Game Pad Vs. Keyboard Input - Which is better?

[cmoses]

I have been looking at the Ultimarc UltraStik 360 for its all around flexibility and mapping capabilities.  The abilty to make it a 2, 4, or 8 way, 45 degree or analog all with the mapping capabilites is very appealing.  I discovered whe reviewing the installation guid that it uses a USB connection and is recognized as a game pad instead of using a keyboard encoder.  I was wondering if there is a big difference between the two when it comes to compatibility and playability.

I would think that with the game pad you would be limited to windows based emulators only.  Are game pads as responsive as the joysticks that use the keyboard encoders?  It seems like all the other joysticks use keyboard encoders. 

I really like the flexability of the U360s as well as the ability to plug in 8 buttons, which helps in the wiring being neater.  I am just not sure what the general consensus is as far as the compatibility and playability of a game pad.  My main emulator will be MAME (MAME32) but I want to also use Daphne for sure and probably ZSNES, nullDC and a couple of others.

So anyone with any thoughts or opinions on the subject let me know.

 

[Ginsu Victim]

It works great, and programs that don't support joystick can be used via Joy2Key.

Also, you can use the U360 with a keyboard encoder if you want.

[u_rebelscum]

I wouldn't worry about keyboard vs gamepad encoder, unless you want to use one of the few old emulators that only supported keyboards, or play PC games that don't like keyboards as much as gamepads (such as EA forcing only one player can use a keyboard).

Price, number buttons, and other features are what count now.

[Havok]

You won't get Daphne working fully without running Joy2Key - I would go with a keyboard based encoder to be on the safe side. Less headaches.

[Bluedeath]

actually i use daphne with a cheap USB pad and gives no problem at all.

[cmoses]

Using the U360 with an encoder takes away the ability to use custom mappings so that basically eliminates most of the features. 

Why can Daphne not be used with a gamepad, it appears to be a fully windows based program, so I would think there wouldn't be a problem.