Recommend me a Fightstick, or preferably, talk me out of getting a Fightstick

Let me explain myself here. I feel like that there's an obligation to do so. You see, some three weeks back, I broke my hand in a way no one saw coming. A knee connected with the very tip of my extended pinkie-finger at a straight angle and completely broke and detached the outermost joint. One surgical procedure later and I have a screw permanently fixing my finger together, and arguably worse, a plastic bag covering half my arm every time I take a shower.

How is this relevant to my wanting to get a Fightstick? Well, not at all really, but you bought the excuse.

I do a lot of "martial arts" in "real" life, and as is, I can't really partake in them kind of exercises until the new year. As is my wont to do, I've slipped back into playing a bunch of fighting games to tie me over, particularly Street Fighter 4. It's reignited my smoldering excitement for SF V, a game I anticipate to sink deep into.

I figured this would be as good of a time as any to relearn the controls and fundamentals, and maybe up my overall game come release time, by finally taking the plunge and getting myself a damn stick.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of money to throw around, and if possible, I'd want to pick up something that isn't so very extravagant. A solid, quality controller that ain't branded by pro players and their aunts' ramen places, but just gets by on function and pricing.

Could you guys recommend me something liable to work for both the PS4 and PC? If it's any concern, I live in Europe and so most like can't access any custom shops in the US.

Appreciate the help, duders.

@dudeglove: That entire preamble is just an excuse that I more or less only included because I knew everyone would buy that hokey explanation, and that's funny to me. I admit as much in the post itself because I am a bad person. And my hands are very large, for your information, and you know what they say about people with large hands... They're good at fighting games. (There's no scientific proof supporting this link.)

But the accident, or rather the consequences of it, has lead me to play more fighting games of late in lieu of being able to participate in any real equivalent. Between that and the recent Capcom Cup, I find myself about to tip over into the deep end once again, and figured that this might be the time to change things up as I already have to be very mindful of my hand when playing games.

The general consensus in the fighting game community is that a stick will eventually make you into a better player once you get accustomed to it.

Also, my instructor was absolutely certain no real harm had come to my finger at the time and made me drop and give him 150 push-ups for wasting his time. As you can imagine, the following day at the hospital, I'd get to hear two things over and over again, namely that I was extremely unlucky and that it made no sense that I wasn't in more pain.

I mean it's not necessary to use a stick, it's preference. I used to play on pad switched over to stick and now I can't play on a pad anymore, it's just what you get used to.

As for a reasonable but not too pricey stick, you can pretty much forget about any MadCatz gear, it'll cost you an arm and a leg, the Hori RAP 4 Kai has some good review, PS4/PC compatible and will set you back about £90, probably what I'll end up grabbing next year for SFV.

This is absolutely not the case. There's actually a bit of contention over whether stick or pad is a superior control option. The old-school players use stick because they grew up in the arcades but many of the younger top players are perfectly comfortable using pad. The argument usually wavers between stick giving freer access to buttons but pads being more efficient for rapid directional inputs, but in the end all the pros agree that there's no significant difference and that you should play with whatever works for you. That said, there's a not-insignificant number of people who believe that the Hit Box controller is actually the ideal input device for fighting games (myself included), but that's kinda the exact opposite of the least-expensive option.

As far as what to actually get, are you playing on PS4 or PC? The HRAP4 is a solid budget stick for PS4, but after that your options become pretty limited.

This is a good post.

On that note, controllers work just fine, and my PS4 one has serviced me well recently.

As others have said, Stick vs Pad is totally just preference based. Plenty of the younger players who didn't grow up playing in the arcade are doing fantastic with all sorts of pads, NuckleDu, Smug, SnakeEyez and Luffy are some notable ones.

I use both, I normally play pad but will sometimes use stick for certain characters. I find links are easier to do with a stick but general input execution much easier on pad.

If you want something more tailored to fighting games but not a full blown expensive stick you could always look into a FightPad, that way you get 6 face buttons.

If you do decide on a stick though the HRAP4 is probably your best bet for budget and working on PS4.

I like Shoguns_Decapitator's recommendation (the Hori RAP 4). I like my Eightarc Fusion, but it's a last-gen stick, and will only work with PS4 if the developer includes support for it in each game. Plus, it's a little more expensive and I'm not sure the PS3/360/PC support was worth the extra cash.

The Hori RAP 4 Kai seems like a good one at $150 (US). FYI, I'm a little suspicious of sticks under $100 (US). I have a couple near this price, and the quality is night and day if you spend a little more, and this is something you'll use for years. The pros use $150 sticks for the most part from what I've seen. In SF4 it's rare to see stock controllers, but a few guys use them and do well in tournaments.

Hahahah that topic title cracked me up. I know the notions you're going through duder. Itll pass. Be strong!

Just ask yourself, 'what am I honestly gonna play, and how long will I play it for?'

If that answer is less than a hundred hours then I'd say skip the urge!

Now that you've got that outta your system, go buy a racing wheel! :p

@big_denim: As a kid, I would actually map my racing wheel to a controller and beat my friends at various editions of Bomberman and Street Fighter in order to make it more challenging on myself. In retrospect, I must have come across as such an asshole there and then.

@starvinggamer: @zella:

And huh, does seem like I've had something of a misconception about the prevalence of Fightsticks in the community. The Hori RAP 4 seems like an exciting investment, but might be I'll consider the purchase a while longer. I definitely did grow up in the arcades. Hell, I remember doing my very first fatality completely by mistake, and turning a couple of other kids present a whiter shade of pale as a result.

Between arcade machines and PC-gaming, I'm so accustomed to larger, sweeping movements that I can really get caught up in, that the minimal hand-movements required to reliably get more complicated inputs down on a pad seem constricting at times. As far as I understand it, a Fightpad wouldn't do much to help me as it's never been the face-buttons themselves I've taken issue with, but rather the analogue-stick and D-pad. Leads to me messing up specials, and the like; frequently at what seems like random intervals even after I've spent considerable time with each new game and arguably gotten too good for those errors to be so common.

You fellas sound like you know what you're talking about here, so with this in mind, would you recommend I give a Fightstick a shot, or perhaps adapt the way I play these games on a pad?

@do_the_manta_ray: If you're used to stick and want to spend the money then sure, get a stick. Or you could start by spending some time trying to get accustomed to pad to see whether or not it's a switch that works for you. It all depends on how you want to allocate your money and time.

@do_the_manta_ray: If you have the disposable income to try out a fightstick then sure go for it. I am much better with a pad and normally play with one but there is still a unique fun experience to use a stick. There is also the added bonus of being able to use it for random arcade games too. I will say that if you are only going to use it for fighting games, it may not be worth it if you don't find yourself playing them that often.

Playing on a pad is free, assuming you have a Dualshock 4 for you PS4, so you might as well give it a shot first and see if you just need to get used to using one or if it is a bigger issue.

If you are lucky enough to have an arcade with a 2d fighting game you could always practice a bit there and see if you really feel like a stick is what you want.

Absolutely in that it's preference. If you can get good with a pad, you aren't really limited.

But I didn't grow up in arcades, and playing SF4 without a stick felt weird. Shit, I only played MVC2 on a Dreamcast controller, but when I got my fight stick my game got better.