They’re typically used for fighting games (mainly to speed up inputs and use input directions usually unavailable due to the physical limitations of joysticks/thumbpads) and rhythm games (some of the button only controllers are smaller than the usual ones used for those kind of games).
I personally haven’t for the same reasons why avoid stick after trying that for a while. I have crappy wrists so I tend to stick to joypad. If I do get something dedicated in the future it would most likely be a Saturn-style pad.
