I agree, i’ve always suspected its some kind of ‘cool’ or elitist thing to like the arcade controls. “yeah man, the arcade stick is way better” yeah right… d-pad ftw.

Ahh… FInally. A 4cr post on fighters. I must admit, for the longest time I found the SNES controller was the only way to play fighters. I tried playing CVS2 in the arcade a few times but I felt the precision I was looking for when firing off rolling attacks and fireballs was simply lacking. I later revisited that arcade and played some Guilty Gear, SFIII, and a bit of MvC. I now realized what a mistake I had been making. Awkwardly fumbling to pull of a tornado kick having to use my finger to press the button and my thumb to make the quarter-circle lost me too many precious minutes - almost throwing entire matches. I then made a drastic move, casting aside my classic controller (which I thought was the be-all of fighter controllers) I brought in a brand new X-arcade Duo. I haven’t gone back since. Why?

It’s simple. When you use an arcade stick, you devote an entire hand to the most important thing in a fighting game: movement. Now half of your finger arsenal is devoted to jumping, ducking, walking, dashing, and executing special move movements.

but “Ahh,” you say “Now your other hand must pick up the slack. You haven’t enough fingers!”

you couldn’t be more wrong.

Now that your hand it free from having to grasp the controller, it rests easily on the arcade board and effortlessly hits any button within it’s reach with increased percision. You also now have greatly improved button mashing ability. Essential for games like Fatal Fury, King of the Monsters, and any game with a character like Ralf, Clark, E. Honda, or Chun-li.

An Arcade stick makes your option clearer and readily available, it offers percision and finesse, and it feels, looks, and works beautifully. I have nothing against those who still use a d-pad and controller (I love my CC and I still use it from time to time. Plus, I need to use my GBA d-pad to play SFA3U) but I assure you that once you get used to an Arcade stick (and I reccomend the X-Arcade) you will understand why there are Arcade fighting sticks being produced every year.

I also reccomend you pick up KOF: Orochi Saga for the Wii to test out your different controllers. Or SNK Arcade Classics. Or Guilty Gear XX Accent Core. Or Mortal Kombat Armaegeddon. Or Capcom vs. SNk 2…. When you get down to it, an arcade stick is a worthwhile investment.

I like both, I usually get more into it when I use arcade controls, but I can kick ass with a SNES controller too.
By the way, I hate the 360 pad and it sucks for SF2.

the 360 pad is awful for everything

Yeah, the 360 dpad sucks. I don’t get what they were thinking with it, especially since the Xbox one was fine. You’d think some one out there would just recreate the 360 controller and stick in a decent dpad.

I have a Hori stick for the 360, though, so I live.

I’m an SNES controller guy, but I really like gojiguy’s description of the benefits of the arcade stick. Thanks!

Arcade stick. There’s no replacing its accuracy. Furthermore, the L and R buttons on the SNES pad are useless in fighters.

Believe it or not, but I love the PS controller, without the sticks for most fighters. Got an adapter for my computer and I have fun on most ROMs.

The SNES is clunky feeling to me, and I don’t like flat controllers.

Keyboard.

Arcade stick, no doubt. I have an X-Arcade for my DC specifically for KOF/MvC2/SC/SSF2T. As Gojiguy put it, you’re freeing up your left hand specifically for movement. When you’re using a controller, it’s much harder to do double-taps (dashes and double jumps) because you’re supporting the controller with your hand and having to keep the index finder on the “L” button. Additionally, doing things like a quarter or half rotation are easy wrist motions when using a stick, instead of trying to mash the D-Pad into doing something correctly. And, with your right hand free to float over buttons, it’s incredible how much difference fractions of seconds make when you’re mashing a combo with several different fingers instead of a single slow thumb.

I prefer the snes controller to pretty much everything.

I really want to love SSF2THD, but the 360 controller is so awful for it. I might have to break down and buy an arcade stick. Definitely thinking about one of those SF4 ones.

