Transition from pad to stick

YouSavedMyLife

So ive been playing Tekken and Soul Edge series of games for years now but always on a pad. I kinda want to get into Street Fighter, MvC and other stick based fighters but find the pad just doesnt work for me.

I want to get a stick, but was wondering how taxing the transition would be? How long on average would it take for me to become adept with it? Money isnt a problem its just that i have a feeling i wouldnt stick with it and it would be just a waste for money.

I know some of you may say i should only get a stick if i was super serious and wanted to attend tournaments and stuff, but i couldnt play a game knowing that I cant reach my maximum potential with a pad. Besides maybe i would attend some tourneys in Dublin...or casuals atleast...

Also can anyone recommend some sites for buying sticks online? Cheers

chopperbyrne

Everything that can be done on stick, can be done on pad.

Three of our best players are pad players.

If you do decide to get a stick, do not go back and forth. Use the stick exclusively and use training mode to do drills on performing certain actions facing right and then the same actions facing left.

It could take a few months to get properly used to it.

K.O.Kiki

I still think the DualShock is the BEST control method for Tekken (since Korean sticks can go to crap without warning).

unky chop chop

It took me about 4 months to get 100% comfortable with a stick.
I would highly recomend to give it a go.For me,the main reason i would never go near a pad again is because it is more fun on a stick.It just enchances the experience.

Execution wise not much has changed.Pianoing is much easier and kara throws are a piece of p1ss.
Be prepared to get extremely pissed off in the first few weeks,but stick with it and you will wonder how you ever managed without one

Misty Chaos

If you want to learn stick, go with a cheap one first in order to get used to it ( I'd recommend the Hori Ex2 for this .) After that, if your comfortable with stick, then you can go and buy a more expensive one.

As for the transition, go cold turkey, sure it will suck for the first week or so especially but once you get over that, you'll be fine. Just don't be prepared to give up that easily.

K.O.Kiki

I don't like recommending Hori's budget line.
Follow my advice if you're on PS3.

Doctor DooM

Misty Chaos wrote: »

If you want to learn stick, go with a cheap one first in order to get used to it ( I'd recommend the Hori Ex2 for this .) After that, if your comfortable with stick, then you can go and buy a more expensive one.

I wouldn't do this, get a Madcatz standard edition if you want to go cheap, as it's about the same quality but easily modded.

But as Chopper said, only do so if you really want to- pad is fine.

UberPrinny_Baal

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I don't like recommending Hori's budget line.
Follow my advice if you're on PS3.

I'm seconding Kiki's advice here, I've never seen sticks go as cheaply as the TVC + PS3 adaptor combo he's linking at the moment.

There's some clear Pros and Cons with sticks, but don't think it will automatically make you better. If you're naturally more comfortable with pads, it could just make you worse.

Ramza

It took me about a week or two to master stick. But I trained non stop though in fairness. Drilling combos, perfecting inputs and creating muscle memory is all there is to it. If you're determined you can do it. I can comfortable use pad or stick now but still prefer pad but that's just me

ogiekeaney

got my stick at christmas and am just about comfortable now. thats 8 bloody months of frustration right there.:mad:

id just go ahead and buy a te if you are REALLY COMMITED to fighting games. if you are going to the trouble of ordering a stick online and paying for delivery id pony up the 20 or 40 euro for the te.they also have pretty good resale value if you decide its not for you

wtfbenson

I'm going to agree with what most people in this thread already said and say "go with what works for you". Some of the best players in the World use pads and while there always seems to be some sense of amazement that they can use pads to be so amazing, the fact remains that you don't need a stick to be good.

I would say approach it from the standpoint of "what can't I do on a pad?" and work from there. Personally, I couldn't do Air Hyper Viper Beams at all on a pad so I changed to a stick pretty quickly and, at this point, it's difficult for me to do anything on a pad because I've spent hundreds of hours on the stick. If you can execute everything just fine on a pad though, don't change.

As for where to go, I would only recommend Madcatz for beginner sticks. They're basically the standard at this point and while Hori makes decent sticks, I don't like the feel of them as much. You can also go with a smaller company that specializes in custom sticks, like Shadaloo, but that's a pretty big investment for something you're not totally certain about.

aeonfusion

I just got myself a stick about a month ago. I'll openly admit i was very bad at the game when i got mine, so for me it wasn't a case of relearning what i already knew on pad and applying it to stick, i had to start from scratch. Because i had been using pads for years i had various habits i built up throughout the years, which is why the stick has been great for me, it gave me a completely blank canvas to start with.

I did lose a lot when i started and found myself wanting to swap back to pad a lot, but i resisted the urge and now just a month later i find myself using a pad and thinking 'how did i ever play with this' just seeing the difference between my speed at doing Rufus' dive kick on pad and on stick, i can do it at least half a second earlier on stick, i find my execution is much better and i find myself having to focus less on my execution leaving me to think about footsies, spacing, combos and whatever is thrown at me without having to stop and think about, because my brain knows i can rely on the stick doing what i want.

