* I have updated this video with an abridged version for those who want to get straight into the method* kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m5p3hdKjvLbGg5c.html

Starts at 7:30 Im over 40s, got artritis on both thumbs due to be a drummer and a pharmacist. I was always a pad controler player, but my age is making it worse. Will buy an arcade stick sooner than I thought. Thanks very much for this tutorial!

This just made learning arcade stick significantly easier for me and just made me more consistent overall. Thanks for reducing the pain of learning stick by a lot. Wish I found this vid a year ago when it was released!

Really useful! The transition from pad to stick is tough, the thing I've struggled with the most is a stick grip that's both comfortable and effective for Tekken. Slowly starting to get the hang of it and this really helped break down the movements.

I had soo much trouble with inputs...This helped a little...Im sure with practice this will help out a ton because i got foundation with this video ! Soo thank you!

7:38 to skip all the "let's get into it" bait.

Stellar video man! Enjoyed this from start to finish!

Man this is informative. I have always wine gripped and thought that was the way to use the ball top. I got back into SF5 since 6 is coming out next year and I'm going to try the full hand technique that you have recommended and see if it helps me out. Thanks for such an informative video. :)

Thank you I've been struggling for years to do inputs consistently. This has immediately changed the way I play.

Thank you so much for making this! Was really confused learning Tekken on a stick and couldn’t find a lot of info online about this. Cheers :))

This reignited my interest in learning to play the arcade

I was practicing my stick for a good hour, struggling getting inputs down and thinking i just needed to keep at it. I randomly found this video to see if maybe my grip was off. I tried this and immediately the moves were coming out immensely easier. Like holy shit. Thank you

I do use these hand motions and find them optimal like you say. Clutching it inhibits the aspects typically crucial for quick movement, such as the speed, like you said. I forced myself into these movements by using a bat top. For King of Fighters this felt rather awkward, but after getting used to it, I switched back to a balltop and everything comes out very smooth. I would say that a balltop is preferable to that of a bat top for a game requiring circular movements.

Thanks for the tutorial, this video help me to get in use with my stick. Helpful and thank you!

Thank you so much! This helped! I’m definitely gonna practice the open grip and maybe wine grip

Wow, this video helped me a ton, thanks man

Wow man thank you very much i feel a looot better like this!! :D my only problem was the air dash in general but now i feel that i just need to practice more with this grip it feels much much better this way

Thank you, this video was very helpful. I have been playing with stick for over a year now and have adopted the wine grip naturally. For the most part I have been playing Tekken casually and never been able to execute the korean back dash but still it never motivated me to rethink in changing my method to improve until I started playing other fighting game with more execution like SF, MK, KI which forced me to adjust my gripping since I had difficulties performing commands from the left side. In a nutshell, by applying your recommend technique has instantly help me improve in the execution tremendously.

See's how he explains Korean Backdash. Remembers that i play a character with a back sway. Gets sad

Ty very much my friend. Came in very handy. Was getting real intimidated by having to get used to the grip but the technique makes it totally possible. I see the potential. Gonna practice more on my stick more now.

WE WANT THE WEIRD JOKES!!!!!!!

Wow, glad I just subscribed. I never knew about these techniques. I've been struggling with some SFV inputs MK11 inputs. I've been gripping the stick and having issues. I'll try to convert to this method. Thanks!

Hey thanks for the video. I was wondering if you thought 4 way or 8 way gate is recommended for new stick users?

My very first sticks coming this Thursday I can't wait.

Instant air dash is a struggle, this helped with that, I just need to practice...so much practice...god damned IAD... T^T

Thank you this was very informative but what stick you recommend for street fighter also what do u think about 4 way restrictors?