If you played Zangief this wouldn’t even be a question. Chucking fireballs may be easier on the snes pad, but full circles or other relatively complex motions are kinda finicky to register imo, not to mention murder on the thumb. The stick is the most neutral, it doesn’t put you at a disadvantage just for choosing certain characters. And i’m not just saying Zangief either, Fei Long and Adon also come to mind as others i find noticeably more difficult to use effectively when using a pad as opposed to stick.

Then there’s also the obvious thing where the game was designed with stick + 6 button layout in mind. The snes pad was just kinda shoehorned in afterwards for the port and just so happened to have six buttons. With the sixth button being the L trigger mind you, which i think we can all agree is gimped at best and really forces you to play the game with only 5 buttons.

I always preferred the SNES pad to the arcade stick because it’s so much easier to use, IMO. Nowadays I don’t have an arcade within 20 miles of me, so I use whatever I have around… even the 360 controller (which I actually like a lot, unlike others here .

I play as Ken. I rule all with a SNES controller or in the arcade.

Shoulder buttons have always been a problem on fighters. Although they are great for platforming or other kind of games, fighters just can’t take it. Apart from this whole stick/pad confrontation, I can’t help but remind you of six front buttons pads, Saturn-like. I personally have some at home and I feel fighters are made for them. If you can’t stand the bulky annoyance/greatness of the stick, go for a Saturn pad, the goodness of the snes pad plus two more front buttons. Mind you, they can be difficult to find now.

Gojiguy said all that’s been needed to say. Though I can’t stand the controls on SFA3U and can barely play the game using them. How I wish they were like SNK vs Capcom on the NGPC,wth its perfect controls, can’t beat the mini joystick either!

I grew up on fighters in the arcade, so of course I find that more comfortable and have in my mind the belief that is better for responses.

That said the best fighting game in terms of control I ever played was SNK vs Capcom Match of The Millenium for Neo Geo Pocket Color, which had a Analog stick and two buttons. Odd how that works.

Oh, that’s a tough one…

I’m gonna have to go with arcade controls, because I always sucked at pulling off moves with the SNES controller’s d-pad.

I don’t mind using a d-pad (except for charge characters — hand cramps! — and parry/just-defence systems), but using face buttons (let alone shoulder buttons) is extremely limiting compared to the standard arcade stick setup.

It’s nearly impossible to pull off any intermediate or higher-level input techniques (kara cancel, option select, piano, etc.) without the full six buttons controlled by three (or more) fingers.

[BTW, the X-Arcade is a terrible, terrible stick. You’d be much better off getting something from Arcade In A Box, using a Hori HRAP, or even building your own stick (try lizardlick.com for parts). Or just wait for the SFIV TE sticks.]

I recently found that a PS2 controller is far superior to my Hori aracade stick, at least in terms of the very game you tried out. I can’t say that this is because it is superior, but it’s probably because I’m a high level SSBM player who is used to doing half-circles for moon walks, precise dash dances with C.Falcon and Fox, and many other advanced tech I’ve picked up over the years.

I’m not leaning toward one or the either, but right now it feels like the PS2 controller wins. I’ll be picking up SSF2THDR at the end of the week, so I’ll at least spend a few hours with each.

Arcade stick>Genesis pad>SNES pad

Sega Genesis Activator Ring. The only way to play.

I’m a D-Pad guy myself… I recently bought the Hori Arcade Stick for the Wii to use with Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom (because the Classic Controller was cramping my hands…) only to realize that it just can’t compare to a D-Pad… I have to suffer through my hand cramps now…

@ Shiro867

Lol, keyboard ftw with MAME, back in the day…

But yea, arcade. It’s nice to have your hands around something big.

No sexual pun intended.

Although I believe thatthe SNES controller is THE best console controller for fighting games, I have to go with arcade controls as superior.

And it’s nice to see the NGPC and SvC:MotM getting some love! That game needs a DS port.

I’ve been playing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom with my Street Fighter Anniversary stick (and a cube>ps2 adaptor), and it’s great. That game can be played with the classic just as effectively though. Playing anything higher level (the SNK vs. games, anything Street Fighter, KOF, AOF, FF, etc.) is definitely MUCH superior on a stick. Hell, I can throw a hadoken with a dance pad, but if I’m playing anything seriously, the stick is always tops.