For me personally, it's the superior control method, not 'better' just that it suits me better. You may very well dislike sticks and much prefer pads, just thought i'd give my two cents. The main difference between stick and pad for me...i find myself shouting 'that's not the move i wanted!' a lot less :P now i'm on to 'oh i can't believe i did that' lol, progress.

The Hound

Ramza wrote: »

It took me about a week or two to master stick. But I trained non stop though in fairness. Drilling combos, perfecting inputs and creating muscle memory is all there is to it. If you're determined you can do it. I can comfortable use pad or stick now but still prefer pad but that's just me

You prefer pad? Do ya think everything that can be done on stick be done on pad? Like the heavy execution part to cover all options?

raah!

Is there a viable pad equivalent to pianoing?

I use pad atm and where people with a stick would piano I wobble my thumb over two buttons. This is the best approximation I could find but I'm pretty sure it's not as fast or as consistent as pianoing 3 stick buttons. With an xbox pad you can only do this with the buttons X and A. So unless there is some other way to do it, then I would say there is no pad equivalent to being able to pianoing both kicks and punches with the same button configuration.

I also have problems with doing a cr tech with medium kick using just my thumb (covering X, A and B with my thumb). But this is definitely button config specific, rather than just being a general failing of a pad.

Ramza

The Hound wrote: »

You prefer pad? Do ya think everything that can be done on stick be done on pad? Like the heavy execution part to cover all options?

Yeah totally. Like I could do it all on pad before I tried stick anyway. Some people see playing pad as some sort of achievement but it's just what some people like me and you have come to know. I never tried RSF on pad but it's doable, just an example since I can RSF on stick p good. Same with Kara raging demon in 3s, I used to be able to do that fine on pad (not very well atmo since don't play Akuma much more in 3s, but just an example), while on stick learning it was just as challenging. Maybe that's just me but I grew up using the pad so I definitely prefer it

ayjayirl

Remain true to the pad warrior.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Catz-Street-Fighter-Round-FightPad/dp/B002WE8TAA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312872933&sr=8-1

Doctor DooM

The Hound wrote: »

You prefer pad? Do ya think everything that can be done on stick be done on pad? Like the heavy execution part to cover all options?

I am not exactly the king of pad play but if I play with a madcatz pad on my knee claw style I can pretty much do everything on it I can with a stick (only slightly crappier).

Placebo

playing on pad is sillly, what will happen if you make it to SBO.

UberPrinny_Baal

The biggest difference I find between the different control methods are:

• On pad I don't have enough buttons for all the macros there are (I had no problem playing HDR on pad, I only got a stick when I was getting into Super).
  
  
• Between pad analog stick and d-pad, I seem to sacrifice the ability to consistently hit corners (a-stick) or ability to consistently perform quarter circle motions (d-pad).
  On the 3DS actually I'll switch between the a-nub and d-pad on the fly depending on the character and the move I want to perform. This slowly morphs my hand into a hideous and painful claw shape as I play.
  
  
• While playing around on my Octogate, I was amused to discover I'm completely unable to hit the corners to do divekicks with the twins/Rufus nine times out of ten

So for me, the very clear 4 corners on a TE help my execution, and the 6 white buttons do everything I want to the point I don't need macros.

Then again, I think I just have incredibly slow-to-learn muscle memory; and in order to get good at a new control method, I have to actively unlearn another first.

But if you're only going to learn one thing, a TE is a great choice, since it works for all games (a dual modded one anyway), and everyone has one.

YouSavedMyLife

Thanks for the input folks. Playing Tekken on pad is no bother cause its a 4 button fighting game and the dpad motions aint to hard with the lack of quarter circle and half circle type moves like SF. Played SF4 on pad and i was doing **** i didnt intend to do as well as some ultra executions felt like i was taking way to long to do them.

Im gonna go ahead and get a stick. The SF4 Arcade edition seems fairly resonable but i couldnt find any instock online for the Xbox, only the TE and TE Round 2 where available but the price is abit steep (250 Euro). I may get one for the PS3 and get an Xbox adapter for it. Anyone know is there any input lag when using a controller adapter?

Think ill go in and check out the second hand store on Liffey Street (forget the name :rolleyes:) and see have they any in stock

K.O.Kiki

There is input lag.

Hell, I don't even know of a single good PS3-to-360 adapter that works with sticks.
This is why dual-modding is the way.
And if you dual-mod, a 360 stick is a better base.

chopperbyrne

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

There is input lag.

Hell, I don't even know of a single good PS3-to-360 adapter that works with sticks.
This is why dual-modding is the way.
And if you dual-mod, a 360 stick is a better base.

You've said this loads of times.

If you're using a PS360 for the dual mod, why is a 360 stick better?

bush

Is a kitty for 360 not the easiest way to dual mod?

