For emulation to be accurate.
I tought so but let me tell you that this is a very complicated issue you getting into. I mean emulation and the proper gamepad is like looking for the holy grail.
First off, the MS SideWinder gamepad is a piece of shit and I'm glad you smashed it!
Futhermore, there is NO gamepad that will suite
all your needs. I tried to find the "magic" pad for 2D beat 'em ups like "Street Fighter Alpha 3" so I know what I'm talking about.
It really depends on your needs. If you need a pad for classic consoles like NES or SuperNES you are very good to go with original PSX pad in combination with a proper adapter. This pad is excellent for any non-special genres like shooters or jump'n'run games. Actually the PSX pad is just like the SNES pad with 2 more shoulder triggers and like the NES pad with far more buttons.

Speaking of button layout and digipad feeling.
For fighting games on the other hand you need a 6 button gamepad and a round digipad for smooth motions. The default Sega Saturn pad is the best pad in existence for this.
When you mainly into arcade gaming (no matter what genre) than you may want to invest some cash and get the real deal. A true arcade stick! The best stick would be the X-Arcade wich is available at
www.xgaming.com.
Well, you might be a bit confused now because of the "in depth" information posted. So for any special fancy needs or just a huge collection of quality controllers and adapters you should check out
www.lik-sang.com. They are professinals for gaming software and devices.