I’ve been playing fighting games religiously since I was a kid, but never got to actually “learn it” this year and this is why I decided to join you, Shoryuken fellas.
I’ve never had much access to arcade cabinets in my area because we don’t have a strong FG scene here, so I resorted to playing console ports. I’ve been a pad player all my life, but I managed to save enough to get myself a Hori Mini4. I’ve been enjoying the stick button response so far, it’s lighting fast, but I’m struggling with the stick motion a bit.
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All you charge players, how do you charge?** Do you hold and then release it into →? Or do you hold , then a 180º into forward (↓ →)? Both ways are effective, but I don’t nail it 100% of the times, I’m looking for the best execution here.
How do you position your hand while dashing? I’ve been using my middle finger to gently tap it forward and then I use it like a claw to tap backwards, but this takes a lot of time repositioning my hand.
Also, I’ve been struggling with critical arts. I can’t double hadouken for shit. :s
I’ve watched all videos on the newbies thread, but any other video about the subject or any other tip will be appreciated!
Read my post here on this forum titled “Critical Arts trouble”, same issues with the critical arts as you bro. About the charging it’s better to just charge back (if you’re standing) then just press forward and punch/kick, a fireball motion isn’t necessary and it’s more time consuming. However, you can charge while crouching also so you can like charge down back crouching and combo into the charge move. Also I might know the answer to these critical art issues, I think either we’re not doing the full fireball motions completely as in we end the second motion like this ️ instead of this ️, or were pressing the punch/kick button too soon.
I edited my first post here and mentioned charging back while crouching is possible to, but for example chun li’s fireball is a charge back and even though it’s expected its a resource that helps her none the less, depends on the character but like bison yea charging down back is necessary to surprise them. Good luck in that execution bro, we’ll get it sooner or later.
1. You want to go straight to the appropriate direction, skipping unnecessary inputs. If you are new to using a stick the hard thing is not finding the corners, but the middle of the straight sides, it takes a bit of practice but it’ll come naturally if you just stick with it. A bit more about general charging below.
It depends on the situation but charging downback(db) is the method to use. If your character happense to have multiple charge moves and one of the requires a back charge while the other requires a down charge, then you are charging for both moves at the same time. Sometimes you want to give up space then you can walk back and you are charging during this. Other ways to keep charge:
during jumps
during dashes
during attacks(during normals and specials, certain normals can also move you forward while you keep charging)
You don’t always have to charge all the time, it depends on the situation, but more often than not you want to have charge ready.
**2. **Simple things like jumping in the correct direction or dashing is difficult at first on a stick, eventhough they are supposedly very easy inputs. Anyway i dash like this, but you just have to find the most comfortable way.
When i’m Player 1 i dash to the right by positioning the first joints of my middle and index fingers next to the stick, i tap them pretty hard and fast consecutively. I have my hand positioned around the stick very loosely not even really holding it, i just want the joints of my finers to tap them properly.
When i’m dashing to the left i open up my hand enough so i can tap it confidently with my thumb. This is how i do it, i hold the stick between my ring and middle finger withthe side of my hand resting on the surface of the arcade stick. Other people hold the stick between their ring and pink, other holds the stick like a wineglass, so they might do it differently.
In short, just try stuff that feels comfortable, there is no “right” way.
Slight repositioning isn’t bad, as you are commited to the dash anyway during which you cna’t block or attack anyway. but you want to have a comfortable starting position for your hand to start the dash.
3. Go into training, turn on “key inputs”, this way you can see where you are messing up. The QCFx2 requires clean quarter circles, biggest mistak people make is not getting the first forward during the first qcf due to the speed the input it. You can fix this problem by exaggerating your motions, like aim almost for upforward during the first qcf. Otherwise it is just grinding it out.
A tip, though it may not apply to your character, is if a special move you cancel the Critical Art from also starts with a qcf input, you only have to do another qcf. Example, Ryu his cr.mk xx hadouken xx CA, you can input the qcf for the hadouken and then do another to get the Critical art. MOtions to the left mainly in the fingers and wrist while motions to the right are mainly done with the arm wrist and arm. So it isn’t unusual for people to say the prefer one side bove another.
Just gonna say it again, there is no trick or shortcut here, it is all about muscle memory, which you can only get by by grinding it out. Soon the challenges for the characters will be released so there will be plenty to practice during that and it is more fun than simply doing repetitive motions in training.
I main dictator and claw on most SF versions, and they both have charge back charge down attacks, so that’s why I went straight to the point. I charge on many occasions, such as you described, but I’m finding hard to down block and then forward. Finding the middle just to go forward is a little confusing to me just yet.
About dashing, gootecks dashes with his thumbs too but I can’t keep the speed and precision with my thumb. Tried it, but I kinda end up dashing-walking-walking-dashing-walking in a jerky way.
I have so much to practice in my stick that’s almost daunting. Any general tips for stick play improvement?
I had a lot of trouble at first like most but what got me was I wasn’t letting the stick come back to neutral. You don’t need to forcefully ride the gate every motion, if you lightly do the motion you can hear the stick click 3 times that’s all you need.
By letting the spring return the stick to neutral it halves the work your arm needs to do so it’s just two light quick rolls of the wrist. I practiced this technique with ryus light tatsu into CA. goal is a clean qcb and two clean qcf. Even if you don’t use Ryu almost everyone uses those motions and it’s really helped me a lot.
So supers now require you to fully complete the motions then right? No shortcuts like ending down forward/back, you have to complete the QCF or QCB. I’ve noticed this has given many people trouble as with any other games with supers I recall the motion window was pretty large.
Been practicing for a while, figured out I don’t have to drive the gate to center, I just have to lightly reset and do the motion again, just like you said!
Thanks for the tip!
For some reason, it’s easier for me to qcb then to qcf.
The best advice I can give you if you a serious about making the transition is: don’t switch back to pad when you get bodied. There will probably be numerous times where you lose and think “if I was on pad, I would have won easily”, but just fight the urge to switch back and ride it out. With time, you’ll get the hang of it
Thanks for the insight. Luckily I don’t have a competitive mindset (which is odd, because FCG is a competitive madness). I’m changing to stick just because it looks and feels fun to play with, like having a chance to emulate playing on an arcade cabinet often I never had when I was a kid.
I’ve been researching some stick material and some exercises, like training half-circles, qcf & qcb, full circles motions with the stick.
Also I’ve discovered that it’s easier to tech throw with a pinch motion (thumb + index), and V-Skill/V-Trigger with an erect finger (heh).
and then release it into →? Or do you hold 
→)? Both ways are effective, but I don’t nail it 100% of the times, I’m looking for the best execution here.
️, or were pressing the punch/kick button too soon.