Hi All,
This is my 1st post here. Been lurking for a couple of weeks (trying to catch up on all the newbie threads; dang there’s a lot of info!).
I have an xbox 360 and I use one of the fight pads right now. Originally, I really liked how smooth the fight pad is, but I’m starting to notice it missing inputs or not reading the inputs correctly (like fwd. jumping input sometimes results in just a straight jump up. arrgggghhh annoying!).
I’ve been putting off going to a stick because at first I kind of didn’t like the stick, but I’m just wondering if its an issue of “getting used to” or not? Does anyone use fight-pads in tournament play (say like the EVO tournament coming up in July)? I’ve also been taking some time to realize most people here like to mod/build their own fight sticks with the Sanwa joysticks and buttons. Is that because they’re just more sensitive or??
Thanks all for any info given 
-Dustin
i think its just a matter of getting used to i guess, i grow up playing on the arcades so to me i cant play a fighting game with a controller, imo a stick is a lot more accurate than a controller. Also i think in tournaments everybody uses a stick, there might be a reason for that :wgrin: if you can affort one go for it.
I was in the same boat. Used a fightpad for a while and was frustrated that, especially with charge characters, it felt like it was still getting in the way of consistent execution on the directions. Jump up/jump forward was a particular sore point, but back-forward-back motions very frequently got diagonals mixed in. It’s totally arguable that it was as much my fault as it was the device, but still. I also found that using my thumb for movement was really fatiguing.
Got an SE stick off of eBay just recently, and I can totally recommend it if you have the means. My execution is still not up to scratch, but now when I blow a move it definitely feels much more like it’s my fault.
I find also that using the stick means that it’s more natural to use your fingers for the buttons (as oppposed to your thumb), meaning that it becomes much easier to do things like “piano-ing”; for characters like Chun Li, EX Lightning Legs comes out far more reliably.
try a stick and feel it yourself.
I grew up on arcades with circular gate so playing shotos on a HRAP3 (square gate) is taking a lil’ getting use to. on the other hand, my play improved alot on charged toons.
I have the same question about gamepad for tournaments. not like I’d ever make through the qualifying but I think so far the tournaments use sticks only. probably should ask someone that attended a tourny.
I just got my HRAP3 so waiting on the Sanwa buttons to arrive. I think sensitivity is one of the most obvious improvement ppl say about Sanwas. Other than that, I think it’s just preference. Whether you want to have a stick that shares 100% identify parts with a arcade or you just feel like having a custom look.
I can’t speak to the effectiveness of a stick yet since I’m still waiting for the parts for my first custom, but I can definitely say from experience that the fightpad is a real piece of junk. The dpad is certainly more comfortable to use than the 360/PS3 default pad, but the accuracy of the thing is god awful. Like you said, it has an insuperable tendency to randomly (and frequently!) miss diagonals, so you’ve got something like a 30% chance to jump straight up instead of diagonally or get caught crouching instead of low guarding. I finally got sick of it last night, I’m going to wind up using the thing as the PCB for my stick since it’s common ground. That’ll show it whose boss.
try out the stick if you dont like it then give it to me :bgrin:
Too be honest i’ve just given up on the pad for the same reason. i spent my childhood playing arcades. but i have never invested in a stick.
I’ve spent since the PSOne era playing on pads and most recently the fightpad on 360.
But i dont know if its me getting older and my thumb can no longer keep up with focus dash canceling into moves. So as of last night i decided to buy a stick.
I have no idea if it will bring my game up a standard but i hope that the dilberate movements of the stick will no longer have me doing more diagonals than i need.
