Advice for stick movement

Hello there,

I´m from Germany and just joined this board recently.
Although I´m not that much into fighting games, VF4 really caught my interest and so far I´ve spend a lot of time learning the game mechanics. There are not many Arcades in Germany so I just play at home.
I started with VF4 at the time it was released around Europe for the PS2. I also bought me a Namco Arcade Stick in order to play the game properly. When I got Vf4 Evolution I started over with Akira in order to force myself to learn those rather difficult moves, and also get better with the stick movement.
Now that I´m trying to integrate some of the advanced conbos into my gameplay, I feel that I have difficulties hitting the diagonals with the stick right, especially the backwards directions.
Maybe this is only the lack of practice (didn´t play many games with stick before). Or maybe I´m not holding the stick right?
When I started to play with stick I used only the thumb for backward movements and the palm for all forward movements (stick between thumb and palm). After a while I switched to thumb and three fingers, then thumb and only two fingers (stick between thumb and index/middle finger, ring finger/pinkie placed under the stick). For / / I use my thumb to push the stick into that direction (sometimes also supported by index/middle finger).
Most of the time I play with the stick sitting in my lap, so I can´t apply too much force when inputting the directions.
At the moment I´m playing with Kage, although most of the time so far I used Akira (still need to learn some of his advanced moves though, like the knee etc.). I can handle Kage better, but there are moves I cannot perform constantly, e.g. , , , . The problem when I try to do two times fast after another is that I almost always hit two directions instead of just . Doing that move from the Player2 position is even more difficult for me as my thumb movement is slower and not very precise.

What I would like to know from you advanced players is how I could improve on my input method. Maybe the VF4 Stick is better in this regard than the other Hori sticks? Or is it just a matter of practice/how the stick is held?

So far I played VF4 with the PS Fighting Stick (all eight buttons in proper color, grey stick ball, black case), Namco Arcade Stick (grey case and yellow buttons/stick ball) and the Soul Calibur 2 Stick, with the Namco and SC2 Stick being very similar (all three sticks are from Hori). The SC2 stick I like the most, then the Namco stick (only differs in weight and stick handling), then the PS Fighting stick.

I also read through the "Choosing a stick...." thread and I noticed the arcade parts which 'Catch22' uses to build his custom sticks. They remind me of the parts used in the 'Old School' Neo Geo stick (only the stick, not the buttons), which is known for very precise and fast inputs. Does anyone know if these two sticks (VF4 Evo Arcade and Neo Geo Stick) are comparable? If yes, I might try to take the plastic housing and micro switches from the Neo stick and place it in the Namco stick (since it would be hard to get me those original arcade parts from Sanwa).

Thanks for your help!

 

Ah, well... I found an online shop in Germany selling those Sanwa arcade parts. If you are interested, they ship worldwide and the shipping costs to european countries is about ~17,00 Euro (up tp 5kg). Here is the link.
I will probably try to build my own stick or maybe replace the stick&buttons of the Namco Arcade stick.
As soon as I´m finished I´ll post my impressions.

Anyway, I´m still looking for advice to improve my stick handling.

 

i don't know if this will work for you but when i am having input problems I go to training and put the input display on, either A or C. Then I just fight or practice combos and I can see what I am inputting vs what I want to be inputting. I use that to adjust how I move the stick.

 

Thanks for the answer, HIGHplanzDrifter.

I used the 'display commands' option a lot in the training and it really helped me to make my stick movement more precise. However, my main problem is still the diagonals, especially during the heat of the battle I often fail to hit the and directions right.
I hope it´s just a matter of time and practice (+ a good arcade stick) until I get better and be able to get those advanced combos out constantly.

If anyone would like to comment on the way I hold the stick, I´m always open for new suggestions.

 

Hold it however you want and however you feel comfortable with it. I use my thumb and first two fingers with my other two fingers folded over and resting on the base of the stick. Whatever you choose to do just mess round in free training until you're happy and practise, practise, practise!!!

If you're really interested in learning to use Akira effectively I can give you some help if you want, just send me a PM. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

Thanks csnape.
I think I hold the stick in a very similar way. How do you do the crouching backdash? Do you use only the thumb to push the stick into that direction, or is it more a matter of wrist movement?
Anyway, I´ll keep on practicing.

I also just found your 'Compilation of vf 4 Akira combos', plus the other thread for all other characters. I think I will look through these before I consult your help /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

Yeah i also did

http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/favlinker.php?Cat=&Entry=1536&F_Board=training&Thread=84637&partnumber=1&postmarker=

which I hope helps a bit too.

I do bCDs with a kinda mix of wrist and thumb motion mainly and finder that i do them a lot faster than fCDs.

 

So when you hold the stick, do you hold it on the ball or on the little stick under it?

 

I always hold the ball of the stick. My first two fingers are generally wrapped round the underneath of the ball and my thumb is on top. I actually modify dbpms with this motion:




which is kinda like shaking the stick backwards to do it. I do this with two quick movements of my wrist generally.