some precision. Thankfully, the d-pad only allows for 8-direction input and the precision is adequate."
That would interest me as well, it probably wouldn't work as well for fighting games anymore, but it would be great for shoot 'm ups and other games where you have to change directions as fast a possible. Make it happen Porkchop Express!
I also wonder if it would be possible to mod it into a four-way controller for four-way arcade games.
