Joysticks are overrated for fighting games?

[Smooth Groove]

Seems so. 

I've been playing SF4 on my PC with a Hori Fighting Stick Sanwa Addition and a Madcatz SF4 Tournament Edition stick.  Those are supposedly very good joysticks yet I can't pull off crap consistently on them.  Once I switch back to a gamepad, I was back to being able to at least doing fireballs + dragon punches whenever I want to. 

Playing with a gamepad is just so much more intuitive.  People just think that it's better to play a game like SF4 with a joystick because that's the way it's played in the arcade.  If gamepads were available in arcades, I bet most gamers would use them instead of sticks.

[demi]

Yeah, joysticks are huge placebo for people who think they are good. Similar to how mouses make you good at FPS on PC.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, joysticks are huge placebo for people who think they are good. Similar to how mouses make you good at FPS on PC.

They don't make you good, but they certainly work a lot better.

[Smooth Groove]

While I personally prefer using a mouse for FPS, I don't know if a mouse would offer any competitive advantage against a joypad.  It's much easier to circle strafe with a joypad and games usually have auto-aiming help for pad users.

[Rman]

Depends on where you started playing fighting games.  I grew up in the arcades, so I prefer sticks.  But it's not going to improve your game, only consistent play, feedback, and playing better players will do that. 

[Flatwoods]

I've always preferred joysticks just because they don't hurt my thumb, but more to the point:

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

Is this kind of input possible on a gamepad? it seems like it would be really difficult.

[demi]

None of that is required in tournament play. Look some up and all you see is them throwing simple hadokens at each other.

[Himu]

They are.

Who the hell wants a bulky joystick in their house? You can only play with a stick in two positions: sitting on the floor with it in between your lap or sitting in a chair with it in on your lap.

Who the hell wants to be restricted to that while playing games in their home?    Sticks are not comfortable at all.

Give me a Saturn pad anyday.

[Beezy]

I'd be able to play BlazBlue on a controller with a good d-pad since you only need 4 buttons, but not SF4 since you need 6 buttons. Using the trigger buttons sucks when playing fighting games.

[cool breeze]

For 3D fighting games like Virtua Fighter or SC, I prefer an arcade stick.  For 2D games, I like a pad better.

[Don Flamenco]

I guess it depends, most tourney players say to use whatever you're used to. Most of them play at the arcades, so they use sticks.  I haven't used them consistently for about 14 years, so when I got sucked into the SFIV hype and bought a stick, I realized that I wasn't used to them anymore.

in short, sticks were a big marketing ploy by markman to get you to buy the $150 SFIV stick.  Hopefully you realized that before people stopped buying them for $400+ on ebay. 

[Flatwoods]

None of that is required in tournament play. Look some up and all you see is them throwing simple hadokens at each other.

I guess that's true. I'd argue it's required if you play Gen/E Honda/Blanka, but all those characters are pretty bad and don't get selected in tournament play anyways