Is the fightpad worth playing (competitively) with?

Leprekaun

Hi all. So I've been thinking about getting the fightpad ever since I've been thinking about the fightstick (which is a LOOONG time ). I was never part of the arcade generation so I grew up on joypads (Mega Drive six button pad specifically which IMO, is one of the best pads ever made) for fighting games so I'm quite used to them.

That said, I grew up on MK, not SF. I only started playing SF properly from SFA3 onwards and that was with a PS style pad for PC (I won't go into details on how I played SFA3 on PC ) but I sort of ignored the L1, R1 buttons which I had set up for LK and LP. Then I played SF3: 3S from the Anniversary Collection with the bulky Xbox1 pad which sort of had a six button layout with the way the black and white buttons were positioned.

Looking at modern day joypads though, the fightpad is the only one that I know of (although I think Bush had some sort of unofficial Saturn pad for PS3 a while ago, right?) that has the classic six button layout so I've been thinking again about going back to using the pad. I don't have any problem with the fightstick, I love it still but I never had any real trouble with the original X360 pad for SF either which is why I'm considering giving the fightpad a chance but I've read mixed reviews about it, some people saying that the dpad is awful and isn't really fluid as the old console controllers and others say the pad is great. I think I used a fightpad once at one of the SFIV meets but that was a while ago so I don't really remember how it played then. So to get to the point, is the fightpad as good (or bad) as people make it out to be?

Doctor DooM

Yes.


Next question.

The fightpad's fine, only problem I find with them is I a slightly suspicious of the build quality, the membrane's gone bad on 3 of AJs. I can play fine on them myself, placing the pad on my knee.

Leprekaun

But you only have to hold back and press forward Doom. Any old pad will do for that :pac: but seriously, thanks for the advice

chopperbyrne

Leprekaun wrote: »

But you only have to hold back and press forward Doom. Any old pad will do for that :pac: but seriously, thanks for the advice

You on 360 or PS3?

For PS3, you'd be better off with a USB Saturn pad, even a knock-off one.

They're really cheap on ebay.

Misty Chaos

Hey there,

I used to play on fightpad for nearly a year before I recently took the plunge and switched to Arcade stick and went cold turkey.

There are fine to play with but there are not really the best for taking abuse, my old fightpad is pretty much falling apart from the amount of times I threw on the ground in frustration because of ranked mode. :pac:

The main reason I took the plunge is because I felt I had reached the limit that my main can do on fightpad and felt I could do even more with my main if I was on arcade stick.

That being said, there are plenty of high level players in the community who prefer to play on pad, like Cobelcog and Hound for example so there is no pressure to get a stick, thinking it will make you better.

Doctor DooM

One thing to think of Leprekaun, now I think of it- if you ever plan on returning to the competitive scene (for the noobier out there, Leprekaun was one of the first organisers of what we now call inferno) sticks tend not to change between console releases, and can be modded if they do. You may need to learn a new pad from release to release though.

ayjayirl

Fightpad all the way.

Limitations on ability to perform anything are in the mind, not on the pad/sticks.

Build quality - yeh the membrane has gone on 3 fightpads but always the same one - my medium kick. Now, since I only play Ryu and nearly all his combos work off cr.mk., it makes sense that it got an excessive amount of abuse when compared to the other buttons - which btw, had no problems with the membrane. I also use it to poke cause, well, it works. That I am going to miss the most in AE

Dpad - I think its great. I haven't played this saturn pad you spoke about but the fightpads D-pad >>xbox & PS3 but that could be preference. I don't play charge characters.

Ps3/xbox?

Ramza

Misty Chaos wrote: »

That being said, there are plenty of high level players in the community who prefer to play on pad, like Cobelcog and Hound for example

Ahem :pac:

None is better than the other, it's just preference. I use a PS2 pad as my staple (not ps1 or ps3). I use stick too but that was learned out of sheer boredom and ease of accessibility. I'm not bothered with converters and stuff so it's easier for me. I can't comment on which pad is best but just try them out, like I can't stand the xbox or ps3 pad, they suck, (fu cog + hound) so it's just down to preference

Leprekaun

Thanks for the advice lads.

I play on X360 so it would have to be an X360 fightpad.

I'm not sure if I'd be fine with the build quality to be honest. I'm quite a "reserved" gamer you could say, I don't throw my pads around or mash buttons fiercely but I don't want to be in a situation where after using it for a few months, I find a button breaks which I'm assuming with a fightpad means = new fightpad so I don't want to keep forking out cash every few months for a new pad.

I never knew there'd be differences between X360 and PS3 fightpads, how do you mean from release to release? as in from one SF to another? I have read that the PS3 fightpad is wireless, the X360 is not. I know people in the competitive scene don't like wireless controllers but for gaming at home, wireless is a lot less hassle as its less chance of people tripping on the wires (never happened but the chance is always there) since my X360 is in the living room so kind of public space and my cats won't be curious about them either (with the fightstick, they tend to like to claw at the cable sometimes :rolleyes:) but thats a different story.

Now that you mention that differences though, I've just thought about how switching from one system to another might be tricky since a dpad sort of gets worked in over time or just the basic fact that not every dpad is the same out of the factory so that could be a problem. Although, I will one of these Saturdays come down to XGC for some casuals and I do want to be competitive in the casuals but as they're called, they'll just be casuals and I won't be too fussed about differences in the fightpad if I need to switch systems.

OT: By the way, about my lack attendance to the casuals, I know I'm being a bit lazy but the trip to Dublin is kind of haunting me :O. I think I might need some form portable entertainment to help convince me to go. Its not so much the journey but the boredom, music can only take you so far (for anyone who doesn't know, I live in Donegal so around 4 hour bus journey x2 in one day)

Doctor DooM

No I meant when we move onto the xbox720 and the PShackdaplanet4, all the current pads will probably not work, and mods for pads tend to be- er- ineligant.

Leprekaun

Oh right, ok . You mean nexgen systems. I think we have at least two or three years for that and considering Microsoft's limited compatibility list and I doubt Sony would add PS3 support, I think SSFIV will live a reasonably long life on current gen systems