I am a somewhat seasoned SF player overall, having played 2, much of 3, and , of course, now 4 and super. Recently, me and my buddy have become interested in several local tournaments. We have already visited several along with the Midwest Championships, in which I placed 33rd (along with 50 others hahah). I currently use one of Mad Catz fight pads in most tournaments, but wherever I go, all I ever see is people with the fight sticks. I am aware of some of the possibilities of the stick, such as piano techniques and ease of use of certain moves, such as Ken’s kara throw, but what else do the sticks offer? Is it worth a try? Is there an added sense of precision in using them? I realize that they dont make you a better player, having beat some stick users at the MWC, but most, if not all, of the ‘pros’ use them? Can someone please explain this all to me? Thanks.
-surowksdawg
P.S. I own SSF4 on PS3, however, I purchased two fight pads, one for PS3 and one for XBOX because tournaments are held on various consoles. Is there a way to avoid having to purchase two fight sticks? That would be quite an investment.
It is possible to get a stick that works on PS3 and 360, although you’d have to ask someone else for the specifics. As for why most people use sticks, it’s the way fighting games were meant to be played. Most were developed with arcades in mind, simple as that. Also, you have more precise control over inputs with your whole hand versus one finger.
Don’t expect to be as good on a stick on Day 1 use.
For one, fighting games were designed to be played on arcades, so it makes sense that the ‘proper’ way to play them is to use sticks.
Two, as you said, now it’s possible to have only one stick for different kinds of consoles. You can either dual-mod MC Cthulhu + Madcatz 360 pad that will cover most consoles even as far back as Sega Genesis and SNES, or a Paewang Revolution that can switch between PS3 and 360 USB.
I have both a FightPad and a TE, and I mostly only use the FightPad for when I’m traveling and don’t have much space. Of the two, I definitely prefer the stick, and mostly because of the joystick.
The first benefit is that since you use your hand, wrist, and forearm, it provides a much more even distribution of force, so you don’t get tired as easily. The second benefit is the addition of the micro switches and the gate, so you have both the audible click of the switch and tactile feedback from the gate so that you always know if you’ve executed a direction properly. And the third and biggest benefit is the customization you can have with a stick, allowing you to swap out micro switches, springs, gates, or even the whole stick assembly to meet your particular preference when it comes to stiffness and feedback.
I’ve had my TE stick a few months, and was forced to briefly play with an xbox pad the other day (friend wanted to try out the stick). I was gobsmacked by how much delay there was from the button press to the move coming out, compared with the instant reaction of the stick, which I’d never noticed before I switched.
The best reason to use a stick is for a sense of consistency. Not every dpad on every controller is the same, especially going from one console system to the next, however, the feel of an arcade stick and buttons generally remains the same. You’ve already listed some advantages, however, the disadvantage of using the stick will be that it can be difficult to accurately perform certain types of moves depending on what side you’re on. If you do migrate to a stick, make sure you spend plenty of time switching up sides to try to prevent one side from being your weaker side.
Another plus is the ability to fix and upgrade/mod your fightstick for a sense of individuality. Not too much can be done with dpads. If you’re interested in dual system sticks, there are tutorials on how to mod your stick with either dual pcb’s or using Toodle’s Cthulu or Universal PCB (for even more systems). I have a pair of universal PCB modded SFIV SE sticks with sanwa parts (Japanese arcade parts) that i use across my PS3, PS2, Wii, 360, and PC.
I use a stick because I feel like it’s the real way to play fighting games. I used to play at the arcade a lot and switching to a controller really isn’t the same. I feel it’s much easier to use the stick because movements can be made a lot faster with less effort. Also, I have rather large fingertips, so doing QCF on a dpad is awful considering most of the time I end up pressing both right and bottom arrows at the same time. I haven’t tried the FightPad, but I used a lot of MadCatz standard controllers and I really hate how cheap they feel, they’re often non-responsive and break easily so I don’t expect it being better than a DualShock, though probably better than the 360 controller because of it’s shitty dpad.
In addition to being more precise and authentic to the arcade experience, there’s a key thing about arcade sticks that make them a must have for any genre enthusiast: if you don’t want to break your thumbs, get one! I went a few days without my arcade stick and attempted in vain to pull off Guile’s super move in SS4, and it almost killed my left thumb. The same can be said of Chun Li’s rapid kick, or any other move that requires you to rapidly tap a button. Your thumbs are simply not designed to move that fast, and they will get tired very quickly from playing fighters. Using an arcade stick offers much more precision, and it will also give you much more stamina for playing. The arm, wrist, and hand working together to push the buttons puts a lot less strain on individual muscles.
I just got into fighting games seriously when SF4 came out and as soon as I started I was trying to play on a 360 pad and it just felt wrong so I picked up a stick eventually and it felt amazing. The overall feel and response you get from a stick and the precision is why I will always use one.
I personally have never played on the fightpad but have tried the 360 pad from a friend for a while… not only are the motions easer on a stick (especially for charge charaters) but also using the pad makes my thumbs hurt a lot =/ plus its much more athentic and “cool” to have a stick (lol as cool as SF players are, am i right?)
Thanks for the info guys, but I do have one more question. Do the sticks tend to break or malfunction often? It seems like most of the fight pads do, and the sticks are also Mad Catz, so I was just wondering…
The parts (stick, buttons) themselves are durable Sanwa from Japan (if you’re on about TEs). However, the PCBs have an odd rate of failure; you’ll really never know but it’s in a minority. If it doesn’t work out of the box you have a 90-day warranty. Most people have no issues though some are unfortunately unlucky.
EDIT: if you’re comfortable with pad, you can stick with it; if you want to invest in a stick, be ready to spend time practising.
Most of the sticks you see on here are built with arcade-genuine parts, meaning they were designed to withstand pressure from several users a day continuously. Also grats for placing 33rd at MWC, but just because you beat some stick users doesn’t mean you’re better than all stick users, and vice versa. Remember at majors, it only starts getting tough to continue in rank once you hit top 16~ ish after you weed through the 50-60 scrubs that just showed up to sign up out of the initial 120-150 entrants. You probably only had to go 2-2 or 3-2 to reach that placing, right? So that means most likely you almost lost to the same amount of stick players you beat.
Technically sticks give you an advantage but, it’s possible to be good on a pad. I’m personally terrible with a pad and I get horrible blisters on my thumb.