I use a hacked Famicom player 2 controller.

Personally I find my best fighting controller to be the PS1 controller, before analogue sticks or pressure sensitivity was introduced (pressure sensitivity fucks up so many moves…). But that’s because it was the controller I used when first getting serious with fighting games (Darkstalkers and Street Fighter Alpha 2). I imagine for most people that prefer a certain controller it’s for similar reasons. Mainly because whenever you first start getting good at something you end up judging the ease of new things based on whatever you started with. And since most people started their road down competitive lane at arcades, it’s the control scheme that’s most widely accepted.

For the record I have been playing arcade fighters since original Mortal Kombat, but never got good at them because it was too expensive to constantly play at arcades. And since I was never good at them I never bought the home versions (my sister buying the original Darkstalkers finally broke the cycle!)

@ EM

I almost thought you were serious until you reccomended something made by MadCatz. The same company that made the 360 arcade joystick. We’re talking about shittier than shit.

And X-Arcade is one of the best sticks out there. I don’t know why you’d disagree. I’ve had my fair share of shitty and good sticks to use and the X-Arcade is top-notch (plus I no longer have to buy a new stick every generation).

@ GOJIGUY

Some guys at shoryuken forums were lucky enough to get their paws on the madcatz SF4 arcade stick… it’s serious business. Authentic Sanwa parts, feels solid, nice grip on the bottom. It’s cash, and worth the money.

It depends. I have no preference between Happ and Sanwa stuff. X-Arcade uses Happ parts, to my knowledge. Hori sticks are far superior (some builds even have Sanwa parts), and we know how super responsive those are. But like I said, just my two cents.

If you’ve ever played Virtua Fighter, you’ll understand why the D-pad just doesn’t measure up. Some of the motions you have to make (forward to back-and-up) absolutely kill the thumb on a D-pad, especially the PS2/3’s.

Am i the only geek who places their controller on their lap and uses it like a mini arcade stick? Granted im more towards the button masher side of play than an expert combo puller offerer

@Henry/GOJIGUY

The MadCatz SF4 sticks are superb. Just because a company generally churns out crap doesn’t mean that they can’t also put out a fantastic product. http://sdtekken.com/tech-area/arcade-sticks/arcade-stick-ran king/

The X-Arcade sticks do not use Happ parts. They use cheap knock-offs (and knock-offs of low-end Happ parts at that!). If you want to turn the X-Arcade into a decent stick, you have to replace the stick and the buttons — but you could do that just as well on a $50 Hori Tekken 5 stick or a $100 Hori HRAP stick (which is much better OotB than the X-Arcade) or your own custom stick.

The X-Arcade’s only real benefit is that the company provides adaptors for multiple consoles. But you could do the same with any stick with a PS1/PS2 PCB — there are cheap adapters for the PC, Dreamcast, PS3, GameCube/Wii, and XBox 1. The X-Arcade doesn’t support the XBox 360.

@EM

Thanks for correcting me, I feel so silly.

But yea. Madcatz finally made a really good arcade controller guys. BUY IT NAO.

If I use arcade-like control, I need to stand up, like at the arcade :/

If I use arcade-like control, I need to stand up, like at the arcade :/

I like my SNES controller better, but I also have a Super Advantage which to me is just like an Arcade set up.

Saturn Pad all the way!
The old Sidewinder for the PC was about the same plus an extra mode/option/select key.

Three face buttons just work well with fighters.
Also arcade sticks give you up to three easy to press buttons for three fingers with an easy bit of room to reach for the top ones.
Though I’ve always had to re-adjust the way I did moves with the control stick while a good eight way d-pad tens to be alot easier. Say like the Saturn’s d-pad.

The second revision of the Sega Saturn pad was absolute perfection.

I usually prefer a gamepad out of sheer convenience but if I’m in the right mood I’ll use the arcade controls. After all these years being able to play Street Fighter 2 is one of my main concerns when I consider buying a gamepad or joystick for any system. It’s amazing how well the series has held up all these years.

Быть вторым означает быть основным блюдом.

пишется слово.

Умные стремятся владеть информацией, мудрые - результатом ее обработки…