Does ANYONE play fighting games with directional buttons?

[EverythingWillSuck]

Seriously. It just seems fucking impossible to even attempt.

A while ago I was at a friend's house playing SFA3 for the first time and jesus, my thumb feels like it's being burnt to a crisp. I was able to play normally, but it was just painful to execute anything.

I know that game's pretty old (might've been before the Dualshock, I could be wrong) but I remember playing Guilty Gear Isuka once and from what I remember, there was no analog option in that game (maybe my controller was fucked up, too :/ ). Thing is, is there anyone who plays using directional buttons, and how do they prefer it to analog style?