A:
Looks can be deceiving, but the d-pad does its job in fighting games, according to my own experience with playing Street Fighter series. If you will game with this controller for its d-pad, rather than taking your thumb off and on repetitiously, like on a PlayStation controller, you will tend to rub to each direction. The rubbing also feels so smooth and means that your direction changes will be a tad bit faster once you get used to this controller.