Arcade Stick vs Controller

[Delrian]

EC Option Select

Some prefer getting a heavier stick so it sits in their lap and they can be more aggressive with it (and some go as far as putting metal weights in their stick). Some people do get a solid stable surface like a bench, stool, chair, or even the floor. I'm guessing either the rest are very efficient with their motions (preventing the stick from moving hardly at all) or are very deliberate with keeping their stick still in one place to prevent weird angles. If you're noticing the position of the stick moving after a long session, you could try picking the stick up and putting it back on your lap after every fight, so the cumulative effect does not happen...

I personally don't have any issues with it until I have to stand at an arcade cabinet, which really screws up my execution with that kind of angle.

P.S. if your spring is making a release of 2 hit 8, you should probably get a new spring.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Delrian

[Celerity]

This is just my personal experience, but I have been using pad for 2 years now (I can't use stick for prolonged periods of time due to a wrist injury), and my execution is still better on stick. Like Manta mentioned, pad is just less precise. sj.B easily becomes TK 2369B, IAD easily becomes a double jump or ground dash. Half circles tend to randomly drop one of the diagonals. It's annoying. I do believe that everything can be conquered with time, but these problems never come up for me on stick at all.

There are some other cons to using pad, the most notable one for me is not being able to hear button presses, which makes it take longer to learn the rhythm for combos. Also you won't be able to use macros in GG tourneys because of the glitch, so you'll probably need to go with some kind of alternate button layout.

Thumb pain: not usually an issue, eventually a callous will form and you'll be good to go. For the first week or two you should soak the front of your thumb in rubbing alcohol to make it form faster. Old guitarist's trick. I did wear it down so much on BBCP release week that it started bleeding, but it took like 100 straight hours.

The pros you mentioned: I dunno. I find stuff like 956 and air throw etc. much easier on stick, but if that's not the case for you, then I guess that's a pro. Reaction time on blocking might be slightly faster (~1-2f). Reaction time on pressing buttons is probably slower if you're not covering each button with a finger. At the end of the day, there's nothing significantly different between the two aside from execution quirks, but I don't think it's worth your time to master the frustrations of pad if you're already good on stick.

[Kurushii]

I can play either pad or stick well but lately I been using a Dualshock 4 the last few weeks and it feels so good I don't want to go back to stick. The dpad and buttons are the best ever for pads. Highly recommend buying one even if you don't own a PS4.

[Airk]

edit: this is relevant but veering off-topic, but for those that lap their sticks, there is one more subtle problem that pads don't suffer from. depending on the orientation/angle/perpendicularity of your stick, you can sometimes overshoot (tiger knee when the stick is slanted downwards away from you) or undershoot (getting 23 instead of 236 because of the stick's angle). while i'm in this thread, i wonder how you guys deal with this problem (short of finding a bench)?

Do the 68 cent felt mod. Go to your local craft store, buy a big square of felt, and glue it to the bottom of your stick. It'll stay put way better.

[Monarch]

Hi there, I have a question. Against my negative thoughts, I bought a stick to play Blazblue. Keep in mind, I've never been to an arcade before, so I've played pad all my life. So recently, I bought this stick from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/PS3-Fighting-Stick-V3-Playstation-3/dp/B0057WDBHA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1388773044&sr=8-5&keywords=Fightstick

It wasn't until I obtained the stick did I realize I made a fatal mistake, it only has six buttons compared to eight. Don't get me wrong, the stick is nice quality, but it's obvious I'm going to have to buy another one this year. Can anyone give me a recommendation? All the ones I've seen so far are outdated.

Side Note: The main thing stopping me from using stick is dashing and movement. Dpad was great for that, how do you stick players do it?

Edited January 3, 2014 by Frost Monarch

[Delrian]

Why do you need 8 buttons?

And have you considered modding the stick instead of buying a whole new one?

[Monarch]

Because there are 4 main attack buttons, leaving me only two more for advanced things such as grab, barrier guarding, etc. I shouldn't have to choose between them.

I'm no tech genius, so I'm not sure I want to play around with this. Plus, I heard this stick requires soldering to mod.

[RurouniLoneWolf]

Have you considered learning to use those advanced things by pressing the combination of buttons instead? Like press A and B at the same time for barrier, B and C at the same time for grabs, etc. It's pretty easy to do on stick compared to pad and it might be easier on you to learn stick if you never have to take your fingers off the 4 buttons.

As for dashes and movement, if you are having trouble, you can always get used to it on stick the old fashioned way: Drill practice. Go into training mode and try to repeatedly do things until it feels natural to you. Quarter circles, half circles, super jumps, etc. Personally, movement in general came natural to me. It's only really dashing that I struggled with but I sucked at dashing on pad and sucked at dashing when I first started learning stick. After playing a lot and a ton of drill practice, I'm a lot more comfortable with dashes now though.

[Mugen Tux]

So, not sure if this is the place to ask, but this Saturn Pad:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Genesis-and-Saturn-USB-Controller-Great-for-Emulators-/110976003178?pt=US_Video_Game_Controllers&hash=item19d6af6c6a

I know that they're compatible with PC, but are they also compatible for PS3? I'd like to know for certain before I actually place the order.