Useful information bruh thanks

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Thanks for sharing your insights on stick usage here. While arcade stick is my favorite in many types of games, sometimes I find the best is a decent gamepad. Really depends on the genre/game. For a puzzle game I wouldnt want to use a stick, for instance. A modern 8 way d-pad game like tony hawk could be played on an arcade stick, but I also think it would be inferior to pad for long sessions and scoring. It's all about picking the right weapon, IMO. I put a lot of effort into that when learning a game, finding the right controller. Sometimes its a trusty 'ol Saturn, SNES or PSX pad.. other times (and often!) it's an arcade stick. Awesome we have so many great options nowadays too, and devices to help you not have to rebuy new controllers for every platform, like RetroPad32, etc. Never been a better time to be a gamer, and taking that extra bit of time to get the feel "right", has never been easier. Cheers

And for any of you new comers out there struggling to learn on stick, remember: practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect, or at least close to it. So don't get all OCD about being perfect either, have fun with it. Just try to be as precise and slow as you can, even when not playing fighting games, practice the motions on your stick when watching TV or videos or something. Another thing is, MOST PEOPLE take 2-4 months to even get decent on stick believe it or not, if someone tells you it only took them a week, they're lying, or they're not as good as they think they are in terms of execution. It takes even longer if you're playing on a shitty knock off stick too, so make sure you get a good entry stick. Many people give up on stick too early, or they think they're " talentless " but I assure you, it took most people awhile to get used to, but once you get used to it you'll never go back to pad. The only time it might be easier is if you're already a GOOD (keyword: good) pad player who is now moving to stick, cause you already have the coordination and conceptual understanding of execution and combo theory, you're just using a different instrument now. But if you are new to FG's completely you will struggle the first month because you are not only bad at FG's but bad on fight stick. I find practicing half circles helps alot, especially KOF motions like QCF into half circle back, vice versa. Even practice moving 360, you just wanna get good a good feel for the stick and the gate. (don't ride the gate too much though, it will slow down your motions, its just there to guide you, not baby you)

thanks for thee techs. I'm pulling my hair out trying some moves. I was using the monkey grip for sure. I love it.

Would it be a good idea to let your wrist float and plant you “side hand area”(the one with the pinky) for ergononomics? The reason is my wrist feels pain from planting my entire arm because it hits the corner of my hori rap n.

thanks! i was deciding between sanwa and seimitsu. i already have a hori and sanwa so imma try seimitsu next ✌🏻

Just ordered a sanwa denshi stick and sanwa buttons can't wait for Thursday now so I can install those bad boys.

Hi, do you have a link for the video you feature at 15:10 ? I'd love to check that out sometime. Thanks!

Hey thanks! It was my first time buying an arcade stick. I HATED fighting games- cuz I was bad at them and I kept getting beat! So I decided to buy a arcade stick and begin training! So this helps me have good habits from the get go. So, thanks!

Tiger knee and Sho-ryu-ken will always be a struggle for me even on a joy-stick I always punch first and then it is just hoping on a Sho-ryu-ken but mostly a hadoken comes out or a tiger fire.

nice video full of info! your grip looks good, but the method i use is placing hand at a comfy spot beside stick, then do 2 fingers under, 2 above , and thumb on right side. this method gives good coverage of directions, makes doing specials and supers so easy.

good vid, i couldnt figure out how to comfortably push up and this helped me out a lot

looking for a video like this for ages, i'm new to arcadesticks and i really wasn't sure about how to input movements. But what about hiper-hops and superjumps? What is in your opinion the best way to input those types of motions?

i wanna get a stick now because i managed to get to a good rank on pad and now i come across high skilled players i was thinking to get a stick and as a person who plays on player 1 side theres a lot or backlash towards learning the wavedash on player 1 as its so hard and difficult the another factor that is making me unsure wether to buy one is how to lay ur fingers the right way to press each button accordingly. anyone got any advice ? 😅

Fantastic! Got a Hori Rap 3 and upgraded to a Seimitsu lever. Only a week in, but I am getting better every day and my muscle memory is building up!

