Stick vs Pad

Ramza

Alright lads, just thought I'd throw an auld thread up about this and get some opinions and whatnot

So, what do you guys think, Stick or Pad? Personally I only got my first proper stick a few days ago (Kudos to Kiki), and I am loving it so far. Being a pad player my whole life it's still a really big move for me. People might ask, why move to stick now, after so damn long using pad? And i actually couldn't give you a definite answer. I think I'm more than capable of doing stuff on pad, so why not experiment and try out stick, and explore its advantages etc.

At XGC I'm always using my pad, unless I'm trying out stick for a few games or something. I always switch back to pad afterward. Last week I was tempted to use my pad instead but I stuck it out the whole day on stick and I have to say it was a wise choice. Just in the hours I spent on stick that day, they were really worth it. I was able to do some stuff much more easily than I could on pad, and some stuff is just so much easier and more fluent/accessible on stick. I managed to pull off Gouki's RH loop once or twice on stick, with not a lot of effort (not trying to sound dickish), which I can never do on pad

I think what was important for me was finding how to hold the stick in a way that suited me. After some experimenting I found my comfortable style of play. From then it's really been smooth sailing. Before when I tried stick I usually got frustrated and gave up and said "I'll use pad like I always have". My first concern was that I would suck bad on stick as I would still be adjusting. I also worried that it would take me fooking ages to adapt and build muscle memory for stick

The stick I have atmo (Modded EX2, all sanwa parts, square gate), is just great. I actually get more into the game now on stick! Within the first half hour in practice mode I already noticed an increased ease in executing links and also I've been messing with plinking now, which has been great. And contrary to what I thought, I'm learning pretty damn fast and I don't suck! In general executing stuff just seems more proper on stick, like not easier, but more logical, if you get me

Oh, and I found this pretty funny video a while back. Even though it might be really cheesy, some of the stuff said in the video is pretty truthful imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCmn3YjAvTY

Speed Boat

Well, I've only just moved to stick myself about two weeks or so ago.

I'm definitely preferring it to pad. I'm only a beginner really, but my execution has improved loads and in turn my play.

I find it more enjoyable to play too. Already I've had a good few eureka moments with regards certain motions and combos that perhaps I'd never have had with a pad.

UberPrinny_Baal

I recently bought myself an Xbox TE because I got one for a steal during an amazon sale.

I mostly bought it because I was an arcade kid, and I've always wanted something resembling a cabinet.

The purchase was half for arcade PC roms and half for Street Fighter, but I have found that SFIV in particular (which requires you to press a minimum of two buttons every time you exhale) is a lot easier.

That said, immediately after getting it, even my admittedly basic SF abilities dropped to zero, while I had to relearn how to do a fireball without jumping >_<

Also mashing chunky tactile buttons is just plain fun, and I don't get "Street Fighter Thumb" anymore.

A-Trak

Ropey, I think that's the most concise post I've ever seen from you

Well put tough, it really is a matter of preference.

Cunny's thread here on boards on moving from pad to stick is an intresting read.

Dreddybajs

It's all the same in the end, one of the best 2D fighter players in europe uses a Saitek xbox pad (Violent Alioune). Most of the top european Tekken players use ps2/ps3 pad. Just comes down to whatever you find more comfortable to use yourself (for stuff like pianoing, p-linking etc., this may end up being stick however).

Ry

Lol guy on the right in that video was in Cannes. Got whipped in Soul Calibur International Team 5v5. Didn't look pleased one bit.

K.O.Kiki

Ry wrote: »

Lol guy on the right in that video was in Cannes. Got whipped in Soul Calibur International Team 5v5. Didn't look pleased one bit.

Neither would you be if you'd traveled all the way from Singapore! :pac:

Leprekaun

Well, I was never really part of the arcade generation so my first proper sessions of gaming were during the Megadrive days with UMK3 so I've always been a pad user. I've tried sticks a few times whenever I was at XGC but I just couldn't execute things at all. Granted, I probably only fought a maximum of 10 fights with a stick but I think I'd need a lot more time.

Something that I learnt to appreciate though is that the main part of control for the stick is the wrist/arm (dependent on grip) while with the pad, its just the thumb so its much harder to be precise with the thumb than the fluid motion of the wrist/arm. Honestly, its probably just down to precision. A lot of people think I'm idiotic for using the X360 pad (plus the fact that I use the dpad as well) but its just what I got used to and a lot of the time, I can execute any move I want. The problem in that statement ofcourse is that its "a lot" of the time, not all the time so I would definitely say that it isn't the best. However, the original xbox pad (chunky one), I can play SF perfectly with that.

For the X360/PS3, I'd definitely support the stick.

OT: Hello again! I'm baaack!

Sisko

Theres still arcades in America so most top players would come from an arcade scene, hence a pad player being more ... noticeable


@Ramza


I think we can all agree, sticks are deffo more fun to use. Linking is nicer on them etc.

I'm sure due to the meet ups and so forth your more inspired to use one now then you would have been if the only SF you knew was online. That's part of the reason I made the switch myself.

You've been playing SF properly on pad for longer then I was as well.

I had decent execution on pad but I still made clumsy errors, I felt I hit a wall with pad. I also saw super coming out and just thought feck it its now or never.

There was also the fact that being a PS3 pad player was like being a jew in nazi germany. :pac:

At 1st I was surprised how 'fast' I was catching on but that didn't last long.

