The pains of arcade sticks

Hi, I've been using an arcade stick for 5 weeks now and it was really hard to use at first, I'd thought it would get easier quickly but it's still really tiring especially on the 2P side where I have to use more left directions which I can't do without hurting my hands and wrists. It has got a little easier but still how long will this last?
I haven't seen anything on these forums about getting good with arcade sticks, this is the biggest problem i am facing at the moment to get good at this game, anyone got any advice?
I am using Akira on a fighting stick 3.

 

maybe a stick just isn't for you. you don't need a stick to be good. its just makes certain things easier and faster like putting in throw escapes and putting doing moves with the fastest possible motion. you can put them in on a pad but it is much easier to put in multiple throw escapes in and do moves faster on a stick. although you can do all this on a pad it will take practice and a good controller to do them consistantly.

 

Well, Akira is Akira, after all. ^_^
He requires some extra effort, hehe.

Anyway Im sure it will get easier in the long run. Our advice will only help so much, ultimately you will have to find the most suitable method of control yourself. Just keep practising and try to grip as lightly as possible. FS3 isnt the most responsive stick either.

 

I can't do anything with a controller with akira, its near impossible. I remember using saturn controller which actually had a reasonable dpad but playstation dpads are compelte trash, did they take out the diagonals to save money or something?

I'm definitely sticking with my arcade stick it is just so tiring, I have a dead arm at the end of the day:S
One thing I noticed is I have a habit to face the arcade stick slightly to the right, considering arcades aren't made like this I must have developed a bad habit which I am trying to fix but its just painful, I guess playing as akira isn't helping either.

 

Hopefully it just gets easier over time. I use Akira pretty much exclusively - My arm doesn't hurt after a long session, but my inputs get slower and less precise. I take a day or two off every once in a while. When I come back to VF, the dashing is easier and faster.

Be sure to practice on both 1p and 2p side. After a while, it will become easier to dash to the left /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

 

One, the Fighting stick three is a piece of shit. I have one, one of the buttons broke in like 4 weeks. Upgrade to a Virtua stick high grade like I did, or even a real arcade pro 3. The worst thing about the Fighting stick three is the internal frame for the stick. The bottom of the stick modules frame has a SQUARE HOLE for the BRACKET the end of the stick . This makes the left and right directions especially inaccurate, because the stck can slide up or down withing that square frame , resulting in a 9 or 3 direction input (diagonals) instead of a 6. All you can do with the FS3 is open it up, and melt that square hole for the stick modules base into a diamond shape. You can switch around the buttons by desoldering and rearranging them when they brake.

But really both those fixes are just a stop gap bandaid fix. The FS3 sucks. Get a VSHG.

AS far as your wrist hurting, man up and do some push ups and pull ups. If an arcade stick wears you out, youre pathetically out of shape.

 

Oooh. Too harsh. I think any time a muscle group is used in a new way, there's bound to be discomfort and fatigue.

When I was in my early 20's I lifted weight 5 or 6 days a week for years. Then, one Saturday during that time, I played baseball for two or three hours (something I never did). My legs hurt for two days in places I never felt before.

No need to cut people down just because they don't fit your expectations.

 

I have thought maybe the arcade stick is rubbish as I often have problems inputting directions and the buttons do not seem sensitive enough but as this is my first stick I'll just take it as not being good with stick yet. After time I may move on to a better stick.

I do exercise but they do not help with my arcade stick skills much. I do find it a bit hard to believe that only very unfit people have problems playing like a pro with an arcade stick soon after they start using one. The main direction I have problems with is backdown, I just find I can't use as much as much as my hand strength in that direction.

 

DammyG,

May I ask what sort of grip you are using on the stick? This is not to suggest a right or wrong grip, I'm just curious--but I haven't really found a "wrong grip" so to speak. But from what I've seen, a full tight grip, the type a person would use on an American style "Bat" stick tends to force the wrist to do too much work.

As Plague suggested, it's often times a matter of developing muscles where they weren't quite necessary for other applications.

However, if you're still getting sore from stick use after 6-8 weeks, I would worry.

My best advice is to find a way to be as relaxed as possible with your grip. The hard part about this advice is that if you're not quite accurate with the stick yet, you'll naturally tense up anytime you know you've messed up inputs. But try to keep it as relaxed as possible.

