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

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.

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

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.

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

If you want something that's basically an "updated" Panthera EVO, then maybe the Qanba Titan. Same form factor, weight, aux controls, better layout. Don't worry about PC compatibility, practically everything works on PC.

If you're in the US, you might as well buy the Qanba Titan for $150 on Amazon.com: Licensed product with PS4, PS5 and PC modes. Overall one of the best arcade sticks for its price if you don't mind no visual customization options. Better package over the Qanba Drone 2 due to it's proper case size fo

For sticks available at retail, Qanba Titan has the widest space between lever and buttons but the casing of it is more of a medium size. I believe that would be followed by fairly spacey Noir layouts like on Hori Fightstick Alpha, which is also just an overall larger cased device. For a used stick