To my analyses I believe Sega lost it ever since the Genesis/Megadrive add-ons. They and non of any further of their products lived anything close, to my knowledge. The first gen. Saturn game pad is my best classic controller choice, tho, yet it still did not get a mode/select button. Such game pad with two more shoulder buttons and a a select button would be phenomenal for classic games, and two analog sticks could be interesting for newer classic games, but I wonder how it would look like then haha.
Yeah, heard about the Forces Sonic. GameSpot gave mania 9/10. I have a strange feeling Forces won't get more than 6-7, and I hope I'm wrong. Now, that would be awkward!
The Game Gear was kinda successful, if we speak handheld.