While i very much appreciate the compliment i wouldn't put me in the same boat as ojste by a long shot
That said however, i do agree that a pad is by no means necessary, i'm sure that super-high-end players will benefit from having access to a good stick but then i'm sure they'd still kick peoples asses with just as much skill if they were limited to a pad. Even when i had a brief play with the 360 pad i was nearly as effective, my only issue was that i kept misplacing my fingers on the bumpers, the d-pad was still functional thanks to the short-cut system. I don't see anyone on these forums who is even bordering on top level players skill, maybe if people like ojste kept playing this obsessively for the next couple of years possibly, but not yet. Until that time i'm gonna say that no one on here really NEEDs a stick to improve skill, but that said i still want one as it just looks like more fun with a proper arcade stick feel.
That and i want to be able to walk into an arcade and kick ass. At present i don't have a clue how to use a stick and would suck badly at it.
I can play and do all moves fine on sf3 ggpo with a logitech rumblepad 2 for example I have no problems doing charge characters ultras but on the 360 pad I simply cannot do them.
I do know where C64 is coming from however, when i first got the game i was certain i was at a huge disadvantage due to using a pad. RP2000 was adamant that a stick wasn't an instant-win peripheral and now i see he was absolutely right.