And the Ultrastick 360, is mediocre with everything is does. For example, analog will suffer as theres not enough travel, and digital games will suffer because theres too much travel. Pop in some additional cash to get a restriction plate, will make the digital games better.. and the analog games worse.
Furthermore, certain games just feel and react better with leafswitches -vs Micros, ...and the same case can be had in reverse.
Basically... theres no such thing as the Ultimate 'everything' stick.
IMO, its far better to get the correct tools for the correct job. You can place a 4 way, for example, almost on top of a typical 8way stick, and have both playable at any time, in nearly the same place, without switching, nor straining to reach far into the panel.
Just place the 4way about 1/2" to 1" above the 8way.. and make it so the center shafts are offset about 3". The top stick being shifted to the left, so that when rotating the top stick, your wrist & arm doesnt contact the bottom stick. These are rough estimates, so make a full test panel (with actual sticks screwed in place) to make sure of the spacing before committing to finality.
My prototype was built like this, but I messed up making the top sticks a little too close horizontally. Other than that, the design is sound and works great.