Since I play lots of GC games but never owned a GC, I have bought lots of crappy 3rd party GC controllers.
The Madcatz one broke. It's crap.
The Gamestop one has held up so far. I would even say that its thumbsticks might be better than Nintendo's in terms of usability, especially the C-stick. This is the device which currently gets used for my GC games. I just wish it had an extra metre of cable.
The main problem with any GC controller is the inadequate 2m cable, so I bought a 3rd party wireless controller. I can't even recall the brand name, but the device had a great feature list... and horrible build quality. The thing would be totally tolerable (and worthwhile for allowing me to sit more than 2m from the screen) if the damn thumbstick didn't have centering issues. It just can't find the zero-point, it's always drifting slightly up or down. Worthless.
Let's not forget the final option: The Classic Controller. It's wireless and has all the controls I need to play SSBB, plus it's great for VC titles. This is what I'll probably end up playing Smash with.
"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event." — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.
