by Niowiad » Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:43 am
D-Pads are just ON-OFF controls, useful for the fastest possible response.
Analog sticks are gradual and let you choose the amount of the action which is being performed.
So it just depends on what the game allows for that specific action.
If a character can walk or run depending on how much the analog stick gets tilted and someone's using a D-Pad which can only make the character run, then he's missing out big time.
Same thing for any vehicles' piloting action in modern games, way more accurate with gradual controls.
All modern Top-Down games... D-Pads only allow for 8 directions, analog sticks give free accurate movement.
On the other side, if you're playing old games released before analog sticks were invented, modern 2D games with old style digital controls and modern fighting games which still rely on ON-OFF fast inputs, analog sticks can also be used but not as efficiently as D-Pads or the good old digital joysticks in arcade sticks (some people think they're the same thing as analog sticks but they use 4 micro-switches which just give you the same "8 directions" as D-Pads).