I too switched to this stick from a fightpad a month or so ago…
and i went from “worrying abt tactics” and degraded to “worrying abt execution”…sigh
esp CS x FADC x ultra, it was damn easy to do on a pad for me (after many many years of refusing to use a stick) and now i can barely FADC out out a CS 50% of a time, let alone completing the ultra.
I keep trying and trying in training mode, but i hardly see any improvement… i can do the standalone moves, its just in a swift combo motion that gets me… damn muscle memory not working!
Yeah, the toughest thing for going from pad to stick when it comes to combos is timing - it feels different since you’re using your entire left hand instead of just a thumb for directions. Maybe just break it down even more till you get that timing down (eg, just practice CS FADC on its own until it’s second nature before adding the Ultra)?
Just gotta keep grinding it out in practice till you actually build muscle memory for using a joystick… Good luck!
I’m trying, theres always the temptation to go back to the fightpad… but i know i would have wasted my weeks of trying to train my muscle memory. argh! must preserve!
Coming to the point where I say the square gate sucks compared to good old octo. Seriously the square gate has the been the cause of more screw ups than I can count. Yes I know don’t ride the edge, but then I have to idea if I even hit the inputs
Ok, so… TE stick is kind of hard.
I could CS, FADCb Ultra from the Right side… (like 30% of the time) but its doable, Left side feels unnatural … Perhaps its the way I’m holding my stick?
Also, I know that you don’t have to hit the edges, but it seems to be easier for Cannon Spikes. After 4-5 months of playing, I still don’t think I can consistently land Close.Standing.HP xx Cannon Spike. What motions do you guys do? (I usually punish with the MUCH easier c.mk xx h.SA.
I usually just do Focus Attack, TK CS, CloseStandingHP xx H.SA (instead of H.Cannon Spike).
But now, I want to be able to Cl.St.HP xx CS xx FADC xx Ultra.
How do you guys do it? I’m usually stuck in the downback position when I play cammy (so I haven’t really developed anti air reactions… )
(Mainly) CloseStandingHP xx CS.
^- do you also do that as a Punishment when a Shoryuken wiffs? I’m not sure of the timing, since when I try it, I get stuffed by another Shoryuken…
So yeah. how do you guys buffer the CS? Touching corners, or a slight flick of the wrist?
for s.cl.HP, CS
:r:+:hp:, :d::df:+:hk:
i dont have much time to elaborate on this (im at work 
)… anyways thats how i do it… (i use TE stick also, and used to play on HRAP3 on ps3 also)
If you can do the close hp into spiral arrow you can easily do it into cannon spike, ending it in arrow is much more difficult. Just hold forward during the hp like Olympian said. Although to be honest I’d usually punish a whiffed shoryuken with a cr.mk into spiral arrow, those darn shotos recover to quickly to risk getting to close.
As for any kind of combo that has cannon spike to ultra on the player 1 side, its the work of the devil, I’ve spent so much time practicing it and I still continue to mess it up. I’ve gotten better at it recently but I can still miss it when it matters. I so wanted her second ultra to be useful so I didn’t need to master that lol I know what my problem is on the player 1 side though, I end my motions slightly to early, if I want to do a quarter-circle forward I’ll usually end at :df: instead of :r:, or if I want :uf: I’ll end at :r: haha. Its not that I mean to end them early but it feels like I’ve moved the stick to the correct position.
Although there has been times when I couldn’t use my TE stick and had to use a friend’s old beat up hori stick on his 360 and I was hitting the spike into ultra every single time. So maybe I should just get one of the smaller hori sticks!
I’m using the TE stick. The quarter circle problem has pretty much gone away since I posted that. Not really sure what I’ve changed except maybe exaggerating the corners a bit subconsciously. I don’t know if there’s a minimum amount of time that both down and forward need to be activated together to register as a diagonal or what.
