Kerb

its a fairly niche thing, mostly used for fighting games.

most fighting games are, at least to some extend, based on streetfighter 2, a game that released on arcade hardware, before analogue sticks were a thing.
so most fighting games can be played just fine without analogue sticks.

most enthusiasts played on arcade style controllers, where the stick works more like a dpad on modern controllers.
but some players started switching from sticks to a 4 directional button “leverles” setup.
some say that it is more ergonomic or more precise.

there is a learning curve to using it, but that is imo verry dependent on what controller you used before, and how you think about it.

every time i hear about the super bowl its people talking about the halftime show and the commercials.

THE biggest American Football event,
and aparently still nobody gives a crap about the actual game ?!?