When it comes to the down left direction, what's worked for me is to not pull the stick in that direction with the whole group, but to position one or two (or even three) of my fingers to push the stick in that direction (for this, the fingers end up pressing the stick at about 1 or 2 o'clock). It sounds awkward, but it became second nature after awhile and it was much more relaxed.

I sort of got used to the down-left diagonal when I forced myself to do crouch-dash buffering on the 2p side for awhile.

Heck, for a motion like /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/db.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/db.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/b.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif, my middle and ring fingers press the stick /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/db.gif (from the 2 o'clock position) while my thumb taps it over for /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/b.gif (from the 3 o'clock position).

While I said that the full grip that many people use on American sticks translates to possible over-use of the wrist on a Japanese stick. A lot of the loose half-grips (what I use) and wineglass grips (common) tend to result in players using only a little bit of wrist and some fingers. I will say that with the grip that I use, it doesn't require all that much motion unless I'm struggling out of a stagger.

My biggest advice is to try to minimize the role of your wrist in your inputs. A relaxed grip helps this. In fact, a very loose grip helps this. Using your fingers instead of your whole hand to maneuver the stick helps too. You'll use your wrist a bit, just keep it nice, relaxed, and not all that active in handling the stick. I think one of the reasons japanese style sticks have become more popular is that once you find a technique that really works for you, inputs don't require all that much effort (aside from complex motions like Ivy's Summon Suffering in Soul Calibur).

Hope this helps.

-Chanchai

 

OMFGWTFBBQ!!11!
The FS3 may be a piece of shit, but nearly every japanese stick in existence, including the High Grade, uses a square restrictor also . . .

As for the original post, bottom line, don't do things that hurt - RSI is not your friend.
Chanchai's description of /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/db.gif sounds good - you may want to try using your fingertips more for other motions as well.

 

thanks for the advice, I will try changing the way I hold the stick, I think I really need to practice on 2P side, I keep messing up combos with byakko on 2P side.

I use thumb and 2 fingers, the 2 fingers around 11oclock, thumb about 4oclock.

 

For me it was a matter of conditioning ,i went into practice and brought up the command display to sharpen my technique and to see what i was doing wrong ,and eventually i mastered which fingers worked best to consistantly get the proper angles on each side its like developing a sign language and in time it will burn into your muscle memory. Stay at it and in time your fingers and wrist stop hurting

 

yeh I was making a mistake, I was using my wrists more for going left, this was easier because my left thumb wasn't that strong, now it's getting better, still a lot of bother though.
Still got a long way to go.

 

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

After 4 or so years of using my Hori Evo stick, I have finally found a decent grip, and as soon as I established a firm grip, my dashing and overall stick input improved quite noticeably.

hmmm, how to describe this? Grasp the stick firm-like with the thumb on top. The close cupping has helped me with quicker forward and back dash movements, which I put a lot of importance on in my play. Also, before the match and even during some animations, I will circle counter clockwise in rapid motions, making sure I hit all the directions--this has helped me feel more confident in my movements and grip.

N

 

After looking at other people play I don't think I am holding the stick correctly, my grip is very set, it doesn't move at all, it does help response times but I just find it hard to get much strength into left inputs with it, up right is near impossible.
I've only been using a stick several months but I just don't feel that much improvement, I'll try and change my stick control once again, maybe my thumb is just super weak

 

Hi DammyG! I personally believe there are no "incorrect" ways to grip the joystick. To each his own, it took me a few years to really find a solid grip. During my observations, I once saw a Japanese player grip the stick upside down (palms facing up) between his fore-finger and middle-finger.

Perhaps try practicing inputs in training mode, practice dashing as smoothly as possible in one direction, and the go back the other direction. Go slow first if needed, you can build up to a quicker pace. Let me think, I guess I would have to say my back dash (from the P1 side) is the weakest, but I usually crouch dash instead anyway, so this is not a big problem.

It might not be that you have a weak thumb, it might be that you are not cupping the stick firmly enough. For instance, when 44ing, to me its like more of a "pull" than it is a "push" with the thumb. So I guess whats happening is I am more squeezing and pulling, and not just outright pushing the joystick. And having a firm grip allows me to do this.

N