you;re doing gods work son

Thanks for the video; really nice explaining and demonstration :) I am a BlazBlue (BB) player and I switched from PS4 pad to the arcade stick due to the stress it causes on my thumb to bend/flex it to input "left" or "down". But after trying for over 1 year adapting to the balltop of the arcade stick, I just realized I really can't xP Inputting "left, left, down+left" (to do for example a dash into low attack in BB in P2 side) is really hard, specially due to the time it takes to let go of "left" to go to neutral and be able to input "left" again. Very often, I ended up just getting stuck on the edge of the "left" input due to feeling the need to do it fast enough to combo in BB (so I would end up with "left, down+left", skipping entirely the second "left" input I wanted to do). Either that, or I would input "left, down, down+left" (thus doing DP instead of dash into low attack) because inputting something other than "left" is so much easier... I tried many different grips, but whenever I found one that allowed fast and precise "left" consecutive inputs, I was just stressing so hard my forearm tendons that I ended up with a tendinitis. In the end, I switched the PS configuration to allow moving with the attack buttons, and now I can play BB again. But I never felt satisfied with the fact that I found no solution whatsoever to my balltop movement problem. So I still try sometimes one or two techniques to input "left", but to no avail. This denies me the possibility of playing other Fighting Games which require more attack buttons, forcing me to use the balltop to move. Idk if someone has the same problem or knows possible solutions for the balltop movement problem I have.

thanks bro this helps a lot and even with a few hours practice im better now with an arcade stick, combo execution still sucks :D but my basics are getting a boost

Thanks vid helped alot. Any tip on hitting super jump diagonal more consistently on sqaure gate?

19:37 There is one popular style in Japan that's close to your style that solves that makes the up direction really natural. So close to your style but the middle finger is bent so the side of your middle finger rests just right below the center line of the ball top (the side of your finger that's right after he first joint from the direction of your nail) When your middle finger is there, your index finger rests right above the up direction and the thumb rests exactly on the right. The idea / benefit is that it's really easy to hit all main directions when one finger only needs to worry about one direction and it's easier to detect the neutral of the stick in shmups because it's always easy to hit exactly right, left, down and up. Up direction is also really clear because the middle finger and thumb are perfectly positioned so they sort of form a V shape that leads the direction exactly to the center of the up direction when you press the up direction with both fingers. I don't know if i could even explain it well enough without showing it and i'm not claiming it's superior even if it's my favorite way because i personally feel it's the most accurate but wanted to share it because that's what i saw often and that's what i learned on when i lived in Japan in the 90's. I'll record a short clip on my @ArcadedB twitter account so you can see it visually.

That was really more of a half winegrip, there's a video of a ketsui superplayer at Stunfest using full winegrip, for reference.

Thank you!! I just playing fight games again and I was playing like I was 13 again. This was so helpful!!!! Thank you!!

THANK YOU

Any other ways to get the up input consistently? I have long ass thumbs and it’s hard to do up inputs with just my thumb

i love this video

But does the oval head on the fighter stick come with it or do there get changed, and also is it screw on or is it just a project

Can you recommend a Korean stick that I’d be able to put into a Qanba pearl?? I just gotten into Tekken 7 and I want a better lever then the stick sanwa jlf it came with

Sorry if you said something about that in the video, but how come your stick does clickly noises when you move it? I never seen one do that before other than yours.

great video, helped me alot in tekken. but do you have the links to those insane clips at the end?

Man, Im 35 and I have never known about this stick culture. I have a lot of research to do. I was looking into sticks for the new esparade psi release and I feel like I have a lot of work to do...

1:15 - that wooden SNES stick 😍

What kind of Seimitsu lever did you use in this video?

Thanks for the video. I feared that this was the most efficient way to grip the stick as I have been gripping it with three fingers while having the other two tucked in for ages now. It does make sense does, as gripping it with the entire hand feels much better and is way more accurate once you get used to it. I was just wondering when I grip it with the entire hand, what do I do with my pinky finger? Should I just tuck/curl it in my hand? It feels better when I do, and it is logical as the pinky does absolutely nothing.

