I personally play fight games with either of these 2 options:
- a xbox one controller, its a well made controller compatible with pretty much all pc games
- an arcade stick, its difficult to use and quite expensive but it cast your mind back to your childhood

Was thinking of just getting a newer model XBox One controller as it does have minor improvements over the original model I have right now.

But getting opinions from always help, so thanks for the input.

Made my own arcade stick, it was fun. I got the Brook Universal so I could use it on my consoles too, but if you're just going to use it on PC and Pi, the Brook PiZero is a good choice for control boards.

Your mileage might vary, but for me it's all about the solid dpad if you want to stick with a gamepad that is. Something like ye olde neogeo cd gamepad with clicky dpad, or pdp versus gamepad from x360/ps3 days (one could buy it for 6-8 bucks 2 years ago or so), maybe hori fighting commander. If you are into oldschool games, I would also recommend something from 8bitdo, like m30 - it's more or less a copy of sega megadrive pad, with some tweaks from sega saturn I reckon. They are all digital/binary pads, no analogue inputs - so there is that to take into consideration.

Second option is fight/arcade stick and third option a keyboard (although those half-circles might be hard and straining to pull of consistently on the kb).

As mentioned above, building your own fightstick is not a bad idea either, but it's good to have some case/enclosure, unless you are confident to make that as well or find something useable for that purpose. It requires some planning ahead ofc. For me tinkering and tweaking is a hobby, for someone else it might be a bother and they rather go and buy something mass-produced instead.

Slagcoin has various printouts of layouts for the action buttons you can use when you're putting a custom joystick together, if you're drilling your own. Great way to save a couple bucks over buying a ready-made enclosure. Hell, Slagcoin has a lot of information in general.

For enclosures, Harman Customs has this beauty, If you prefer a metal enclosure, has several options for bodies, button layouts and the like. Of course, with a metal enclosure, you have to be careful not to ground your PCB. If you're looking to make your own relatively quickly, I love a good [url=https://cubancrafters.com/best-humidors-cuban-crafters-clasico-rojo-cherrywood-classic-cigar-humidor-for-100-cigars/]humidor. Sturdy, made of thick wood, with an easy to open top panel. Just make sure you have hole saw bits and a power drill.

Lastly, for parts, you can go to Focus Attack, which has a HUGE variety of not just sticks, but buttons, switches, PCBs and other needed miscellany when it comes to making fight sticks. While many people like Sanwa, for the most part you'll be fine if you choose from a recognizable brand. I love Industrias Lorenzo parts with Cherry D44x microswitches myself, as they feel EXACTLY like the old arcade machines we all grew up with, making them great not just for fighting games, but for MAME action as well.

Well, personally I use either a Dualshock 3 or 4 controller with an app to make Windows recognize it as an Xbox controller (The d-pad on those are pretty good) or 8-bitdo's SN30 Pro + which is quite serviceable. Other gamepads I liked were Madcatz Fightpad which has a design similar to the Sega Saturn's controller which was amazing for fighting games.

I never tried them, but I heard good things about the Hori controllers too.

If you're willing to make the investment (of either time or money) an arcade stick would be the best, building one isn't too expensive and there's tons of tutorials online, but a good arcade stick, once you get used to it, it's amazing.

I tried the game with 5 controllers and 2 arcade sticks, here's what I can say from that:

8bitdo:
- M30: Fine, lightweight, respoisnve (BT and wired) just make sure the D-Pad is set to Left Analog, the four-button setup runs fine and it's responsive.
- Pro2 :Runs fine as well (BT and wired). I find the D-Pad more precise than the thumbsticks (PS-style stick and pad layout).
- XBox One Elite controller: Runs mostly fine (wired) but I don't like the thumbstick nor the D-Pad with this layout for fighting games on the PC, the XBox 360 controller has the same issue on the PC for me where for some reason it's a little too sensitive (maybe it's me) and I drop or mess inputs too easily. However in itself it's fine.
- Arcade Stick: fine both wired and over BT (can slso pair over wifi 2.4G using the enclosed dongle, didn't try it but there's a little more input lag I read), but I have a slight issue with the stock stick, the course is a little short and I feel like I drop some inpiuts with how I hold it (sometimes I can't do Iori's Yaotome (QCF,HCB+P) followup DM (QCFx4+LP+HP) or his third Aoihana (QCB+P). But it's customizable and you can change the stick with a little soldering (it's even possible to find 5-pin connectors and use the stock connector but the board includes an 8-pin soldering base too). For about 100 EUR/USD I'm generally happy with it. It's a little smaller than you'd expect so you can't really rest your wrists, but it's okay, better than many compact sticks made by HORI. Don't expect tourney-style mastery without customizing it though.

HORI:
Fighting Commander (PS3/4): Runs fine (wired), nothing special, the D-Pad is responsive. It's good
Didn't try the PS5 or XB1 version, but it should be in the same league. Very good.

SONY:
DualShock 4: Using DS4Windows it works fine in XInput mode. From memory it didn't pair so well with the controller either in PS4 mode (using DS4Win) nor in raw BT mode (DS4Windows turned off). If you like using the PS controller it's very responsive and the D-Pad is not bad either. Forget about the DualShock3, pairing it is such a pain it's not worth it not that the DS4 is available (got mine 2nd hand a few months ago and I'm really happy with it).

Microsoft:
- Xbox 360 controller (wired): it's the 360 controller; it's good and reliable, I just find the stick and D-Pad a little too sensitive and I fell the layout (I usually love asymmetrical thumbsticks) not too suited for fighting games.

Mayflash:
F500 Elite: stellar arcade stick but pricey at about 150 EUR/USD (moreso than the 8bitdo) but all the buttons and the stick are genuine Sanwa parts and it's more precise. It's very good but it's bulky and heavy).

So in a nutshell, here are my favourite controllers for fighting games on the PC:
- 8bitdo Pro 2
- Sony DualShock 4
- HORI Fighting Commander
- Mayflash F500 Elite

Honourable mentions:
- 8bitdo M30 (little small but responsive, no vibration whatsoever)
- 8bitdo Arcade stick (decent for casual/intermediate play;, customize it for advanced gameplay)

If you want a one-size-fits-all controller because you're the only one in front of your computer, I'd say go for the 8bitdo Pro2 controller, it will do everything fine and you can switch to DInput, Android and Switch mode too. It's a more affordable than the DS4 too. Plus it's BT so you'll free a USB port (easily 10 to 15 EUR/USD cheaper for the wireless model and even cheaper if wired).