what is the best arcade controller?

[MONKEY Snake]

My budget is 42 bucks

[Emerald Lance]

You can't get one for that price afaik.

[Muguen]

Maybe a second hand Qanba Drone ?
I would not trust any new one you could buy on that budget, sadly.

[Red]

42 bucks is barely enough for a regular controller these days, so imagine for an arcade stick... The best you can get at that price is likely second hand sticks, and IIRC there's also a pretty cheap mini Hori stick around $30 (but it's probably not really high quality). Beyond that you also have leverless sticks and some of these can be rather cheap as well.

[Buster]

The best arcade stick is the one you learn to build yourself.

[Bnuuy]

You can get a cheap leverless from Aliexpress starting at ~25-28 bucks. If you save 10 bucks more you can get the cheapest Haute42 leverless

[Red]

Originally posted by Buster:

The best arcade stick is the one you learn to build yourself.

"Depends". I tried making my own years ago and it was fine (and still is), but it also had its fair share of downsides since it was my first time building something like that. It's now much easier to build one thanks to specialised stores making epoxy cases, custom-made panels and DIY kits, but it's still expensive and I'd only really recommend it to people who have already played using arcade sticks, know they want one, and have a solid idea of the layout and parts they want (the latter specifically for custom front panels or if using specific joysticks that need extra room).
I switched to a prebuilt stick about a year ago (Hori Fighting Stick Alpha) and I don't have too many complaints about it, so they remain solid options too and especially for people who don't know exactly what they need. But I know I'll eventually build a new one even though that one is pretty close to what I wanted (Noir layout my beloved).

Originally posted by Bnuuy:

You can get a cheap leverless from Aliexpress starting at ~25-28 bucks. If you save 10 bucks more you can get the cheapest Haute42 leverless

Leverless is a good bet for lower budgets yeah, there are plenty of options even on Amazon. And some of the cheapest ones seem to still have actually good buttons (Gamerfinger) from what I've seen? One of the main potential issues is compliance with tournament rules (in particular for the SOCD setup) but I'd bet OP isn't there yet.