Somebody please explain this to me, cause I’m hearing about it more than ever now.
I’ve heard a lot about it over the years, but with SF4 out now and with a lot of new/casual players getting into SF, I always hear rants/cries about how people that use arcade sticks are at an advantage over pad warriors.
When I was @ work during one of the GameStop tourneys, a good amount of entrants were rejoicing about how “gay arcade stick users” (yes, a few people called them that) we’re barred from competing, and a lot of them heckled at their disappointment when they heard the ruleset.
I’ve also had my fair share of “damn stick user” ragemessages over Xbox Live. What the hell!
As far as I see it, it’s a matter of preference and comfort, not a matter of one os clearly better to use than the other, which is why we have Tekken cabs with PS2 ports. I know a ton of people that destroy others with pads, as well.
Opinion thread go. Do stick users have an advantage over pad users?
It is not a matter of opinion, really. Sticks let you press buttons faster thanks to the fact that you can use all the fingers in your hand to press buttons while with a pad you are restricted to your thumb unless you put the pad on your leg and use your fingers that way, but then it becomes harder to access the shoulder buttons.
4(or 5 if you use your thumb too) fingers is faster than just the thumb, making a lot of things easier to do in a fighting game. Now, stick or pad is of very little importance as motions are relatively easy to do on either one if you have the execution required.
It really all comes down to the button presses, which is way faster on a stick and one can not argue that.
The real advantage from a stick comes from the button layout, which makes kara throwing/roll canceling/negative edge/PPP much easier to do. Everything else is just experience/practice and preference.
But then again, I play both pad and stick, so maybe I’m just biased.
I’d add charge characters to that, but like you said yourself its preference. I started out playing 3S on a pad and have become so accustomed to it that I can quite easily transfer from stick to pad without a hitch. Both have advantages in different ways to different users and whilst I like the emphasis put on sticks, I don’t think people should be discouraged from using one or other, unless they really want to make that move. The pad and mouse/keyboard FPS argument on the other hand is a very different story ie. the pad is crap…total crap.
I was agreeing with you all up until the point you said that the pad is crap for FPS. What the hell are you talking about? I’m sick of people saying that the mouse/keyboard is better than the pad for FPS. Thats some bullshit.
yep mouse just beats the accurary and speed of controllers. but now to the actual topic.
Since this must’ve been discussed over 9000 times now, i’ll just say as everyone does: It depends on your preferences (but i assume a great arcade stick is the real thing if you don’t have a really awesome pad).
To be honest…I think it depends on how a gamer starts out.
I started playing FPS games on keyboard/mouse because back then, there were no FPS on console. For me it wasn’t easy, but I learned and got used to it. Now, I can’t see myself playing FPS games on console unless they support keyboard/mouse.
Same thing with pad/stick. I grew up playing 2D style fighters on arcade sticks, so I’m used it that. I can still play fighters on some pads…but I reeally think that the 360 control pad was NOT made for fighters in mind.
That’s so much bullshit. First off with a pad your thumb and fingers will be right on the buttons the whole time, so all you have to do is press. With sticks your fingers will be above the buttons (not on them like pads) so you have to come down to press.
Also, movement is faster on pad because there’s no dead space between like sticks have.
It IS all a matter of preference. MANY Tekken players are pad players, and many of them are top players (Crow, Arario etc).
There’s no fucking advantage. If there was those pad players should be able to pick up a stick and INSTANTLY become 1.5x better.
Arcade Stick doesn’t give you an advantage unless your opponent is an arcade stick player too who is forced to play on pad. That being said, just because you’re using a stick it doesn’t mean you become a great and better player at all. So having an arcade stick is only an advantage if you’re good at using it and your opponent is a pure stick user whos forced to play on pad. (like me for example at the gamestop round 2 tournament, except it was the other way around. my opponent in semi finals was a local pad warrior i knew, and he whooped my ass on the pad)
You rest your thumb right in the middle of all four face buttons (either that or you have a huge thumb)? That doesn’t seem like a very accurate way to hit them…
The issue comes with 6-button (or god forbid 8-button) fighters, or any fighter that requires multiple inputs at once. It’s far easier to press two or three buttons at once on a stick than it is with a pad. And most stick players keep their fingers on or very close to the buttons anyway, so there definitely is not a speed difference when it comes to the time it takes to press a button.
You may move faster on pad, but (as far as my experience goes), it easier to be accurate on a stick, which is far more important than simple speed.
Not gonna dispute this. Play what you’re comfortable with. Just don’t spout misinformation, like this:
Yes, barring the fact that they may not be used to the stick, may not have the muscle memory for stick movements, etc. It’s totally unrealistic to assume that ANYONE should instantly become better just because they’re on a stick.
Is the stick superior? For me, yes. For others? It may not be.
Bare in mind I’m talking top level play here. Pads do not have the precision (DPI) of a mouse and keyboard combination. Sure, the pad can be used for FPSes, but its not in the same league.
