Using the thumb in D-pads is usually slow for certain motions. For instance, I could DP faster than on a stick as P1, and often accept jump ins cos of being way to slow in the same motion as P2. Some players had success changing the way the hold the pad, so they play with the thumb or other fingers at a neutral position on the directional pad.
Well you’ve said it yourself just get the motion on down forward then hit the attack button. I’ll admit I didn’t understand the Z motion when I first seen it. Try your best to not hit forward again so you get the dp all the time.
Dpad is more accurate but bit complex.
Analog is hard to get rid off once you get used to it. 
I’m old and come from a time where analog sticks weren’t standard issue on controllers.
Don’t honestly know how you could have played console fighting games back then 
I pulled out my Playstation 1 a while back to play Street Fighter Alpha 3, and since the controller had no analog stick I had to use the d-pad. My entire thumb was a giant blister after an hour and a half. Couldn’t play games for a few days after that 
Work on those fighting game callouses, son.
The Z-motion is very natural on a joystick, but instead of looking at it like a Z you should view it more as an upside-down numeral 2-motion:
Play characters that do not require the Z motion and understand the game engine then come back and play who ever you like
Not true for Street Fighter. You are only required to hit the next direction before the timer runs out. Each correct direction adds to the timer. While it may happen that you overextend the joystick and the timer ends, this is unlikely. The most usual reasons why Shoryukens do not come out are
[LIST=1]
[]Not reaching ↓;
[]Going directly from ↓ to →, skipping 
.
[/LIST]
Reason 1 happens by sloppy execution, which may be a result of a rushed movement or the stick moving while you play. You have just hit →, the stick moves to the same direction, so when you hit what should be ↓, turns out being 
instead. The resulting motion is →:arrow_lower_left:, which does not work in almost every SF game. Reason 2 is common in Japanese sticks: if you go directly from ↓ to → in a straight line, you usually do not activate both microswitches at the same time. Also, as the stick hits ↓, it may push the case in that direction, and the moving right or left turns out being upper-right or upper-left, from the point of view of the controller. That is to say: →↓→. The Z-motion is recommended for this type of joystick.
I used US-styles all my life, and due to being so used to arcades I have a real hard time using any home joystick, cos it is awkward to anchor them, and they usually do not have enough weight to prevent movement when on a table. Re-educating after so many years is really hard, and I find it playing with the stick on the lap a lost cause.
In this series of videos, you see top players using a home stick, and often someone holds the joystick so it does not move. At 1:17, one of them tries to DP through a projectile, but the stick moves and the does not get the move. I have a couple of sticks, and when I would do SF sessions at work - everyone on their 30’s, old SF2 fans - with them, most people could not get the moves unless someone held the stick case. I notice the way Aniken (red shirt guy) holds the stick is pretty fine on an arcade cab, but horrible for home sticks cos it creates a force in the opposite direction of gravity, reducing the friction force the holds a home stick in place.
Fixed for clarity. Round-gate sticks require that you hit down and then a small circle until the other switch is activated. Or just ride the gate and it won’t matter whether you hit → or not, cos will certainly not be skipped.
@oldschool_BR
awesome. i remember someone a little older than me teaching me the joystick mechanics almost like this on how to play SF2 properly when it came out from way back then. it used to be “bat”-topped joysticks on the cabinets at the time which were kinda clunky now that i think about it. thank goodness Japanese parts were slowly introduced into newer units as time went on.
my tip : tap the joystick forward, let the joystick go back to neutral via natural revert of the stick, tap down, down-forward, forward in a smooth, sweeping motion and hit desired punch button strength immediately. try doing it slowly at first and listen for the joystick “clicks” of the switches as you perform it, preferably hitting the required directions properly. hope that helped!
peace out.
8P
Fair point but isn’t it better for him to learn the motion the correct way he may want to try out fighters with stricter execution.
Not reading too much but when I was learning I switched to an octagon gate as I had problems skipping diagonals on square gate. Now it’s not an issue on any stick, but I still prefer my circle gate but when your learning circles are gonna make you miss your down+back sometimes and that’ll make you rage until you get used to it.
IMHO, it is very interesting to learn both, since they help you in different situations, such as those option selects with throws and tatsus from the Seb/Damdai videos. Anyway, as soon as you can do it the “long” way, it is easy to correct it and use the shorter, accurate motion.
This reminds me of how important other factors are. Many people talk about gates, but there’s also the throw and the size of the parts. The further the switches are from the stick, the smaller the diagonal regions will be, as it is harder to hit two switches at the same time. There are models with different distances and angles. Unfortunately, I am no expert on the issue: the only sticks I have tested are crappy Brazilian copies of Happ’s Super, a Lorenzo Euro, a JLF (square and octo) and the one I use atm, an LS-32 with a round gate.
That doesn’t make any sense. You’re telling him to put off something incredibly basic in favor of starting something very complex.
I suppose so I personally find it much harder to do the motion in MvC3 much harder than in street fighter when first playing it.