i wouldn't say embrace per say imo they still gonna give *Guilty gear the bird* when Arch systems made that series and they freaking know that again this is how i feel on it the usual *oh meh gwad it's DBZ* at it the system in this is not to complex as GG i think *ain't play it my self i for sure will* from lil i seen max play it and him not "get it" well i get he busy af but yea any how how as i keep saying they give *Guilty gear* a chance other fighters overall *skullgirls (team behind it is so great btw) and so on they not too keen on*
Benjoleo I watched it too and I don't have one but I suck with the stick I never could play arcades because of that I got used to play with consoles and the d-pad
Long ago I was getting good at playing SFA3 on the PS1 with an arcade stick my friend gave me. About a month later that friend accidentally stepped on that controller and broke it. Controllers from then on. Arcades died out anyway!
I'm waiting for mine still. Gonna be here on Friday! I purchased the Mayflash F500 from Amazon. It was $90 and works with PS4, PS3, XBOX ONE, XBOX 360, PC and Android.
Can you talk about applying pressure when the opponent is guarding. Like when to use assists and what strings work best. Im sure its character dependent, but would be nice to have a general understanding. Keep up the great work Max! You make my days dood! Thanks again.
That is a great suggestion! I kept finding myself punished for just rushing in like an idiot because I got used to dealing with the bots in the story mode. I could see it helping allot of new players just to have something to look to as far as ideas because I know there's allot of options to choose from when it comes to when and how to go in.
With the MvC3 style layout, when I go to hit H + S, I use my ring finger on H and thumb on S. To me it feels pretty natural, I just keep my index on L, middle on M, ring on H, and thumb on S, it feels like typing, each main button has a finger and I move the middle and ring fingers down to hit assists.
I've never really been able to use my ring finger in much of anything. I use it to type but I'm not a touch typist, and still primarily use index and middle. My pinky and ring seem very dependant on each other and so moving my ring always feels like more effort than the dominant index and middle.
Watched this video 3 years ago, and I swore to myself I'd get an Arcade Stick. Today, I finally scored a Mayflash F500 Elite. You were right about the muscle memory, but now I have the reflexes to actually guard. I can't wait to see how far this baby can take me
Only got a fighstick just cause it looks like a lot of fun. Its fun to re learn stuff youre used to. For me at least. So used to a pad i just want something to spice up my gameplay
Really wished you got into the Dragonball series Max. The nostalgic feeling of my childhood resonates with this game so much I feel like youre missing out. Good vid btw
I use the Second method. I realized how comfortable it was for me when I was messing around with the settings. I didn't know it was actually a real default control setup for some game since I'm fairly new to stick. I only did it because it worked well for me when playing DBZ. Great video Max.
Same, also I'm not moving my wrist around like I would for SF. Thumb is special, pointer finger is L, middle is M, ring is H, then for me personally pinky and hand is the two far left ones for assists that max despises.
I'm a controller scrub. I have a fight stick, and I think it's REALLY awesome, I really love fight sticks, but if I'm playing for reals, I'm way better on controller because I never had access to arcades growing up and all I had was home consoles. Good stuff with these vids Max, I love watching them even though I don't really need them!
Hey I’m in the same boat as you. But after playing with a typical dell keyboard like the one I’m typing on right now, I can never go back to a controller. The added bonus is that I have directional inputs now (wasd) and I’m using the Insert,Home,PageUp,Delete,End,Pagedown sectional chunk of buttons to represent perfectly a fightsticks layout. It’s really cool and it helps with everything. I have all my fingers engaged instead of my one thumb searching for every button on my controller.
PatVX1 oh and I forgot I’m using the keyboard on the Xbox one. You can get any adapter to allow the use of such peripheral. Saves money on a fight stick and you’re getting rid of the annoying joystick. Win win
Ah that's fair enough, I've tried using a keyboard for fighting games before but never really got into it seriously. The main issue for me was just that I was absolutely junk at trying to input quarter circle or half circle motions on a keyboard.
i thought it was hard too, but then I realized it's way less effort than a stick, or a d pad on a controller.. it's literally down foward or down back for the quarter circles for dbfz super easy.. only time a half circle is needed is when calling in the assist cancel supers mid-combo. you don't even have to string them together, it's singular presses. if you can type here "asd" and "dsa" thats the half circle motion. and "sa" & "sd" is the quarter circle motions.. its the easiest thing ever it's a joke thats why I'll never look back. I really think anyone struggling on a controller should give it a solid 1 hour of using it.
