I know this stuff sounds obvious but with the amount of time we have all put into these games this is something we should be considering more.
Tables
I think setting your stick on a table with a way to rest your arms should be a must. i don’t do this, i rest it on my knees. not only am i putting loads of stress on my wrists, but you are also putting pressure on your legs. there is some starcraft dude called incontrol who had to get rushed to the hospital because he sat down too long and something happened to his legs. they said getting up and walking around every once in awhile can resolve this. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for table height, and a good way to rest the arms without hurting your elbows.
Stick Vs. Controller
I seem to always get serious cramps in my hands when using a controller. I get serious pains in my wrist when playing on a stick that does not have a slanted edge. I would recommend switching to a stick just for this reason but perhaps other players don’t experience this like I do.
A good seat
Make sure there is a solid back. tv should be placed at eye level. a computer desk with office chair (with arm supports) would almost work if you raised the arm supports a little and somehow had a better bridge for your wrists. Sitting on the floor seems like a horrible idea.
Anything else we should be considering? my wrists are really not in a good state and I would like to improve my setup.
Playing with a stick is more comfortable than pad for a ton of games, especially faster games like 3rd Strike. Maybe you should make a video if you can of how you play, just showing your hands and wrists. Theres this documentary called Here Comes A New Challenger, and the guy had the worst handling of a stick Ive ever seen. Its at the 12 minute part if you can find it out there.
As for tables and putting a stick on your controller, dont worry about blood clots fro mthat. He obviously was sitting down without getting up for 6 or 8 plus hours, which causes the clots to happen even if his stick wasnt in his lap. Practicing in your lap is good for you to be in control of the stick and not being erratic with your motions. A thing James Chen brings up a lot is how arcade players took a long time to transition to having the sticks in their laps since the machines are so heavy you can be as violent with your motions but it wont cause the machine to fall over and so they were having a hard time playing with a much much lighter set up. Sitting with the stick on the ground is like similar to playing on a arcade cabinet though.
Having an ergonomically-sound setup would unquestionably be preferable in terms of longterm health considerations. The problem here is that this is anywhere from inconvenient to unfeasible for people who play competitively outside of their own home.
I think most tournament players would rather get comfortable playing the way they have to at most tournaments: sit in chair, stick on lap. Honestly, the biggest ergonomic decision I see players make at tourneys and gatherings is to not sit on the floor.
I do love seeing when people have brought their own stands with them, though. And everyone loves seeing some milk crates and bungee cords.
Get two chairs (just generic chairs), and have them facing each other (touching, as close as possible). Put the stick on the chair closest to the monitor, and sit on the edge of the chair farthest from the monitor (you’ll have to put one leg over the whole thing to sit down). You have to manually sit up straight (no seatback sitting on the edge of a chair), but it should be easier on your wrists.
This should work at most tournaments because it just requires one more chair. I ended up not using it though, because I wasn’t comfortable playing that far away from the monitor- but you might try it and see if it works for you.
(I tried playing on the floor, looking up is so awkward…)
Do you do an exercise regimen? Maybe slowly strengthening the wrists will help?
It’s so you can hit the “Up” button with your right thumb. You can press Up and attack buttons at the same time (with the same hand), which makes it less awkward to perform Flash Kick/Tiger Knees/360s/etc.
I am a little upset that Hori, Mad Catz, et al. do not make any sticks that are inclined/have a grade to them. Keyboards have an incline; arcade cabinets have an incline; the old yellow Namco arcade stick had an incline; but all of the new commercial sticks are completely flat. I guess people are just used to it, but it seems unintuitive to me, especially considering how the legs slope downward when you are sitting, and thus the stick angles downwards as well (lovely when the edge bites into your wrists)…
Or maybe all these guys wear platform shoes. Or have really long calves.
I don’t know…
Pad players are like wizards to me. They must have thumbs of steel that make them immune to the pain of doing repetitive motions. Also, you’ll want to be comfortable using a stick in various situations. Whether it’s less than arm’s length of another player, standing up, on a barstool, in your lap, or on a candy cab there are multiple situations in which you may find yourself using a stick.
It’s no different than using a lawn mower for awhile. At first, your hands aren’t used to it and you might get a blister or something. But then after a week or two, your hands get used to it and you no longer feel any discomfort. At this point, the only way for my thumbs to find any pain in using pad is of I just quit playing fighters and anything that uses a d-pad for like, a month, maybe even more.
Also I’m fine playing in most situations, I just don’t like it when people stand directly behind me, I get paranoid and can’t focus.
He did a review saying it was too good. It made a ton of hard to do moves in Tekken way easier to pull off. Itll make you do moves quicker than a stick user will. Think like in 3rd Strike with the parry, all you have to do is press your finger to do it, instead of having to control the stick with your hand properly for the right timing. Elena’s dance super would be way way way way easier to do with the Hitbox than a pad or stick. I wouldnt call it cheating, but it does give you a way bigger advantage that I dont think stick users have over pad players.
If the hitbox was so godlike, they would be bodying stick and pad users all the time and it would be a major epidemic. I have yet to even see footage of a hitbox user even winning a tournament. Also, why would you take anything Aris says seriously?
the only problem with the two chairs is that your stick is sitting below your knees now… i think it should be in between your stomach and your titties.
i think some stretching would be a great idea. this looks good enough
never even considered slanted tops. lets go into business together! blow the market up
i still dont really understnad why you would use your right thumb to press up for a flash kick because dont you already have a finger on your left hand dedicated to each direction? i think i would play way better on a hitbox than a stick, stick still feels a bit weird to me (even though i am now much better on stick than controller, it has a lot more to do with the button size/layout) i still jump instead of walk forward by accident the odd time. my motion inputs are still fairly crappy (i only play honda really but starting to learn cammy). i hold the stick kind of weird, upside down triangle, thumb on the bottom, middle top left, index top right. the way i dash is pretty horrendous i basically take my hand off and tap with middle/index for forward or tap with thumb for back.
I played pad for years because most of my playing started on ps1 and snes. trips to the arcade were seldom. i started sf4 vanilla on pad. i just switched to stick about a 2 years ago. the issue for me was not actually damaging the skin on the thumb (got a solid callous), it was (and still is, just got ssf4 on 3ds lol) the actual muscle in my hand getting sore (moreso from charge characters)
Eh, we shouldnt turn this thread into a hitbox debate thread. Mainly Id say the reason its not a problem is because the best players arent using it. You still have to be able to get the most out of it. Aris mentioned one guy who won a MK tournament with it.
If your wrists does hurt, then the Hitbox would be a great controller to use since all you do is use your fingers. Try it out.