Thanks. This video was really informative. One thing I really wanted to know how to place your right hand like which finger/Thumb over which button. I just keep my index/middle/ring and then pull them down for kicks but I’ve heard using your thumb is better and I didn’t know how. Also, are cheap fight sticks worth it? Cuz the ones usually recommended are really expensive here. I just started playing tekken 4/5, that’s the only stuff our home PC is capable of handling, and I use my keyboard and it works just fine. I’ve heard about mixboxes and I feel like they are just keyboards? The only problem I have is multiple button presses at the same time as my keyboard is incapable of more than 3 inputs at a time. So like d/f 1+2 is not possible(if I’m writing that right) as it will not accept 2 as the last input. So I will either buy a new keyboard or a stick but I can’t decide thanks.

Found this video to finally learn how to use my stick after realizing that my poor left thumb was not going to be able to handle all the movement in Tekken lol

How would you rate 360 ball tops? Is it more precise for schmups than the other options?

I've tried both the Seimitsu the LS-56 with Kowal short throw mod and the LS-38 and i still go back to my JLFs with 2lb spring and Kowal oversized actuator for Shmups. I'm still planning on testing a Korean stick as well but I'm guessing i will still go back to my modded JLFs in the end.

Bruh....you just went through 3000 clicks on the life of your microswitches of that lever. I salute your sacrifice!

How do you do the airdash towards right? I don't think it was shown. Do you push with thumb and immediately "slam" palm against lewer to the right? That's the most "natural" I felt but maybe you have something better? Same question for DP's

Do you relax your hands? Also, do you use your fingers/hand or wrist?

Need another video for buttons with the right hand lol

Wine grip definitely does have some different aspects from normal grip. I like it because it's less dependant on your thumb

holy crap, I just very easily got halfway through dodonpachi without losing a continue, on level 3 i finally died though, Thanks for the tip!

I started to play with stick about a month ago with a Neo Geo ASP, and it's quite tough to get into it. Altrough I'm already good enough to beat some old games like SF Alpha 2 and Fatal Fury Special on default setting with one cc, I still have problems to execute certain movements (dash-to-DP motions in fast games like Vampire Savior 2 with Demitri f.e.) and sometimes I miss the timing when it comes to cancels, combos and other very quick and exact inputs. It just takes some time to build up muscle memory I guess (I hope for it!). Excuse my bad English, greets from Austria 🇦🇹

I love the picture of Wolf from a fox in space!

i think ur wrong about the hori stick, i have one called fighting edge. it has the same sounds as yours, so i believe this version of the hori stick has those steel levers you were talking about in the start of the video. Also i use the "wine grip", it just feels comfortable and classy lol. I think thats very much personal preference.

Back dragon punch is a nightmare for me.

I'm A Control Pad Guy. But, Having A Second Opinion On Arcade Stick Controller, Is Also, Challenging, Yet Amazing.

18:06 I agree 100% I feel like newer fighting games makes it easier for pad but if you were to play an older game it would be a lot more difficult and less efficient than a stick

I think using a battop is better for persons with big hands. Sometimes I have the feeling that the stick with balltop is "to short" (or my hand is to large), so I want to try out to use a battop.

Always struggled with forward jump especially in dragonball just can’t seem to get used to it lol

where do you place your fightstick? Instead of keyboard?

You should play Twin Eagle II or Skull Fang. Both have "command moves" for offensive and defensive actions.

Which Seimitsu levers do you prefer for shmups ranked best to worst ?

I've been using winegrip for years. I find my thumb is better placed for left and up, which can get awkward otherwise.

Are there any ps4 compatible controllers with clicky buttons (that's not an arcade stick)?

What type of seimitsu do you recommend for tekken ?

I use the wine grip on my ls 32 because it feels a bit more comfortable with that height of lever to me.

I have a cheap stick, and have some trouble micro moving. My ship always goes a bit to much to the side. Will check my techniek

What’s the music?

