360 D-pad sucking? Use a Saturn gamepad

The honeymoon's over. We were in love. Our shotgun wedding with the Xbox 360 gamepad and subsequent months of marital bliss have come crashing down. We've had our first fight ... err, 2D fighting game that is.

Anyone who's been playing the recently released Street Fighter II on XBLA has undoubtedly noticed the Xbox 360's D-pad seriously cramps your combos. Fear not DIY-friendly gamers, there is a solution: Don't use the Xbox 360 gamepad. Remember the Sega Saturn, geared for 2D in a world of 3D consoles? The good news is the Saturn's gamepad has a well respected D-pad and, with some soldering skills, you can start rocking it on Xbox Live.

Here's how it works: Saturn controller gets plugged into a breadboard connected to a gutted Xbox 360 controller, so the whole thing is wireless (sort of). Fine, so this isn't the most attractive hack, but it illustrates a demand for an alternative gamepad. How long before some enterprising peripheral company makes a wireless Xbox Live Arcade pad?

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