I have never played fighters before. Not because I didn't want to but because none of them interested me. Now that I'm older I really want to get into gbfVS and am playing with an old playstation controller. Long story short my directional inputs are getting fudged a lot and it's because the d-pad on this controller is solid and it's registering other directions on a single button if I happen to be tilting it slightly the other direction.

Part of me thinks if I play with this controller it will make me really disciplined but another part of me is afraid that this controller will frustrate me enough to drop fighters all together. Should I keep playing on this one? Is this normal? Any recommendations for good controllers/anything that could be good for a beginner?

I eventually wanna get super high ranked and put in time with fighters just for personal accomplishment. Also I really don't like using sticks and much prefer buttons or a D-pad