[Kurushii]

So, not sure if this is the place to ask, but this Saturn Pad:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Genesis-and-Saturn-USB-Controller-Great-for-Emulators-/110976003178?pt=US_Video_Game_Controllers&hash=item19d6af6c6a

I know that they're compatible with PC, but are they also compatible for PS3? I'd like to know for certain before I actually place the order.

I used a black one on my ps3 years ago. Personally id recommend a Dualshock 4 over a Saturn pad.

[Mugen Tux]

Thank you for the quick response.

[Seiska]

I can play either pad or stick well but lately I been using a Dualshock 4 the last few weeks and it feels so good I don't want to go back to stick. The dpad and buttons are the best ever for pads. Highly recommend buying one even if you don't own a PS4.

I know this might sound unbelievable but personally I'd say Vita has the best D-pad I have used, it's pretty much the same as Dualshock 4 except the edges are not as sharp and it has these clicks that provide nice physical and sound feedback when direction is pressed. Takes some time to get used to like the Ds4 tough.

Other than that, really digging the Dualshock 4, controls feel tighter and buttons less loose. Definitely less unintentional d-pad inputs, altough still sometimes missing the 4 from 632146 DD inputs.

[Celerity]

I know this might sound unbelievable but personally I'd say Vita has the best D-pad I have used, it's pretty much the same as Dualshock 4 except the edges are not as sharp and it has these clicks that provide nice physical and sound feedback when direction is pressed. Takes some time to get used to like the Ds4 tough.

Other than that, really digging the Dualshock 4, controls feel tighter and buttons less loose. Definitely less unintentional d-pad inputs, altough still sometimes missing the 4 from 632146 DD inputs.

My biggest problem with the DS4 is its width, and how clunky it feels, like it's wiggling too much in my hands. DS2 is compact and tight. Also the L2/R2 buttons on DS4 are way too sensitive, I had to unbind them or they'd get pressed just from my fingers resting on them.

[303Locke]

either one is okay

[kibakirain]

I know this might sound unbelievable but personally I'd say Vita has the best D-pad I have used, it's pretty much the same as Dualshock 4 except the edges are not as sharp and it has these clicks that provide nice physical and sound feedback when direction is pressed. Takes some time to get used to like the Ds4 tough.

Other than that, really digging the Dualshock 4, controls feel tighter and buttons less loose. Definitely less unintentional d-pad inputs, altough still sometimes missing the 4 from 632146 DD inputs.

I dunno, I find the PS Vita controls to be too small for my taste. I'm having trouble inputting some specials.

I prefer either but I tend to hold the controller analog like a fighting stick.

[Meximan2.0]

ive been playing on stick for almost a year now and i feel im still much better on pad but lately ive been looking into the HitBox. has anyone here every use it? if so let me know how it is im considering it because im playing Bang and the combos feel so much more difficult from the older games.

[Grimsley-San]

ive been playing on stick for almost a year now and i feel im still much better on pad but lately ive been looking into the HitBox. has anyone here every use it? if so let me know how it is im considering it because im playing Bang and the combos feel so much more difficult from the older games.

There's a thread in the Archive about Hitboxes.

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?18316-Anyone-use-a-hitbox

[Monarch]

So.. I got a PS4 controller today, but now I need a cable to connect and play with it. Anyone know where I can buy said cable?

[Grimsley-San]

So.. I got a PS4 controller today, but now I need a cable to connect and play with it. Anyone know where I can buy said cable?

PS4 controllers on PS3, lolwut?

[Elochai]

You can use the DS4 on the PS3. You just need a micro usb cable to do so (someone correct me if I'm wrong). They're like $5 on Amazon.

[Speakeasy]

The PS3 should have come with one to charge your PS3 controller with. Not sure if it works for that too, though.

[Celerity]

The PS3 should have come with one to charge your PS3 controller with. Not sure if it works for that too, though.

They are different. The DS3 uses mini-USB, while the DS4 uses micro-USB. God knows we need to keep making everything smaller.

[Mcgreag]

They are different. The DS3 uses mini-USB, while the DS4 uses micro-USB. God knows we need to keep making everything smaller.

It's not so much the size as reliability, micro-usb is designed for double the amount of connect-disconnect cycles compared to mini-usb and moves the parts that are most likely to break from the device to the cable so it's cheaper to replace if it breaks. Micro-USB has been the official small connector since 2007. If you have a reasonably new mobile phone that is not an iphone then you already have a micro-usb cable.

[BAKABaiken]

I just recently picked up GG and a stick. So far it's difficult because I'm literally trying to learn two things at once. Even though I can do most things with relative ease, it seems like on the stick I'm constantly hesitating; while on pad things just feel more organic. I still have issues with some things on both of course, like instant air dashing, but I can't help to think I'd be better served dropping the stick all together. Should I just give it time, or focus on learning the game on the pad first and go back to the stick later if I feel the need?

[Delrian]

I'd say keep doing what you're doing now. Trying to learn a game on stick when you already have experience playing on pad makes it even more frustrating when you can't pull off certain things. I actually did the same in picking up a stick and GG at the same time (mostly from the frustration of trying to learn BB on stick when I was unable to do half the things I could do on pad).

 

How long have you been practicing? I don't remember exactly how long it took but I think it was about a month before I got comfortable.