Hey again guys
I’ve been playing SF4 at the local ‘cade on my work lunches (I know most people have moved on and I myself have SSF4 on PS3 but sometimes while at work I just cant help myself!) and something’s been troubling me. I’ve been learning to use a TE stick for months now but I’ve never been as comfortable at the arcade. Then it hit me: ‘There is no space to rest my right palm when playing at the arcade’. I’m in London and I dont know what the SF4 cabs are like for the rest of the globe but the buttons at my arcade are probably an inch away from the bottom edge of the cab. If you’re not sure what I mean and you have a TE stick at home, just imagine if an inch (if that) down from the bottom row (kick buttons) you cut off the rest of the stick. I noticed no-one else seemed phased by this so I started to look into this; searching youtube for videos of pro players’ hands - Daigo, Mago and the likes. And to my amazement none of them rested their palms on their sticks, ever. It’s like their right palms were always hovering above the face of the stick whereas I usually rest my palm on the space below the buttons - which might explain my odd execution problems with plinking sometimes as my fingers are not always best placed to manouver around the buttons.
The SF4 cabs at my arcade (japanese imports) are obviously designed for this technique, but how does everyone else feel about this? It’s definitely a technique I’m gonna start adopting from now on. Perhaps everybody already knew this and I’m just late to the party. If there are any stick-novices out there trying to diagnose execution problems involving quick successive button presses think about how your hand is resting on the stick. I actually thought there was something wrong with the SF4 cab!
Frank