Scalari.net

Ever since playing Tekken 3 with my brothers and friends on the original Playstation, I’ve been an fighting game aficionado. I’m not competitive in nature so beating them was never the real appeal. What I enjoy the most is the slow but rewarding process of mastering a character. Usually I pick just one, usually the cutest girl, and play that character until I reach the level where I stop thinking about which button to press and more about applying strategy to win the match.

Not too long ago I bought my first fighting stick because I got sick of grinding out my thumb in Arcana Heart (which is a really good game, yet dismissed by most for its moe-ness).

The fighting stick I got couldn’t be more generic, but it’s a decent stick for newbies like myself. Ever since I shelved Arcana Heart it’s been collecting dust (along with the Wii) but I brought it out again for Street Fighter 4.

At first I was dedicated to use the Dual shock, because I didn’t want to be the guy whom couldn’t use a regular controler and had to carry their arcade stick around with them to friends only to lose anyway. This turned out to be a non-issue since my nearest friend gave up on the game as soon as he reached Abel in the arcade mode.

Additionally, the dual shock’s d-pad eats thumbs for breakfast and the analog stick is way too flimsy for any kind of precision. Nothing sucks more than when you accidentally jump into a shoryuken.

So I started using the stick instead, which was surprisingly hard. It took a while for my brain to switch to the new tactile paradigm, but once it did my precision of control grew exponentially!

Now when I play Street fighter 4, my mind is entirely occupied with what to do instead of how to do it. When I want a kikoken, Chun-Li throws her signature fire ball. When I want “High kick->Low punch->Kikoken->Ultra” she graciously responds.

A fighting stick doesn’t automatically make me a better player. I still lose more online matches than I win, but it does help me to become a better player. Another unintended benefit of the stick lies in its ability to take physical abuse when my patience has run out.