This is by far the best Sega Genesis controller available that’s not the actual original one. It’s well known among Capcom fans that the original Sega Genesis 6 button pad has one of the best D-Pads around. The layout of the 6 face buttons was also perfect for Capcom fighters and designed in conjunction with the release of Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition for the Genesis. The buttons were extremely high quality, as was the overall construction and the set of materials Sega used. With that said, the only options for a USB version thus far have been relatively poor or overpriced.For Capcom’s initial PS2 era Street Fighter 2 Anniversary gamepads, they choose to “heavily borrow” the Sega Genesis/Sega Saturn pad design. I bought the Akuma hologram gamepad when it came out, and it was truly beautiful looking, but the D-Pad was a hard, imprecise mess, with a thick construction that was incredibly uncomfortable to hold, despite how large my hands are.The RetroFlag Genesis controller has none of those issues. There are, however, only 2 issues I have with it, and one isn’t really a fault of the actual game pad, but rather one I had with the original Genesis 6 button pad itself when it came out. It’s incredibly small for those with big hands. The 3 button Sega pad felt like the perfect size for all different hand sizes, but the 6 button pad was far slimmer, and slightly thinner in certain areas, such as the recessed finger rest in the back of the controll pad. Everything else about the 6 button pad was better overall, in my opinion, than the original 3 button controller. The way the D-Pad could be used for long stretches without any discomfort, due to an incredibly nice feeling, soft textured plastic finish, with very precise directional control, was possibly the nicest aspect of the Sega 6 button gamepad.Now the second issue is actually one with the RetroFlag gamepad itself. It adds 2 features, namely an L and R button for more modern titles. This is great in theory, but it’s so flat against the curved sides of the pad that it’s somewhat uncomfortable to use. It seems as if they wanted to make such a perfect replica of the 6 button Genesis pad that they felt making the L and R shoulder buttons more prominent would detract from the perfectly replicated form factor. To be fair, on the original 6 button pad, there was a recessed mode button where the right trigger button is on the RetroFlag controller. The only difference is that the mode button’s only purpose was for original 3 button Sega games that needed its one time functionality to allow the games to work with the newer 6 button pad. It wasn’t a button that gets any form of constant use, so its recessed and well hidden form factor made sense.The Sega Saturn Second Gen US gamepad, modeled after the Japanese one, would’ve been the most logical pad to replicate in this case, though I understand why RetroFlag choose to make the correct controller for their Genesis case. Despite that, the Sega Saturn S controller remidied all of the aforementioned issues with the Genesis 6 button pad in 1995. It featured the same exact softly textured D-Pad which was already sublime, and it had a larger, form fitting hand shape, with raised L and R shoulder buttons that felt comfortable to use. Both of its R and L buttons had a nice, satisfying mouse click style sound when pressed down.Aside from that, the Saturn S gamepad was basically a small evolution of what many felt was the nearly perfect 2-D gaming 6 button controller the Sega Genesis had.I love the RetroFlag Genesis pad, but I’d gladly buy a Sega Saturn replica right away if RetroFlag made one. While Sega already did this a while ago with their SLS (Sega Logistics Services) Saturn USB pad, it was a very limited release that sold out right away. It was not only a perfect replica, but it had some very minor improvements too. It’s extremely expensive on eBay now, and many of those that are sold there are actually poor knock offs with horrible D-Pads and sub-par construction.The other Sega Saturn USB gamepad replicas that are sold now aren’t great in terms build quality at all. Sega even released another USB Saturn pad from Play Sega. It’s an official product, but after buying it and comparing it to my actual original Sega Saturn S Pad, the quality feels just slightly above the knock offs, and the D-Pad is severely lacking. It’s also not as nicely textured or soft, which causes discomfort in precise 2-D platforming or fighting games over longer stretches of time.In the end, this RetoFlag Sega Genesis 8 button replica of the sublime 6 Button Genesis pad is truly the real deal. It’s curently the best one I’ve seen or used thus far. I put it through it’s paces today, playing the Sega Classics Collection on Steam with it. To show my history, I have a platinum trophy in the Sega Genesis Collection for the PS3 and beat Sonic 1-3 without using any continues at all on my original Sega Genesis. I did the same thing with Streets of Rage 1-2 and Revenge of Shinobi when I was a kid. This is something I haven’t been able to pull off on any other controller other than the original Genesis 6 button pad. I was able to do it today with Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage 2 and Sonic 1 using the RetroFlag USB pad on my day off. The price is excellent, and thus far, the build quality seems like it’s top notch too, so it’s a must buy for classic Sega game fans.All I’m hoping for now is a RetroFlag Sega Saturn S Pad replica. If this controller has any longevity issues, I’ll update this review accordingly.