Dear UA-cam. This concept of muscle memory applies to any game you play. Speed running, smash bros. street fighter. It doesn't matter, find a layout and stick with it.
I was under the impression for the longest time that stick users have an inherent advantage over controller users in fighting games. It didn't help that the few stick users I did know were always insistent that I NEED to get a stick if I want to get "serious" good at fighting games in general. It was only recently that I really learned that it was simple elitism, and that sticking with a controller is not a handicap at all. I guess what i'm trying to say is that hearing people like you saying "stick with what works for you and it'll help a lot" is super reassuring.
While it is more about personal preference, the objective differences are still there. Consoles originally invented pads as a new type of controller that could be cheaply manufactured and easily packaged compared to traditional joystick + button setups. While they do have their own standards of build quality (because controllers breaking in use gives you a really bad reputation), in some aspects they don't simply compare to arcade quality buttons and joysticks. My personal gripe with pads (which I first felt when playing Flatout and Tekken 5 on PS2 after spending all my time on PCs and keyboards, ie. basically on a hitbox) is the fact that you have to do so much precision work with only your thumbs; you could imagine doing anything you usually do with your whole hand (like using a pen for writing, cleaning your teeth with a toothpick, painting a model kit with a brush) and then imagining doing all those things with only your thumbs (ie. taping the pen/toothpick/brush directly to your thumb). Spreading the buttons to one for each finger is another quite obvious advantage with anything that involves multi-button execution and if you want to accomplish that with a pad, you are forced to use shoulder buttons and/or spread the buttons between both hands. And on top of all that, the usual console pads are designed to be a size that works decently for any kind of user which means they aren't that comfortable for people with differently sized hands. This doesn't mean joysticks are objectively best either; joystick as a controller is really easy to grasp as a concept, but when it comes to optimal direction inputs you have to deal with all the travel distances and spring behaviour, making inputs like double-directions (ie. dash or run forward/back) harder compared to other options. Traditional fighting games have all digital controls and when considering that, hitbox is actually the most efficient tool clean inputs. While at first It's the hardest control concept to get familiar with, its input speed and precision is so superior to both joysticks and pads that many people consider it to be cheating. Personally I think the input method shouldn't matter at any level; if the game allows you to have that big of an advantage depending on the controller method, it's a badly or at least insufficiently designed as a fighting game. For example, Smash was originally designed as a party game and now people are complaining that some "system mechanics" which are pretty much glitches/bugs are too easy to perform on hitboxes when compared to the original GC controller. That sort of stuff actually happens in traditional fighting games too; the developers either remove them as unwanted bugs or integrate them more directly as real mechanics (eg. many stuff in GG like FD cancels, jump installs, and OTG bursts were originally bugs rather than features).
To be more accurate, sticks WERE a lot better for a lot of older games that were designed for sticks. Even as recent as in Street Fighter 4, specific characters like Gen were kind of a nightmare on pad in comparison. It's not a universal, however, as most of the cast could still be played efficiently on pad. But still, just playing pad would just soft lock you out of specific characters in situations like that so that's why I guess some people insisted on stick for full coverage. It's definitely a preference thing in most modern titles, though.
Kenny Arruda considering that arcade sticks are much more ergonomically friendly than the controller, they do have qualities that are objectively better. If you want to avoid gamer thumb then you should probably get an arcade stick.
Been using the second layout since back in Blazblue Calamity Trigger and other late 2000's air dashers. Has always stayed faithful with almost any fighting game I play, works really well for this game too. Also finally someone who hates shortcut buttons as much as I do! Definitely more satisfying to press the combinations manually.
Nobody playing fighting games at competitive levels probably uses shortcuts unless they're hardcore pad players. On stick it's definitely more comfortable to just press two buttons since you have five fingers available for that.
