You don't have to buy a stick

[BullDancer]

I agree with P. Gorath’s post 100%, so many people think they’ll be able to play like insert Daigo or favorite pro player here the moment they get a stick…

If you don’t know fundamentals like footsies or zoning then you won’t be any better with the stick than you were without it… I’d recommend that people stick with the pad(no pun intended)… at least until they improve beyond beginner level…

[verdisQUO]

It’s not about the tools, but how you use them.

[Hace]

Fuck keyboards though

[Blaise]

Yeah, Tekken’s not a good example at all to pick to justify purchasing a stick… It’s widely regarded as the most “acceptable” game to play with a pad.

QFT

I pretty much agree with what the OP is saying. I’ve said similar thing before, if you don’t find anything bad about pads and prefer pads (even if you’ve nevered tried a stick, but one doesn’t have to), there’s absoluting nothing wrong with sticking with pads. There’s this whole groupthink around it though. For instance, whenever someone is playing with a pad at a tournament, there is always mention of it. It’s really not novel or noteworthy anymore. But with that said, I think there are advantages to the stick, but I agree, they don’t put the player in an advantage as such. But, I switched to a stick because I felt the pad very limited for playing SF. First of all, I didn’t like the button placement on pads. I like 3 buttons on top and 3 buttons on bottom layout. And even though the SF pads have that, it’s not the same because I would be using only my thumb to push all the buttons, where as I like where my hand is free from having to hold on the the case of a stick (same doesn’t apply for a pad). Plus the added fact that SF pads only have the dpad, and I don’t want to blister my thumb as I have in the past by using the d-pad. When I used the pad I had to constantly keep configuring buttons if I wanted to play with other characters (I liked certain buttons one way for one character, but not the same for others), but I knew this problem would be solved by getting a stick, so I did, and like it much better. Different strokes for different folks.

It’s similar situation with shooters. Pads are fine and all, but I prefer keyboard and mouse. In fact, I would go as far as to say that k&m > pads, doesn’t mean a pad player couldn’t hold his own against and beat some of the best PC player shooters.

[MAAATE]

Tekken on pad you can get away with, Street Fighter… bit harder.

[shadydentist]

99% of the time, this just isn’t the case (and before you jump in, I don’t care about your personal experience testimony - anecdotes aren’t science).

Does anyone find it ironic that he claims that anecdote’s aren’t science, and then pulls out a random number of 99%?

I agree with his main point though. A stick isn’t the right answer for everyone. But its not an accident that the overwhelming majority of top players use sticks.

[System_1]

After playing well with a pad and moving to stick, playing on a pad seems a little like constructing an intricate Rube Goldberg-esque contraption to play fighting games. Sure, if I invest enough time in it I might even be able to compete with it, but is it practical? Fact: Most fighting games before this year were engineered specifically to be played on an arcade machine.

Also, before I spent a solid week with a stick I was the most vehement defender in the personal preference camp. I can’t even imagine how much more convinced I’ll be in a month or a year when I’m exponentially more comfortable on stick.

[agcalonico]

A few things can get problematic because FGs (especially older ones) are built from scratch accounting for stick play only, and therefore some motions (like 720s, Geese’s pretzel, etc.) are fucked-up hard to get off consistently (and fast) in other input systems (a pad’s directions, a keyboard’s arrows, etc.)

There are some maneuvers you simply cannot do on a pad (by having their already high execution requirements skyrocket) - Can you do a standing 720 on pad? Hell, can you even find a video of someone doing one on pad? Or to use examples of stuff you actually employ in real play often, can you do consistent instant dash DCs with Demitri on VS on pad? What about Tekken wavedashing?

I can do a standing 720 on pad, even in third strike or the harder execution games… its much easier, there’s videos of vance doing 720’s on pad in person.

[Sleazoid]

We just watched Wolfkrone tear shit up yesterday with Viper on a pad. He came in third, getting beaten by Floe (who had to switch to Sagat to beat him). Then he proceeded to take Marn’s money while on-stream.

p4p was 3rd. Wolfkrone was 4th. :party:

[Markisreal]

I repeat: You do not have to buy a stick, use a stick, or think about a stick to play street fighter or fighting games.

