shmups.system11.org

Recently I am suffering from VERY heavy attacks caused by my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder disease. The effects of this prevent me from playing a lot on my consoles and have me glued to the PC (which is some sort of safe haven for me atm). I try to make sure I get my gaming fix (by playing stuff like Cho Ren Sha 68K and other PC shmups and games) but I've come to the conclusion that playing most of the PC shmups by keyboard isn't very handy and thus I am thinking of buying a controller for the PC.
Problem is that I have no idea what to get. I've got a smartjoy converter from lik-san which should enable the use of a dualshock PS2 controller, but I only have 1 PS2 pad which HAS to stay (not logically but from my OCD point of view) with my PS2 and besides that I don't like the controller much for my shmups.
So what other option are worth pursuing?

Easy solution: get a cheap-o third party PS2 pad for PC use. Some of 'em have surprisingly good d-pads.

I'm using the Saturn USB pad at the moment and it plays most games fine. I haven't had any input lag from the USB 1.1 connectivity so far and it is very lightweight and comfortable to play with.

Some minor nuances though - The game pad is a bit pricey, the 200cm cord may be too short for some (its no problem for me as I got a USB extention cord and front side USB ports) and the D-Pad tends to get dirty very easily.

just buy an official saturn pad and plug it into your magic box. It's the best way mate

What is your favorite d-pad/controller? Chances are they make a usb adapter for it.

Am I the only one that likes the psx d-pad? I like small d-pads, and I have large thumbs...not gamecube d-pad mind you, but I like the smaller ones.

Nope, I dig it. I've used it for so long any other kind feels odd at first.

I have OCD too. Must be something in our shmuphead brains.

I just use a Saitek pad on PC. Nothing great but it works well enough.