Vs one button grabs? I gotta’ be honest after playing 3S for almost 3 years on and off, I can say that I prefer one button grabs. I agree with Sirlin that having two button grabs just makes the controls needlessly more complicated than it should, and maybe it’s just my experience with 3S and SF4, but two button grabs are pretty broken overall. From what I’ve seen in other fighters with two button grabs, it allows the potential for gitches and exploits that upset balance, something I haven’t seen in games with one button grabs.
I don’t mind them, but don’t necessarily think they’re a better option. Two-button throws do make every throw intentional at the expense of swiftness (and I guess having a throw whiff is a positive thing, too). However, not every game would benefit from such a mechanic.
As long as you can’t get insane meter gain from whiffing it like you could in Alpha 3 (though technically that was a three button press) I’m cool with it.
I agree completely. I actually prefer 2 button grabs over 1 button though but like you said it all depends on the game.
I think it was the best option for Street Fighter 4, but I couldn’t imagine the SF2 series without 1 button grabs.
I’m probably wrong here as I haven’t really played much of the SF3 series but didn’t New Generation have 1 button grabs and 3rd strike have 2 button?
2-button probably came about cuz people accidentally threw their opponent due to poor execution. Scrubs complain, everybody has to put up with a more complicated input. In 3d games, it works fine. In 2d games, it feels slightly wrong.
New Generation and 2I (why do people keep forgetting that beast of a game?) had single button inputs. Scrubs complained. Along comes 3s.
It’s very possible that it may have been a reaction to people being frustrated with accidental throws, but in the end those same scrubs are getting a bunch of throw/tech whiffs punished so I wouldn’t say it necessarily made SF scrubbier.
people will say two-button throws are better because option select is bad, but there’s nothing inherently bad about option select, it just depends what options are covered and how that corresponds with what things you think a game should reward. 1-button throw option select rewards getting in close and pressing the advantage, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. people say “if you want to throw you should be punished if you guess wrong,” but why, necessarily? it creates a more advantageous situation for the attacker, which, in a game where getting in is a lot of work in the first place (such as, well, any SF really) makes a lot of sense.
generally i like games that are heavily momentum-based, make you work to get in and then reward you a lot when you do, so i like 1-button throws. i don’t get too cut up about 2 button throws like some guys do though.
Interesting… so you’re saying that if SF4 for example had 1 button throws in the style of SF2 it could turn into a more offensive game. That actually sounds very plausible.
I agree with this aswell though, I think throw attempts should be punishable.
I have 2 conflicting opinions on 1 button vs 2 button throws.
1 button can potentially make the game more offensive whilst 2 button can potentially stop throw spamming and possibly reduce the effectiveness of throws overall. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing I’m not sure.
Either way is good but I don’t like the SF2 system where there is no grab teching. It’s basically a guessing game as to who is actually going to get the throw if you both press it at the same time, which I think is a bad system. Games are sometimes decided over if someone was lucky enough to have the game decide that they threw first even if you clearly both threw at the same time.
How can you ever say that you “clearly” both threw at the same time? 
It’s not an ideal solution but I think it’s such an edge case that it doesn’t warrant getting worked up about. You could always implement a neutral tech only for that one frame, though.
Dude is talking about when 2 opponents throw at the exact same time. SF2’s engine gives it to a random person, and it ends up being a 50-50 chance it could go either way. I agree there should have been a throw “parry” like they have in Tekken, but only when both players throw at the exact same time. The only thing wrong with that I think, is if a special throw (SPD) and a normal throw are done at the same time. It might then become too easy to “parry” special throws, and possibly grapplers like Zangief may have a harder time. Unless special throws are given priority over normal throws and can’t be parried, except by another special throw. = L
Clarification question: Are we to assume that we don’t have to worry about conflicting controls with either choice?
Assuming that throw inputs don’t have the same input as another move in the game, I completely agree with Sirlin here, 1-button throws are better. I mean, what would the reason be to just add a button to a throw input with the above mentioned qualifier? It seems to me like we’re increasing the level of execution required to play the game without making the game any better.
I think games where you can dash are better with 2 button throws (or rather, throws that require a different input to the other moves).
I have to admit that I don’t have a clue how the extra button input helps in your counter point.
I like two button throws. Whiffing is good for the game. What I would have liked to have seen for SF4 was 2 button throws that functioned the same as SF2 throws i.e. only softening of damage and no techs (unless both players grab on the same frame), good damage and not necessarily knock down (e.g. T. Hawk ambiguous crossup set ups off of his elbow smash throw).
It could be 1 button throws for all I care, but it needs to be a separate (non-overlapping) command. Otherwise you can dash option select throw/combo with little risk. If the throw requires a separate input then it removes that possibility. You either commit to the throw, or you don’t.
I prefer 2 button throws so long as developers are careful not to make more option selects with them. (Like couldn’t Rachel buffer a throw tech in her 6B in CT?)
Sometimes people may want to do a normal heavy attack or comand normal with a heavy attack within throw range without throwing instead.
This. I might want to do a point blank kara demon/overhead/something and can’t due to one button throw inputs.
I also believe that failed throws should be punishable.
Two buttons has everything going for it, it’s just better thought out and the result of evolution throughout many games. Single button is just a tradition.
I prefer two. I could never really one button grab on command, I never got it when I didn’t want it but sometimes it wouldn’t come out.
And it led to some dumb option selects in GG and probably other games as well. In the corner, Millia puts up a disc and goes for a throw (6H), if the opponent backdashes or jumps the 6H comes out and scores a knockdown, if they stand still they get thrown and there’s not much you can do.