I see all these threads about people trying to learn how to use a joystick, having a hard time doing different motions consistently on a stick, all coming from the mindset that somehow mastering a joystick specifically will unlock them to a higher level of street fighter play. 99% of the time, this just isn’t the case (and before you jump in, I don’t care about your personal experience testimony - anecdotes aren’t science). A joystick won’t make you a better player. It won’t play the game for you or allow you to do a secret fireball or fadc that cannot be done on a pad. It won’t get you laid.

Well actually,

I repeat: You do not have to buy a stick, use a stick, or think about a stick to play street fighter or fighting games.

I see all these threads about people trying to learn how to use a joystick, having a hard time doing different motions consistently on a stick, all coming from the mindset that somehow mastering a joystick specifically will unlock them to a higher level of street fighter play. 99% of the time, this just isn’t the case (and before you jump in, I don’t care about your personal experience testimony - anecdotes aren’t science). A joystick won’t make you a better player. It won’t play the game for you or allow you to do a secret fireball or fadc that cannot be done on a pad. It won’t get you laid.

Oh…

Well anyways, I agree with the main point your saying, but it really we are all different. Somebody can destroy me with a Stick. Or I can destroy them with my Pad

[Kelter_Skelter]

If you’re good on a pad I won’t hate but… It’s hard to be good on a pad instead of a stick

[Geese_Pants]

This should be stickied…

[JammyBoo]

(I don’t care about your personal experience testimony - anecdotes aren’t science).

I use a stick for fighting games. All of my friends use sticks, and I would bet most of the pre-SF4 srk’ers use sticks.

Er… o_o

[P.Gorath]

lol, I was referring to people using anecdotes like “when I switched to stick I got so much better111!!!” as their only form of argument, not saying I don’t want to hear personal experiences at all, which of course may inform some of your points.

[System_1]

Curses… I just bought a stick.

Mostly I was unhappy with the Fight Pads… I wish someone would just copy the Sega Genesis Six-Button controller exactly. That’s how I played my Street Fighter back in the day

[DKL]

A pad player took 3rd or 4th place at MWC yesterday. He was the first person to beat Floe’s Juri if I’m not mistaken. In any case, his C. Viper caused Floe to switch to Sagat and he beat Marn at a money match.

I think a pad player also won the HD Remix tournament. He convincingly beat Alex Valle with Ryu.

These were amazing, by the way…

I was totally routing for Pad Viper [Wolf Krone].

Also, yeah, Valle lost HDR to a tourney newcomer (it was like only his 2nd tournament, yet he convincingly worked Valle… it was kinda scary) who used a pad.

[System_1]

I play on a sticks whenever I can primarily because I grew up playing arcades so it’s more familiar for me. Of course I did have consoles early on too, but I was never as comfortable with the D-Pads as I was playing with arcade sticks. Maybe if they had analog sticks on the controllers back then, things might have been a bit different, but I would wager I’d still have preferred arcade sticks even back then.

That having been said, I agree for the most part that there is no dire need to switch over to playing on arcade sticks if you’ve never done so before and are perfectly comfortable with the gamepad. Many just feel that sticks are easier, but none of that matters if you can already do everything on a pad anyway…

One thing I CAN say, however, is that I truly applaud anyone that can play on a highly competitive level with a gamepad in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. That was just a horribly frustrating experience for me to adjust to playing on a pad after I was so used to playing it at the arcades…

[TrunksSS3]

Pad Warrior here

I can pull anything off in MVC2 =] :rock: and in every other fighting game.

[System_1]

I grew up without an Arcade in a small town and the only one within three hours doesn’t have very many fighting games anyways. That being said, I saw most higher level players using one and despite the fact I knew it would not be some super key to me “owning noobs” online I decided to invest in one. Major thing off the bat is that you will suck if you have never even touched one before, but man was it ever fun. It makes the game twice as enjoyable to me. After just about six months of usage I can atleast do what I want when I want even in pressure situations and this is with a [as of now] unmodded stick with subpar quality parts.

While it is true that you don’t have to buy a stick and it is no way a key to upper echelon gameplay in fighters, at the bare bones of it all it’ll probably make you enjoy it more if you can lose without raging.

[System_1]

So… Since I bought SSF4 just over a week ago and have no intention of spending money on a stick this soon; should I be using the D-Pad or the Analog Stick on the 360 controller? The D-Pad seems to rape my thumb, but it seems to pick up the inputs on certain movements more consistently than the Analog.

Then again, maybe I just suck since I’ve only had the game a week.
Yeah, that’s most likely.