Leverless controllers are fairly popular. Supposedly more ergonomic and precise than an arcade stick or pad controller, more portable than the stick, and better to use than a keyboard.

It is a fairly large learning curve if you’ve already played fighting games with another input method, but after building some new muscle memory, you’ll realize that your understanding of the game is still intact. There are also some really good “shortcuts” in input methods to get precise, just-frame inputs, allowing you to input opposite directions just 1 frame apart, with no stick travel time.