Titan

I was also curious about this and looked it up and evidently the biggest reason is legacy. Arcade cabinets were built like this to save space and modern arcade sticks copied layouts from classic cabinets. This layout became the standard and it stuck. You can buy ones with more space like the Qanba T

Once again, no teardown to show off the internals of the stick to let people know what they'll be working with and no clear console compatibility explanation. The Nonbliep Arcade Stick is nortoriously known to be super light with very bad stock parts but give it to someone who mods sticks, it can be

It's the layout for arcade cabinets where space is limited. I dont think it is worse on wrists though. It's your arms that are going to angle more inward, not just your wrists bending. Some people with very thick hands and/or fingers might find some discomfort being so close, but it's really not a t

Nacon Daija (almost always on sale for $200) Qanba Obsidian 2, Qanba Titan, and Mayflash F700 Elite is what I would look at. They all have Sanwa parts, which is the standard most people go off of as a baseline. You could also get a cheaper, smaller stick, like the 8bitdo fightstick (I prefer the Swi

It’s comes from Japan layout and spacing. American arcades spacing had usually a wider gap from stick to buttons. You’ll probably appreciate extended vewlix layout. Example qanba titan

I don't get it either and it's in one of the reasons i went for the Qanba Titan.

It’s accepted as normal. American arcades machines had more space between lever and buttons. Look for extended vewlix layout, like in the Qanba Titan fightstick.

The Qanba Titan is a great next step up if you like levered controllers. If you're looking at leverless you can look at the Qanba Sapphire or Victrix leverless option.

Another paint point is the distance between the stick and buttons. They can be cramped too close together. I like a wider spacing eg Qanba Titan.

There's a good selection for current gen but you gotta remember that retail/officially licensed peripherals are usually one console (and backwards compatible) + PC in terms of compatibility. Because of the growing trend of leverless/all button styled controllers, it's pretty split to even selection