The two camps are called Happ vs Sanwa (and other companies make them), but it's about more than Bat handle vs Ball top, as you show. When triggering a movement, you want the microswitch (or blade switch, but that's buttons) to be as close as possible to triggering without triggering. With shallow fighting sticks you can't do that - the "keytravel" is too far (and this and the sticks being "loose" also results in the stick wobbling after letting go, which can actually cause mistriggers if you attempt to make the tighter). Because the travel is too far is why you see top players timing slaps at the (usually balltop) stick. They want to close the gap quicker. Probably you think that the Bat handle is better because it's taller, so by moving the tallest part, it can close the gap quicker. On the Happ camp, joysticks are deeper, which means they have a longer part of the stick below the panel surface before it reaches the microswitches (always with blades), and none of them are as short as the ball tops. This both means that the longer stick makes you close the gap quicker, and standard arcade cabinet sticks are tighter, and with no wobble. They can be played with great precision. The original cabinets of Street Fighter I and II used Happ controls.

wine grip is more of a comfort/stability thing. I keep slipping up with my thumb if my hand isn't constantly touching the stick. that or i hold the base of the stick like a claw/pencil.

I'm a third strike player using Ibuki using her aerial SA, which is a QCF twice in the air. I'm pretty good at doing it to the left but not the right...

welp this video showed me how to hold my stick then i got yeeted to another one who so happened to talk about hit stun and now i can play kof ten times better LMFAO the new video was great but i honestly loved this one more thank you !

I didn't realize the Korean sticks were similar to US sticks with the levered Cherry switches. I will say, as someone who used to maintain some US Arcade cabinets in the late 90s, the problem I have with the levered cherries is that the lever can get slightly bent after continuous use and you have to straighten the levers and sometimes you don't get all the switches the same and it can mess with the feel. That said, I also realize why I liked US sticks for so long: I don't love the gates of a Sanwa/JLF style.

I use the stick like this naturally - I'm old and played arcade games in the 80s with sticks - maybe that's why. :) I'm a bit different I use the gap between thumb and point finger to nudge up. I'm not a fighting game player but I can see how the discipline helps with those quarter and semi-circle moves. Would be interesting to see how elite level TGM players hold the stick.

I got a better chance winning the lottery than learning how to play a arcade stick

I'm 22 and live in a smaller city so I haven't played arcade machines in the 1990s like my coworkers. I built a crude arcade stick with an IL Eurostick. IL is the manufacturer of Happ parts in the 1990s. Anything that says Happ is not the same as the 90s levers. First impressions: these levers are stiff as all hell. I'd recommend anything else to most people as it's taller, bulkier, and springs back to center harshly. It's weird to me but the first stick I built was a Sanwa so I have to get used to.

What model of seimitsu lever are you using ?

Wineglass is layed down with back of hand on the panel, you must be thinking of something else. I do actual wineglass incorporating thumb, will eventually adapt that Brazilian research paper of a breakdown on it. I consider that way more efficient however they way you are showing is what I used to use and the best way to approach playing with the the hand upright.

Learning stick is becoming the most frustrating and rewarding thing I've done in a while.

I will say, switched to stick a while ago (years ago, but I rarely play fighting games for long periods of time so it's not like I've been practicing on stick for YEARS even though I kind have been) and I was using the wine grip(the stick was in between my middle and ring finger), but I wasn't really using my thumb to move the stick, more using my fingers. I was used to it, so commands came out, but certain things were harder than I think they needed to be, ESPECIALLY anything on the left side (like P2 fire balls or DPs for example). My fingers would restrict the left side of the stick movement I think. Using your grip seems a lot more functional, even though I have to relearn some stuff over again maybe. I will say one thing. Defense is a LOT LOT LOT harder on stick than it is on pad. I've never gotten over my weakness for blocking crossups on stick. On pad you just switch your button but on stick it's so much more of a commitment. Also fuzzies (and things like chicken blocking) are a LOT easier on pad. Back when I was a pad player, I wasn't good or anything, but if I wanted to block I was BLOCKING, like EVERYTHING (though I was a masher so, I got punished a ton anyways of course). So easy to react on pad, where as on stick you kind of have to predict where you'll need to block and get ready to do it. I would say that's a benefit to pad players. Even if you get really good at blocking on stick, I feel like you'd be even BETTER on pad, almost no matter what. That's just my opinion though.

I would love a Korean backlash tutorial from you brother