WetWookie,
for the quarter circle forward (or back), try a flick of the stick. You don’t have to touch the edges. Go to training mode, turn input on, and just flick it (from down to forward position). You should hear some clicks to know it went from down to downforward to forward. Just keep trying in training mode (perhaps switch to Ryu and throw Hadokens)
For cl.s.hp xx CS:
If you’re using a stock TE stick with a square gate, you can do :r:+:hp:, :df: :r:+:k:. Since it’s a square gate, you can slide the stick down to :df: and back up to the :r: position along the right (or left) side of the gate. In practice this amounts to a quick down/up flick of the stick, with the gate guiding you.
Yes, as much as “don’t ride the gate” is good advice for QCFs and other rolling motions, do ride the gate for SRKs. For any motions that ends on a diagonal, use the square gate to your advantage - I do it for C.Spike and TKCS, in particular.
icrossj: If you’re having trouble doing Spikes out of crouch block, you can try doing d/f, d/b, d/f, riding the bottom of the gate the entire way. It sounds goofy, but with shortcut motions it works. Plus, you do it out of crouching, which means your hitbox is smaller and you’re less likely to get hit by a jump-in.
Another good tip is not to let SF4 get you sloppy on your inputs…once shortcuts are gone your going to feel the pain
I always seem to have trouble doing inputs from the left hand side of the screen, for some reason my ultra inputs don’t come out as good and i tend mess my FADC from that side when trying to dash forward…i need to really just sit in training mode and work on it, but i still feel more comfortable on the right. It’s obvious to on some of my fights where i might kick a guys butt the first round end up gettin on the left hand side of the screen and just screwing up inputs, just something i gotta work on
In my case, I just switched the gate back to octo. I am weak and I need the edges lol
How do you ride the gate for TKCS? The way I do it is :qcb::uf:+:k: , which is a very odd motion and took a long time to get used to. The only gate riding I do is that I trained myself to slide the stick into the corner if I hit :u: instead of :uf:
Yeah, for DPs, hitting the edge of the stick is fine. In fact, the square gates help DPs a lot, because you can really make sure you stop at :df: really easily thanks to the corners. The “don’t ride the edges” thing is mostly for Fireball and Circle motions.
As for doing moves facing both directions, one thing to learn is that different things on the joystick require different “grips.” So for example, when doing an FADC, I will hold the stick lightly in my hands, do the DP motion, then LET GO OF THE STICK and tap it twice with my palm for the dash, and immediately go back to holding the stick in my hand again for the follow up Special Move. When facing the other direction, then I let go of the stick and tap twice with my thumb to dash left.
Again, different people do it differently, so try and do what IS most comfortable for you, but keep in mind that to use the joystick properly, you will be doing a lot of things that require you to change grips and such. Use the fact taht the joystick springs back to the middle to your advantage.
And for Stand Fierce into DP, I ALWAYS do the standing move with the joystick at neutral. Right when I hit the button, then I quickly do a DP motion. And make sure to use multiple fingers for hitting the buttons. If I do Stand Fierce into Roundhouse DP, I use my middle finger on Fierce and index finger on Roundhouse. Etc. etc.
Maybe one of these days, I should just record my hands. 
- James
James, thanks a lot for your tips … I built my custom sanwa stick three days ago, using your suggestions I use it almost perfect now.
The best tip: Move it smoothly.
so i FINALLY opened my HRAP3 and finished modding it with Sanwa buttons… SWEET thing… 100% billion years better than the originally buttons that came with the stick…
now all i need is a new artwork… and im thinking of changing or trying octagonal gate this time around…
“JLF-TP-8YT-SK Ball Handle Joystick, 4 & 8-Way Adjustable” << i will probably get this one… :wonder:
Octagonal gate feels like a loose whore… you just reminded me i need to sell my hrap3
With the square at least for me I have to fight it on everything I do. In my case octo gate is better simply because I can actually get stuff down most of the time, square gate just makes me spike everywhere, like I said before I kinda need the edges and this hoses me with a square gate. Use whichever gate works best for you imo.