A few to-the-point questions about switching from pad to stick.

Geese899

I have been in the mid - high level fighting game scene for a while, atleast around here and online, and I have always wanted to switch to stick. I'm decent on stick but the problems that limit me and make me lose always annoy me to switching to pad, just to beat the guy in the room that's beating me.

Basically, my limitations are -

Dashing.. this is a big one. I can't backdash well in SSF4, and I can't FADC well. I have to literally take my whole hand off the stick, and kinda spank it from the left two times to dash right. I do the same thing dashing left but with the back of my hand. Is that how you're supposed to do it, or am I supposed to be able to,while holding the stick the regular way, input a direction two times quickly?

I really really suck at blocking cross ups on charge characters with stick. But I know I just need to practice that.

Charge down-up reversals are hard for me to rely on with a stick.

Any tips for improvement in these areas?

I know I don't need to switch to stick, blah blah, but I do really want to.

BlackShinobi

1. There something wrong with the way you're holding the stick if you have to remove your hand completely in order to dash, That shouldn't even be something you need to practice its just hitting forward twice so Its either your grip or you're playing on a stick that is extremely loose.
2. A pad to Stick conversion shouldn't effect your ability to block crossups since it just back, unless you are hitting down/back by accident.
3 Straight down (or d/b, d/f) to straight up, ride the empty space, don't move your stick around the gate.
4. You are aware that every thing after the first half of the first sentence of your post goes against the first half of the first sentence of your post, I'm just saying.

Geese899

Thanks for the advice

Also, no, saying that I've been playing for a while, 10+ yrs (on pad) and having trouble with simple execution (on stick) makes perfect sense.

eltrouble

First off, check out this guide for general hints/tips: http://www.eventhubs.com/guides/2009/jul/08/tips-switching-pad-joystick/

Dashing can be pretty awkward. I myself have trouble doing this motion, especially on the P1 side. On P2, it's pretty easy, you just tap the side of the balltop with your thumb. On P1 side, it's fairly awkward. Personally, I slight shift my hand position so that my 3 primary fingers just do a quick double tap on the left-side of the balltop to do it. If you try to do it gentle with finger motions only, it doesn't seem to do the trick, so I put more of my wrist/hand into it.

A neat little trick you might want to use to land FADCs easier. If you do it an FADC motion, while holding the forward-motion, that counts towards the dash input. So you hold forward, FADC, and then all you need to do is tap forward once more to get the dash. That way you need super fast hand motions to do FADC, two taps forward, and then another motion.

Sucking at blocking has nothing to do with the stick, you just have to learn how to identify which moves cross-up or not. That comes with experience.

I find playing charge characters on stick x10 easier than on pad, especially since I can feel the corners better. You just need to consistently practice at it. No trick to do it other than constant repetition to cement it into your muscle memory.

Geese899

Alright thanks. I can block cross ups fine on pad, but just like dude man said earlier, I think I just accidentally block down a lot on stick. I might do that hold forward=FADC trick, I already do it with Abel's dash cancel.

BlackShinobi

Geese899, post: 7345986, member: 9683 wrote:

Alright thanks. I can block cross ups fine on pad, but just like dude man said earlier, I think I just accidentally block down a lot on stick. I might do that hold forward=FADC trick, I already do it with Abel's dash cancel.

I could be 100% wrong on this, but It sounds like you have a loose stick with a square gate, at least thats what it sounds like when you combine the dashing issue with the blocking/charging issue.

J.D

I suggest you turn on your inputs on training mode and look at your mistakes.
The goal is to be able to quickly locate the corners in your stick.
If you analyze your inputs you will find exactly what the problem in your positioning is.

Also keep in mind, the most optimal way to position your hand on the stick is by holding it between your index/middle/ring and pinky/thumb.
Check this video for reference.

eltrouble

That's just one of many grips you can use on a stick. Just because Daigo uses it, doesn't mean we should all follow suit. A variety of players, top-level players included, use a variety of hand grips. Use whatever is comfortable for you and where you're able to reach all points of the stick.

Uroboric

BlackShinobi, post: 7345844, member: 292 wrote:

3 Straight down (or d/b, d/f) to straight up, ride the empty space, don't move your stick around the gate.

That's really not the ideal way to do it, for some characters it's important to maintain a back charge.

BlackShinobi

Uroboric, post: 7349851, member: 63391 wrote:

That's really not the ideal way to do it, for some characters it's important to maintain a back charge.

Yes and no. While you are technically right I would disagree with you in this situation. In the case of someone who is having trouble with all 4 cardinal directions, step one imo should be just getting the move to come out. Maintaining charge should be a little way down the line on your things to do list if the you can't get the initial move out at 100% in its simplest form.