Okay, I’m very new to the fighting genre. The only fighting game I’ve ever spent time with before is Smash. Sorry if I’m coming off as a total noob here, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
A friend talked me into getting the new Street Fighter 2 Arcade game for 360, and I think it’s awesome. I went ahead and picked up a Hori EX2 for pretty cheap… but I’m having some problems with it, namely the stick itself.
The problem I’m having with it is that the “bounding box” that dictates how far you can move the stick from the deadzone is square shaped, with the edges being the diagonals. Because of this, I can’t feel where exactly the stick is when trying to push it straight up, down, forwards or backwards. I’m jumping without meaning to, and I can’t do quarter circle turns for the life of me (I’m playing as Cammy).
For the meantime, I’m using a 360 controller’s joystick since the d-pad’s really bad.
I took the stick apart, and the bounding box is dense plastic that can be cut. I want to round out the box so that it’s a perfect circle, that way I can feel which way I’m pressing the stick and stop fucking up royally whenever I try to do anything.
I understand that the EX2 is notorious around here for sucking. Is it because of the bounding box? If not, do most sticks have square bounding boxes, or do they have corners for all 8 directions? I’m trying to scope out if I should try modding the Hori or just go for another stick altogether.
Any other advice would be appreciated.
(I did a quick search looking for info on square bounding boxes, but came up with nothing. Sorry if there’s already a thread on this!)
If i understand what you’re saying correctly, you’re talking about the restrictor.
Sanwa sticks can replace their restrictor plate with different shapes.
The JLF series of sticks can do 8-way restrictor (I have one of these and enjoy it), and the JLW series can do a fully-round restrictor
You could mod the stick with a real sanwa JLF or JLW, however, most people will tell you that you should actually just get used to the square gate, because it’s actually the best thing for you in most cases. You’ll be able to get the hard parts (the diagonals) much easier on a square gate, and you should learn to use up/down/left/right without relying on the restrictor.
The stick included in the HORI is hated, not because of the restrictor, but for the overall build quality and “feel”. A sanwa stick would improve that greatly, to those who are picky (myself included).
So, mod away if that’s what you like. I would actually recommend the JLF with an 8-way, if you want to mod. =)
Because of this, I can’t feel where exactly the stick is when trying to push it straight up, down, forwards or backwards.
I don’t get why a square gate would be causing that problem, I mean sure some people think it’s too restrictive but for it to be disorienting while playing is something I don’t get. In fact a square gate is advantageous because it’s easier to find corners and execute with it.
Hmmm, are you sure the problem isn’t being new to sticks and fighting games and not the square gate?
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I just want to clarify this because I see this mistake all the time.
4-way refers only to the number of directions the stick can take inputs on (up, down, left, right). In addition to these directions, 8-way includes (up-forward, down-forward, up-back, down-back).
The point is that it is incorrect to say that a Square gate is 4-way and that an Octagon is 8-way. They are both 8-way.
This. Considering he admits newness to the genre, he probably has clocked little to no hours on arcade sticks in the past, so this seems highly likely. But in all honesty, it might be wise to still drop out the stock stick with the quickness, and putting in a Sanwa JLF.
And jump in practice mode, and practice your inputs.
analog sticks are HORRIBLE for street fighter, even the dpad is better imo. either way that doesnt matter because you should be using your stick.
yes a square motion restricting gate is stupidly unintuitive for a game with 8 directional inputs, but it really isnt that bad once you get a feel for it. just move the stick to where you think forward/back/up/down is and chances are you probably got it right. although it feels like youre going to miss the diagonals if you dont push the stick all the way, you dont really need to do that to get the input to register.
like others have said you can change the square to an octagon by buying a part and drilling 4 holes in it. however dont think that your execution problems are just going to go away with a change in hardware.
also spend some time in training mode just figuring out how to control your character and doing the special moves. once you get a feeling of what you have to do to get your char to do what you want the square restrictor wont bother you anymore. then you can start using other kinds of arcade sticks (like american ones with circle gates) and find out which kind suits you the best.
Coming from experience. Starting with a bad stick is not a good idea and even a novice can tell the difference. Though my first stick was the horrendous Hori FS2.
OP, keep at it man. Just practice, practice and then practice some more. Practice so much that you release the endorphins. It takes about a month or so and you should start to see yourself getting noticeably better.
Thanks for all the help you guys have given me so far.
To clear my problem up, I’m having no problem getting to diagonals, I’m instead having trouble getting to directions that don’t have a corner.
I’m going to try and work with the square restrictor for now. Thanks guys.
Now, if I do decide that I don’t like the Hori and want to make a custom stick, will I be able to use the circuitry from the hori with parts from Lizard Lick? Just looking to save a few pennies.
Alnd one last question, if I decide to get a PS3 and 360 stick from Arcadeinabox, can I use restrictors from Lizard Lick to figure out which one I like best?
all right I guess I get it. What I imagine is happening is something like you hit a diagonal such as :u::r: and from there if you wanted to go to the up position what you’re trying to do is go from :u::r: to :u: in a circle motion but with a square gate if you want to go from :u::r: to :u: you simple move the stick to the right and dont have to press up at all and that feels unintuitive. To that I counter that you shouldn’t be riding the gate so hard. You don’t need to go so far that you hit the gate, only far enough that the motion registers. I play t. hawk so I keep my motions as compact as possible.
It is true that if you get an octagon gate that the :u::d::l::r: directions will be farther so that could help you out if what I describe is indeed your problem. Yes you could reuse that PCB and if you order a sanwa stick you automatically get a square gate so if you do order one you should get the octagonal gate separately so you can compare the two.
I think my problem’s a little bit different than what you’re saying: Example - doing a quarter circle forward ends with me not pressing forward or going too far and jumping.
For example, with a controller joystick, I can feel which way is directly east because of the curve and fixed position of my thumb. With a square, the restrictor is flat and my arm isn’t held in place, so it’s hard for me to feel which direction is directly east, causing me to move the stick too far north or south accidentally.
Hope that makes more sense.
I guess I’ll have to just learn my way around the stick. I’ve played Halo 1 competitively, so I know that mastering the mechanics of some games simply requires good old practice and skill, so I’m not going to give up on the square just because it feels awkward at first.
well the only thing a square gate could be contributing to your problems is that the left, right, up, down distances are shorter than the diagonal distances, and your best bet it to mod the stick to accept an octagon gate but I think the problem is you’re new to stick and need practice and not so much the gate.
i would do the same thing when i was starting out on stick. especially supers. qcf, qcf+P would leave me jumping in the air every time. slow down the motion and do it comfortably over and over in practice mode. it will take months of playing before it’s locked into muscle memory and you can do it at a speed comparable to what you can do on a pad, but it will come and you will stop jumping at some point down the line.
and the octagon gate does have defined points in all directions, but moving from down to diagonal to forward doesn’t feel as smooth as square gate. square gate you probably won’t hit that bottom corner on the gate, where as octagon you grind along the gate. luckily the octagon gate is fairly cheap, so definitely try them both.