Sticks seem to be the way to go for certain fighters.
I can play with a pad to an extent, however, the motions for the special attacks I tend to be able to perform more swiftly on a stick as compared to a pad, especially when it involves movement such as quarter and half-circles.
I need a PC Engine 6 button stick.... I know Hori and Innovation made 6 button sticks, and I've seen the Hori on ebay somtime in the past 12 months. it would be pretty helpful.
Certain Sega Genesis games really need a stick. Such as UMK3. I end up holding the gamepad with my thumb on the underside, and the fingers on the buttons so I can run, block, attack, all that mess rather fast.
Games that involve a lot of holding down a button, while pressing others I prefer a stick.
I've been getting back into fighters lately. Certain ones I could pick up again rather fast, sometimes this was due to the amount of time I spent playing them years ago, games such as the first Mortal Kombat, World Heroes 2, and Street Fighter 2. Though, there is some "ring rust" hahahahaha. I was playing Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 a few days ago and I thought something was wrong with the game or the difficulty, The 3rd or 4th round shouldn't be where I was defeated. However, after all continues were gone, the options checked out fine. I forgot how reliant on special moves MK's sequels are, and the block button, and that damn new run button. MK sequels are all about being cheap, haha.
Definately some ring rust, however I'm sanding away at it.
Every Fighting game has it's own quirks, a few I really enjoy are World Heroes 2, Street Fighter 2 champion, Samurai Shodown series, Mortal Kombat (the first one).
So far, for console only games, I've been pretty impressed with Flash Hiders for the PCE. I haven't played much of it lately, though when I receive my Duo-R back from grahf I'll see if I can play the game through and beat it (not the story mode, but the "other" mode). The controls aren't too complicated, the computer doesn't seem to rely on a lot of special attacks, though they do get stronger as you go along. Each roudn you choose your opponent from 2 or 3 (can't recall), so you can pick the one with the most cash up for grabs, or the weaker opponent for an easy win and lesser cash. Then you use that cash to purchase more skills. All in all it's a decent time.
On the subject of this thread, Fatal Fury I'm not that interested in the series as there are other Neo Geo fighters I prefer to play.