What your going to find, the more you start using it, when you get involved in those really high end matches, you'll start feeling a lot weaker then you were on pad. Slower reactions , those small little wiffed combos that result in you getting ripped a part.

I was so used to pad that I can on the fly do things with it, my hands would do all the work, I could hold conversations with people, and just be pulling off all sorts of **** against people at a level just under me.

On stick these people rape me. Its been months, I'm getting closer to where I was now, very close. I think I just might make it to the level I used to be at just in time for super.

I'm better on stick now, then I am on none ps3 pads. For a long time I'd try using a ps1/ps2 pad in tournies. Usually lends from people, that I didn't even have a chance to test. They're close to ps3 pads in shape only. Every pad I try has a different level of sensitivity. & since at home I'm only using stick anyway, trying this method really kills my game anyway.

I remember there was one tourney, t'was only a casual random select tourney. Went and used my old ps1 pad, with out testing it.

I couldn't do a fking thing on it. Half the buttons wouldn't register. I was pretty pissed off. Nothing annoys me more in this game then me entering in stuff and my character not doing it.

Anyway its a longer road then you think but everyones different in adjusting.

Practice stuff over and over in training mode. Your B&B stuff. Don't go into training doing a number of different things either. Pick one combo, and practice that over and over for 10 mins. Then play.

Concentrate on one combo at a time, and don't mix up the combos mid training.

This should help speed up adjustment.

Also, since your only starting you might wanna try and find out the best method for hitting those 6 buttons with your fingers. See my post in my thread to understand more of what I mean. I think I'm doing it very wrong actually, keeping my hand very flat not moving much just my fingers and thumb.

Also use the 6 buttons , not 8.

K.O.Kiki

I can't do Elena's cr.MP -> qcb+KK on stick.
At all.

I'm not sure whether to blame a month's worth of non-practice, or the 3S input engine

Sisko

I can't do fking anything in 3s on stick. Well I can do a little but I can't super properly at all.


Another thing about sticks is that unfortunately they do differ and using other peoples can feel odd. TE's are always nice.

One gas thing though was while I've an SE and well used to its stock parts on mine. I had a shot of darkonions one time for a quick game of 3s. I may as well have played with my elbows. I just sat there trying to enter commands with ibuki and she did nothing. Was gas, I couldn't even grab properly.

Xluna

They have pros and cons for me. Of course nothing beats a six button Megadrive controller.Shame Sega don't rerelease that for modern systems.

Vyze

The problem with using a pad is that if you're on one console and have to play on the other, you're generally stuck using a controller that is totally different from what you're used to. If you're a stick user, most sticks are more or less the same (or at least similar enough to make adapting quite easy) so switching between PS3/360/PC/whatever isn't so much of an issue.

Plus the fact that if you do get the chance to play on an arcade cabinet, it's nice to be able to know what you're doing.

For Tekken, I tend to prefer using a PS3 pad, but I still practised on stick a bit just to be sure that I'm not flailing around like an idiot if I'm playing in an arcade!

And Xluna, I'm pretty sure you can at least buy a PC USB version of the Saturn pad (which is more or less the 6-button MegaDrive one) which should work on PS3.

animaX

Leprekaun wrote: »

For the X360/PS3, I'd definitely support the stick.

OT: Hello again! I'm baaack!

There's a voice we haven't heard in a while! Did you ever make that stick you were planning?

Back on topic, I actually play third strike better with a pad coz i played it a lot on pad before I got my first stick for SF4.

But all of these things come down to whatever you're used to; stick vs pad vs keyboard, square vs octo, dpad vs thumbstick. You can't definitively say that one is better than another

K.O.Kiki

Xluna wrote: »

They have pros and cons for me. Of course nothing beats a six button Megadrive controller.Shame Sega don't rerelease that for modern systems.

USB Saturn Pad (PS3) *eBay*


Hori Fighting Commander (PS3) *Play-Asia*


Madcatz Fightpad *AmazonUK*
*edit* no pic grrr.

UberPrinny_Baal

Back in the Gamecube days I picked up a couple of these for Soul Calibur 2



Great big D-pad and chunky buttons, unlike the GCs regular tiny spiky D-pad.

These also work almost prophetically well for Tatsunoko VS Capcom and it's 4 button set up of Light, Medium, Hard and Partner (with both shoulder buttons and Z free for assign multiple presses to).

Now that I have an Xbox TE, I'm not sure if there's any adaptor to hook the TE up to the Wii for TvC, but the Hori Snes-styles certainly do their job.

K.O.Kiki

Turns out those Hori Fighting Commander pads above were prototype pics.
Real ones now look like this:




Hori site (link)

Sisko

They look far better then the madcatz pads, they should really make one for 360 too.

Sagat06

Sisko wrote: »

They look far better then the madcatz pads, they should really make one for 360 too.

Agreed they look comfortable alright, thats always been my problem with a pad is find one comfortable not too big or small!! Thats why sticks rock

Speed Boat

Just a heads up.....

HMV on grafton street have madcatz fight pads for ps3 and xbox on sale at €24.

That's the first time I've seen them in a shop.

Sisko

Spotted any cheap sticks?

K.O.Kiki

Good value if you want an easily-hackable pad, too.

Speed Boat

Sisko wrote: »

Spotted any cheap sticks?

On my travels today I saw a round 2 TE for ps3 in Gamestop Stephens green for what looked like €140 and two Hori Ex 2 for 360 for €44 in Game in the Ilac centre.

Dreddybajs

Wow, ripoff Ireland proceeding as normal then.