ChemicalJade

Snackboxes are good. I will say that controllers with native PS4/PS5 support are generally going to be way more expensive because of the Sony/Brook licensing. I use a LightFox which is a similar form factor to Snackbox but uses the GP-2040CE firmware which is open source. Works out of the box on PC but you need to either get a Brook converter or add some files to get it to work on PS4/5 without the 8 minute controller timeout. If you want to try a leverless for very little money, Haute42 makes controllers that are super budget. They do have some issues with long-term reliability on the lower end models I've used, but also you're paying $30 for it I don't know what you expect. There's a lot of offerings of leverless controllers now that range from $30 to $500 (lmao). I like the GP-2040CE controllers a lot, and will ride or die open source. Outside the GP-2040CE ones, Snackboxes are good. I don't have much to say about the others aside from the Razor and Victrix leverless controllers seem MAD expensive for what you get.

It should probably be noted that just because something is theoretically "easier" doesn't mean you actually need to do it that way. If you can learn to just move your fingers faster, be more accurate with an arcade stick, you can basically make the advantages of any controller fade away IMO. It matters far more that you don't find the controller annoying. I switched from a hori rap n to a snackbox micro a few years back because I was tired of carrying that massive thing around, not for any performance related reasons. In fact at the time it was generally considered worse to play I-No in +R on leverless compared to stick, but that narrative has been killed lately lol (at least partially due to lenient input mode but I'd argue it's fine even on original)

Our monthly starts at 2:00 PM this coming Saturday! Running BBCF, UNI2, MBAACC on stream, as well as non-streamed brackets for +R, Xrd, Strive, Granblue, Sailor Moon S. Free bracket for VSav. It's at Balance Patch, located 1031 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 We don't do preregistration but the start.gg is here https://start.gg/bbb

hitbox layout 100000% recommended. Being able to reach the up button with either thumb makes a huge difference. I usually use left thumb for up, but certain inputs like TKs or 360s I'll piano from my right thumb to whatever attack button I need. Makes it really easy to time them correctly. This is how I do I-No JI HCL, I input the jump and the K button basically 1-2 frames apart using the same hand.