HitBox Review (PS3)

Tech Talk
1

Ok so here is my huge rant on the Hitbox! I’ll start off with the cons as the list is huge!

Cons with the ordering process:

  1. I ordered a black hitbox and requested Green and Blue buttons. I got a confirmation email from Shawn Huffer stating “I’ve reviewed your box and it will be shipping tomorrow morning! (It looks nice by the way)” thus confirming my request. I received my hitbox today and I ended up with a generic white hitbox. I can’t even believe they screwed up the SKU of their own product!! Moreover, the fun doesn’t stop here! The guy who assembled the hitbox didn’t screw on the cover properly. Two screws were put in crooked and the guy chipped the cover twice, one for each screw. He even left the screws crooked and shipped it chipped … WTF!

  2. If you live in Canada, expect it to take a while to ship, probably 2 weeks which isn’t so bad. The bad part is that when it comes, expect to pay a $30 customs fee!!

Pros with the ordering process:

  1. Shawn Huffer seems polite when you talk with him via email.

  2. The thing came bubble wrapped along with plastic water bottles along the sides so that the stick wouldn’t shift around in a standard shipping box.

Onto using the Hitbox for Fighting games
I play fighting games mainly with my PS3 pad … I feel most comfortable with it, but I also play with a TE MVC3 stick which I’m getting better at. I am no slouch on the pad due to MVC2 MSP. Over many years I learned how to perform MSS combos. I use the pad because I feel that I block better with it however my execution isn’t as good as when I’m on my stick. On a stick, I have trouble blocking teleport mixups in MVC3 as I sometimes don’t put the stick high enough to block high. I figured I’d order a Hitbox to get best of both worlds.

If you have fast input then the hitbox is NOT for you! I found that I had to slow it down so that inputs would come out properly on the hitbox. Entering qcf, and dp motions are a breeze but when it comes to hcf, tks, and 360’s or 720’s, its a giant pain. You need to slow it down. There is a video on the hitbox website which shows someone entering in 720’s with Gief … its easy to do in training mode, but when you are playing against a friend or online, don’t expect the inputs to come out properly. If you are like me and when the hype meter goes through the roof and your inputs get extremely fast, the Hitbox is your worst nightmare! There is also a video of some storm combos and as as storm user, I can say that having a button for up is extremely helpful.

Please note: I’ve been only experimenting with the Hitbox for about 3 hours and these are my general impressions. I find if you are using a pad and want to transition then going to a stick is easier than the Hitbox. I’m about to email Shawn Huffer with my complaint, and I’m interested in his response.

My advice: Consider a stick over a hitbox first. If you have money to shell out, buy both and see which one you like or find someone who has one or the other and try it out. When you view tourneys on Twitch.Tv or Justin.Tv … just note that there is a reason why most of the people there are using sticks and not Hitboxes! Also, I wouldn’t trust the reviews on Hitbox’s main web site. Of course they are going to put amazing reviews which I currently feel are fabricated to some extent.

I’d like to end off comparing the money I shelled out for each.
Hitbox costed me $200 USD + 30 CAD for Cusotoms fee so roughly $230+ CAD. Shipped in sub par packaging with a broken cover and the wrong color.

MVC3 TE stick cost me $161.21 CAD with 20% discount applied. Shipped with amazing packaging and best of all, not broken! :slight_smile: It came faster as well with no customs fee since I ordered it from the gameshark store.

Respects due:
Shoutouts to Spooky for his hard work and dedication to the scene, Yipes for godly commentary, Combofiend for BIONIC ARRRMMMMM!!! and J.Wong who I’ve respected since I met him at Orbitz in P.mall a long time ago as he bodied me in MVC2.

2

For those wondering, here is a snapshot of the 2 chips on the Hitbox.

3

That’s normal, it’s neither a stick or a pad, you have to learn again. In the end it will be the same.

4

Happy hitbox customer here, I’m pretty confused about a lot of your points:

It seems that there was obviously a mix up with your order, and I’m confident that a simple email to Hitbox would fix you up with the right box free of charge(last I herd of something like this, he even pays for shipping).

You didnt clarify why you paid $200 for the Hitbox. It’s $160 on their site, I paid $177 total with tax+shipping.

You use the hitbox for less than a day and you cant execute moves quickly and it’s the fault of the device?

I would suggest you talk to the makers and use the device for more than 3 hours before going online and posting a review =p.

5

I did email Shawn. I am currently talking with him about the issue. He did offer for me to ship the box back to him and he would send me the one I requested. To be civil about the whole thing, I have requested that he just send me a black cover and top so that I may un-screw the current one and put on a black one. This way, I can keep my Hitbox at home and he doesn’t have to pay double shipping fees and the cost of producing a new Hitbox. He hasn’t gotten back to me yet.

I live in Canada, shipping is more expensive ($40). Moreover, Canada customs must check packages as they enter Canada. This is not communicated on the Hitbox website. Customs charged me $30 CAD. Hence $230+

Had I wanted to deceive people I would not have stated that I’ve only used the device for 3 hours. My review was of my first impressions. What I didn’t say in the review was that I use to play a lot of games on Mame and over Kaillera online. I have a ton of keyboard experience. I thought the Hitbox would come faster to me but it hasn’t. I use to use the space bar as up and my num-pad for attack inputs hence, I use to use a very similar layout to the Hitbox. I know that I need to develop muscle memory for hcf’s, 360’s, and tk’s. My overall point was that it is easier to perform these moves on a stick than on the hitbox due to the flow of the motion of a stick. Also, on a stick you don’t really need to worry too much about the speed of your input, just as long as you hit your timing on your attack button(s). On a hitbox, you must worry about the speed as well as the timing. However, qcf and dp motions are much faster on a hitbox than a stick, especially qcfx2 motions which are required for 3rd Strike. Parrying also seems pretty tight on a Hitbox.

The Hitbox has its pros and cons just like any other device. I feel that it lends itself to players who use characters that just require qcf and dp motions. I don’t care much about hcf or 360’s but tk’s are essential.

Later on, I want to test the Hitbox with KoF XIII as well as MBAACC which just came out :).

6

I figured I just give a small update to this.

I plan on returning the hitbox tomorrow. Shawn really feels that he must correct the problem with a brand new hitbox. Shawn gracefully placed $40 in my PayPal to pay for the return shipping. Hopefully all goes well. Apparently the acrylic cracking is an issue that some have experienced.