I will also vouch for the stick cause I grew up as an arcade brat. Even though I mostly play with console controllers nowadays I do miss the stick cause it is way more fluid imo. It doesn't help that I'm like No Mercy and feel that the analog sticks on controllers are terrible inefficient for fighting games. I usually stick to D-pads and that is really hard on you and the controller when you are playing stuff like GG:ACP and SFA3.

I really need to invest in an arcade stick but its part of a long list of things I need lately.