Switching from pad to stick - advice needed.

[Nehle]

I'm thinking about making the switch from pad to stick. For this purpose, I have borrowed a friend's Hori Fighting Stick II to test with.

Now, I know I shouldn't expect playing equally well the first time I try stick after having played with pad for a year and a half, but holy shit it's harder then it seemed. I only manage to IAD about 60% of the times (but sometimes in the wrong direction ), I constantly confuse P and K, I do MANY accidental jumps/superjumps, I can barely land the most basic of combos and I have many other issues. Also, my right wrist hurts. One of the things I do noticed got easier was RKys 5H FRC (Most FRCs, in fact).

Anyways, I know a lot of this will go away with tons of practice, but I'm looking for advice to easy the transition. How should I hold the stick? Is there anything to think about to make it easier? and such.

I'm using the standard GGXX button config for both pad and stick

Pad: (D and R on shoulders)
  S
 P H
  K

Stick:
  K S H
  P R D

[MoonLessNight]

I think the hardest part for me was to re-learn how to manuever around on the stick. I figured out my own way to SJ (I roll 2369 for forward SJ's and the reverse for back SJ's prolly unnecessary but...) and my own way to IAD. I think that is what you should do for yourself. Ask your friendly stick player (your friend hah) how he does the motions and go from there. I only say that because it's what I had to do and the transition took me like 3 weeks. I just started up on stick again and it's much easier this time around. :china: How to hold the stick? That's up to you sexy.

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

Fighting Stick 2 is actually a horrible stick, so if you have a lot of problems, that may be the issue. As soon as you can get a HRAP or a Sanwa based stick, you should. There's no real trick to learning it other than just use it for a long time. My biggest problem with using them was picking up dashing again, double taps can be pretty difficult at first. Also if you have access to a US styled stick, give that a try too. Some people like one type over the other. I personally like the feel of Happ Super sticks better than Sanwa, but I can't TK DP worth a crap on them, and I can wiggle much faster on Sanwa sticks.

[Pinion]

Speaking of Sanwa sticks, does anyone around her know a trustworthy person that makes 'em? In the upcoming months I'm looking to have 2 made.

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

Most of the people who make them on SRK do a good job. Not sure if there are any decent stick makers on DLoop or not.

[Pinion]

Most of the people who make them on SRK do a good job. Not sure if there are any decent stick makers on DLoop or not.

Hmm, alright I'll definitely check things out over there. Thanks.

Any members in particular that you suggest I try and get ahold of over there?

[Dracula X]

Nitewalker on www.Combovideos.com and Dreaded Fist of SRK fame do good work. Nitewalker does his stuff for a bit cheaper but DF has a better reputation (he's been around longer). I've never heard any complaints about sticks from either of them and actually should be getting mine from Nitewalker in the mail soon. Good luck and happy gaming :p

[Teyah]

I don't think Dreaded Fist makes sticks anymore, last I checked his thread. Anyway, my old stick's a DF stick (Happ Competition) and it served me well for like a year and a half. DF really does know what he's doing, and so do many of the stickmakers over at SRK. After getting my RAP, I still preferred the Happ stick over the RAP's Sanwa (only because it was mounted very low in comparison to the Sanwas at my local arcade). Now I use a bat-top on my RAP along with Sanwa buttons - that's definitely the way to go, for me at least.

[IllogicalDreamr]

Speaking of Sanwa sticks, does anyone around her know a trustworthy person that makes 'em?

In the upcoming months I'm looking to have 2 made.

http://byrdo.org

He made my custom. http://byrdo.org/images/Arcade%20Stiks/Baiken1.jpg

And it is very nice to play on. :grin:

[Pinion]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. Really appreciate it.

[MoonLessNight]

I'm mad all the baiken players on these forums have custom sticks with baiken all over it...

[Master Chibi]

Send them angry private messages moonless, that'll show them >:|. Also, I have a HRAP and just recent am attempting to play this game on stick. It was never the stick that gave me trouble, it was the button layout, but I can attribute that to playing every Capcom game under the sun I suppose. :P

[rtl42]

I'm mad all the baiken players on these forums have custom sticks with baiken all over it...

This is mine:

http://www.vidgame.net/SONY/Sony/peripherals/psx_ascii.jpg

hope you feel better now~!

[Pinion]

It was never the stick that gave me trouble, it was the button layout, but I can attribute that to playing every Capcom game under the sun I suppose.

