The original Genesis 3-button controller had a pretty awful d-pad. 

It was very hard and fairly unpleasant to use after long periods of time.  Those little diagonal arrows weren't helpful at all and they weren't fun to move your finger over if you were pressing hard.  It wasn't until Sega came out with 6-button controller did they truly get it right.

It might look the same as the 3-button, but in reality the d-pad is much much softer.  Plus having more than 3 buttons meant that it was pretty much necessary for fighting games.  By the time we see the Saturn's controllers, we realize that Sega has had time to think things over and guess what design from above they closely mirror.

Those two look very familiar don't they?  Very much like the Genesis 6-button controller don't you think?  Let's give Sega some points for finding something that works and sticking with it.

Unfortuantely while Sega could get it right, it seems Sony and Microsoft can't.

PS3's d-pad is the best... euh... less bad

That is practically the only thing working correctly on the Dualschock... (IMO)

Note that to me, the misplaced Dpad of the 360 favors the left control stick.

At words of Wisdom.

Well I had 2 of the original 3 button controllers, which as you say were not good... I also had a 6 button one but I think it was 3rd party.

PS3 has a much better D-Pad than the 360 controller. 360 D-Pad would annoy the hell out of me while playing Fable and Fable 2. I tried Megaman 9 on a 360 D-Pad and my god...

Now if only the dualshock could have concave analog sticks, I hate that they are convex.

The 360's D-pad is absolute trash. There's nothing good about it.

The PS3's D-pad is ok, it's no Nintendo D-pad, but it suffices. It's a little mushy and sometimes inaccurate due to the sunken nature of the design. On fighting games you will find fast movements across the PS3 pad will cause incorrect input. (ex. sliding your thumb for a charge back + foward for a fire ball will cause either a down or up input along the way, which screws everything up).

When SF4 came out I bought it on PS3. The controller is much better than 360's albiet with it's flaws. But I intend to buy a Hori Stick since its the ultimate in fighting accuracy.

I didn't noticed but that is also my problem with it.

MS and Sony should both been smarter and just had interchangable analog heads like this controller. You can swap heads between concave and convex. I want this to become my new DS3

this is what fighting games should be played on, the saturn pads/ genesis 6 button are also good, snes/classic controller, are passable, sony/microsoft pads, you wrong yourself and humanity by using them, but the neo geo aes control stick tops every thing else

granted this is a picture of the wii edition but original is the best for fighters,quarter circles, dragon punches, and charges are all second nature regardless of direction,  360 motions are a breeze, strange commands like the rising storm are cake, just the right give, and very comfortabel to use

PS3 D-pad > 360 D-pad

but they both suck.

Sega Saturn D-pad is the best ever made till this day. Sega needs to start making 3rd party controllers.

They have one that works on the PS3 but unfortunately it has no select button. -_-