1man3letters

aeonfusion said everything i was goin to say

only on a stick since jun 26th and for the 1st week or so i got my assed kicked, even flawlessed (the shame )
but when you put the hours in youll know where all the buttons are (sounds stupid but my main prob when started playin on it in panic sitiuations were the button wanted to hit was) muscle memory as alot call it
i dont know if im come equal to before when i was playin on a pad,been using pad for over 18years ya see but i can do stuff on stick that i couldnt hit on pad so i think aslong as keep puttin the time in it will be worth it plus playing on a stick is super fun :pac:

ps.on a personal note the fact of the whole art modding aspects that comes with using a stick is also pretty cool, like its nice doing my 40-50% combo with baraka to look down after the match to see him smiling up a me haha :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

K.O.Kiki

chopperbyrne wrote: »

You've said this loads of times.

If you're using a PS360 for the dual mod, why is a 360 stick better?

Because NOW you can get easy solutions which add PS3 functionality (Chimp, kitty, Dual Strike).
And they're cheaper than PS360.

Additionally, PS360+ (the new revision) has been held up for months.

Nutrient

It's all up to you man

But just remember that learning a stick may not improve your overall skills

Sure there great for macros and execution but, you shouldn't dismiss a pad because you believe its holding you back

What it really comes down to is why you want to learn stick

I play pad and I think all stick players are insane:P

the 1st hardter

1 month stick player here and I can safely say it has hurt my marvel play atm since my hand can not move that fast yet but helped my sf4 play since I play vega. I have not once done a backflip dodge or wall dive instead of an ex scarlet terror (used to piss me off) once since getting it. Only thing is it hurts after about 3 hours play

K.O.Kiki

If your hands hurt after playing, you need to relax more, and maybe adjust where you place your hands -- even something like using last 6 buttons instead of first 6.

liamnojo92

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

If your hands hurt after playing, you need to relax more, and maybe adjust where you place your hands -- even something like using last 6 buttons instead of first 6.

I agree especially if you're left hand is hurting make sure you're only moving your wrist and not your arm that's what got me at the start.

the 1st hardter

I only have 6 buttons on my stick and it is the "claw" I think that is causing the pain. I have no issues with the stick but trying to play marvel on a stick is making my hand move way faster than I'm used to atm so ends up getting tired and hurting after a bit. Maybe I should masturbate more for practice. . . . . .

liamnojo92

I'd recommend the "wine glass" method of holding the stick too, put the shaft(oh lord this sounds bad)between your middle and ring finger and wrap your hand round the top it feels awkward at first but it's very comfortable once you get the hang of it.

J0hnick

Only problems Ive had is getting DP's out quick or 2x QCF/QCB moves, I think Ive got a problem with letting the stick go back to a neutral state.

stev0knev022

If i could, i would switch to playing on stick myself, im kinda stuck tho and those things cost srs money for a half decent one.

the 1st hardter

I had this issue too at first, so many dropped combos due to wrong inputs. But after a while ya just "get it". I did not even notice I was not dropping stuff anymore.

Just go into practice mode and and "I'm going to do 25 fireballs in a row", if ya miss one start over again till ya do it. Then do 25 DP in a row till ya got the hang of it. Helped me a lot

unky chop chop

liamnojo92 wrote: »

I'd recommend the "wine glass" method of holding the stick too, put the shaft(oh lord this sounds bad)between your middle and ring finger and wrap your hand round the top it feels awkward at first but it's very comfortable once you get the hang of it.

Yep wine glass helped me when I started on the stick.

When i got a stick i watched this vid and tried them all out and stayed with the one most comfortable for me.It helped a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsME37GrqjY

Check out the "douchebag hold"
Same one my bird uses

the 1st hardter

OK does anyone have a recommendation for my problem at the moment. Say in marvel on pad can land a load of combos with super skrull cause I am calm during it. But on stick I Panic the moment I hit anything and drop it all.

Same on street fighter with vega close heavy into crouching medium. Only on stick for the equivalent of 2 and half weeks now (took a holiday) so I'm guessing it comes with time and muscle memory but just wondering if there is anything you would try????

Slight edit. This is only in games. In arcade or training I will land 90% of what I try. But in player games I just panic landing anything

K.O.Kiki

the 1st hardter wrote: »

OK does anyone have a recommendation for my problem at the moment. Say in marvel on pad can land a load of combos with super skrull cause I am calm during it. But on stick I Panic the moment I hit anything and drop it all.

Same on street fighter with vega close heavy into crouching medium. Only on stick for the equivalent of 2 and half weeks now (took a holiday) so I'm guessing it comes with time and muscle memory but just wondering if there is anything you would try????

Slight edit. This is only in games. In arcade or training I will land 90% of what I try. But in player games I just panic landing anything

Play more.

There's your answer

the 1st hardter

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Play more.

There's your answer

Figured as much. Why can't there be a quick fix to everything