:P

Just give it some time man and I'm sure it'll be alright.

I played nothing but 3rd Strike from it's release date to early spring of this year and I managed to make the change from the Capcom layout to the SLASH arcade default with little to no problems over the course of a week.

[Master Chibi]

Same here with the likes of practically everything they've put out. Kinda why I have trouble playing KoF as well. With time I suppose. ;p

[MoonLessNight]

This is mine:

http://www.vidgame.net/SONY/Sony/peripherals/psx_ascii.jpg

hope you feel better now~!

Slightly better....I just baked myself a cake so I feel ok now...

[Magile]

Now, I know I shouldn't expect playing equally well the first time I try stick after having played with pad for a year and a half, but holy shit it's harder then it seemed. I only manage to IAD about 60% of the times (but sometimes in the wrong direction ), I constantly confuse P and K, I do MANY accidental jumps/superjumps, I can barely land the most basic of combos and I have many other issues. Also, my right wrist hurts. One of the things I do noticed got easier was RKys 5H FRC (Most FRCs, in fact).

For the IAD issue, work on just dashing smoothly first before you start working on the IAD transition. I say this because, for me at least, I originally was very awkward when I'd switch from holding the stick to trying to dash, which often left me in a scramble to maintain control of the stick again (ie. I'd release how I'd normally hold the stick to basically palm-slap the stick in the direction I'm dashing). Another problem I realized was I'd stop, or forget to, hold down the stick to dash. For example, when I'd FRC Venom's Stinger Aim, I'd double-tap but then forget to hold the stick and Venom would glide for a moment and fall short of continuing the combo.

As for confusing punch with kick and all that, basically you need practice. That's all there is to it. You will soon adapt to your configuration and all will work out in the end -- until then, you'll just have to stick to training mode.

Anyways, I know a lot of this will go away with tons of practice, but I'm looking for advice to easy the transition. How should I hold the stick? Is there anything to think about to make it easier? and such.

For how to hold the stick (sanwa-wise), I hold the ball between my index finger and thumb (index on the left, thumb on the right, sort of just on the lower end of the ball) and have my middle finger cross beneath onto, well, the stick. It just gives me a bit of control and helps not only for dashing forward but backwards as well. For transitions in, say, execution... either with Third Strike or GG, try performing super arts/over drives. Since both are normally fluid 236236 moves, or in some cases 632146, they'll get you used to trying out commands and executing more efficiently. Non-supers work as well, for example, one thing that helped me eventually perform Slayer's bite loop (when it was around in #R) more effectively was playing Third Strike for a while and messing around with Makoto and her command grab.

I'm using the standard GGXX button config for both pad and stick

Pad: (D and R on shoulders)
  S
 P H
  K

Stick:
  K S H
  P R D

Can't help you much there, my stick configuration is...

P S D

K H R

I know it's not the "official" configuration or what have you, but it works for me. Always takes me a few minutes to get used to the feel of GG if I've been playing 3S though, and vice versa.

Hope some of this helped.

EDIT: I almost forgot, about your wrist... try to make sure you're in a comfortable position when you play, because you shouldn't be getting a sore wrist if you do that. Try to angle it perhaps, but generally just make sure you are in a comfortable position with the arcade stick.

[Samco]

Everyone seems to favor sanwa, but doesn't the GG arcade cabinets use seimitsu?

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

Not that I know of. Seimitsu kind of sucks AFAIK.

[IllogicalDreamr]

Not that I know of. Seimitsu kind of sucks AFAIK.

I know they use Seimitsu for 3S. I've never used one, so I can't really saw how it feels.

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

I'm basing only on the few people I know who've used them. They've all said they feel cheaper than Sanwa.

[HeartBuri XD]

Not that I know of. Seimitsu kind of sucks AFAIK.

From what I've noticed, buttons feel cheap as FUCK(like, not even Hori level quality), but they do their job.

The Gunbird 2 Machine at SF Mall has a Semitsu stick in it, it feels okay to me, same responsiveness and such as a Sanwa, you cant really tell the difference unless your hardcore or something.

[Dracula X]

Df still makes sticks btw to whoever said that. Just email him and set something up. Yeah Sanwa Stick and buttons are the best choice though not exactly cheap.

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

I don't think Gunbird is a particularly good measure for quality of arcade sticks... or anything for that matter.

[IllogicalDreamr]

Has anyone ever played on a Sanwa JLW stick before? I'm interested in one, but want to hear some feedback before I get a stick.