So, I have a question and I fear that just asking it is going to make me sound like a baby. ;) But, here goes. I was able to get two xbox 360 wireless controllers working pretty reliably on my system. The main games I am trying to play are NES, SNES, Genesis and MAME. The controllers work decent for that, but there is a klunkiness that's starting to get on my nerves. Here's an example.

During Contra on NES or Contra III on SNES, when I pull down to go prone and shoot, that works fine. However, if I was facing right and then I want to switch to be prone facing left, this is a bit of a trial and usually involves my characters standing up and running for a second. Needless to say, it causes me to die most of the time.

I assume this is happening because the xboxdrv interprets the dpad inputs as keyboard presses and doesn't respond well when you are hitting both of them together? Or, maybe the xbox 360 controller's dpad is just crummy?

So, I guess my question is, based on the games I want to play, what sort of controller would I be best off using? Wireless would be awesome, but I suppose I could live without it. I would also be into a retro controller, but it would need to be able to play all types of games, so I feel like even the retro SNES controllers would leave me without enough buttons.

I guess I'm asking if anyone has any controllers they love. And, if so, when you play Contra does it work the way you are expecting. ;)