My favorite controller would have to be the OzStick USB arcade joystick I have sitting next to me. Genuine arcade ball joystick and no less than 9 buttons. PERFECT for MAME games and since its real arcade parts I can bash it and bash it and I dont have to worry about it breaking The 9 buttons mean I can use it for fighting games like Street Fighter 2 (6 buttons for punch x 3 and kick x 3 plus buttons for coin, start and one more spare) In terms of console joysticks I have used, the best would be the original Nintendo PAL SNES controller.