I'm only now learning that replacing thumbsticks on controllers is a thing these days. Back when I was younger, I remember some kids talked about the stick on the Nintendo 64 controller breaking sometimes, and in that case they'd usually have to superglue it back on or buy a new controller altogether, but I never heard about people's PlayStation thumbsticks wearing out or getting busted. I suppose it's a pretty nifty thing, though, that you can get all these different ones that might suit you better. Actually, with the controllers these days, is it straightforward to just remove the thumbsticks to change them with other ones? I guess you'd have to take the whole controller apart, wouldn't you?

Also, whenever I play a game on an emulator, I find myself using the thumbstick more than the d-pad except in a few occasions where something feels awkward with it (replaying PlayStation game Granstream Saga after many years, I found it much easier to use the d-pad in battles, for example, but I'd use the thumbstick everywhere else).