Thanks soo much! Im so glad I watched this. I just got my first fightstick today (Qanba Obsidian) and was having the assist problem with the furthest buttons. Your layout makes soooo much more sense. Cant wait to try it out.
After years of putting it off and playing on pad, I finally got myself my first arcade stick and so far it’s an absolute blast, might give that MvC2 layout a go but so far doing manual rushes, dashes, vanish and even manual supers feels so satisfying on stick! I can see why folks like yourself swear by them, Shine On max! ^^
That second layout is what I was using through both betas and since release, and it works great. One other positive is that to do default R2 supers, L2 might be inconvenient for lots of fast reaction moments, but as a hotkey for a super, L2 is an easy way to enter it quick.
Max I'm glad you're doing these tutorials it's been a while, I hope you do more since there are many people that are new to fighting games thanks to DBFZ.
My sentiments exactly. I hate how companies have dumbed down and modified proven working control scheme's. MvC2s control scheme was the last compromise from the traditional 6 button control scheme that felt like a good intuitive balance.
Thank you for taking the time to record and uploading this video. As this can help me, because I am wanting to create content with this gem of a game. This video will help me, in my ordering an arcade stick; and that will be my default method of playing this game. I prefer my buttons being all in one place and not all over plastic.
I gotta thank you for getting me off playing piano chords to super dash, like I literally just got comfortable doing that through repetition and am just now getting over it
I've been playing DBFZ with a mix of MvC2 and BlazBlue style. I instantly knew I wanted the BlazBlue style of Light/Medium/Heavy on the top buttons and Ki on the X Button, but I don't like reaching for the Circle and R2 buttons for Assists so I throw them on L1 and L2. I'm also weird because I play with all four fingers of my right hand on all four attack buttons all the time (I don't use my thumb) so for me it's perfect, but for more traditional Stick players like Max it would be difficult to handle. As long as it works for me and I can build muscle memory from it, that's all that matters.
@@pulguitadavid1608 Originally when I made this comment, I had exclusively used traditional IAD with upforward-forward. But in the years since I made this comment, I've since gained a tradition of mapping a dash macro to O (or the MK button). In this case, that would be the Super Dash macro. This works since most Anime-style fighters are only three or four button fighters and include a way to macro dash to a single button.
Doing the "Guilty Gear - Layout", it's not that ambidextrous if you use your ring finger and your thumb, almost like hitting a chord/interval on piano. For people who want to utilize 4 fingers, it also helps to map it like this: L, M, H, S+H(R2 - Super Dash) S, A1, A2, (nothing) this way you can get used to the S+H motion using your thumb and ring finger, but also trigger it for fwd airdashes or late super dashes with your pinky. In my opinion and experience, it helps new players get into combos easier for a game like dbfz, where things are layed out a bit easier than with other cfgs! Keep up the good videos, appreciate you showing both layouts!
Max, this was an EXTREMELY helpful video. I hope you do more (or that I can find the ones you already made :) for all the best fighting games. And the extra camera aimed at the fight stick…B.E.A. UTIFUL!
To dragon dash with guilty style. All you do is press S with your thumb and H with your ring finger. It's not hard at all lol, it actually feels better than default imo
A GG player would probably find more comfortable a layout with MSH on top and LA1A2 on bottom which makes the gatlings more natural. Although in this game L and M take most of the combos.
I just picked up the game and a fightstick and was thinking about changing the button layout to the first configuration you described. I had the same thought made me feel like it be more technical/fun to do dragon rushes and grabs manually after sometime with the game. Great video great advice thanks.
I just came here to THANK you for your video. I have the same preference like yours when it comes to these fight sticks. That's why I was sticking to my rather inexpensive MadCatz Fightstick Alpha which realy does the job miraculously, and it has 6 action button layout with the other two being on the top side where you can't actualy press them to play much only use them in menus or stuff. But having the preference of using 6 buttons on a fightstick made me migrate back to the controller in some fighting games while returning to the fight stick, when the game allowed me to do so. And Your video simply put my mind to ease that I wouldn't reduce my options if I switch to my little Alpha for this game. Thank You! (Gonna subscribe... what the hell...)
6:38 just got my fightstick and hes completely right switching is no joke its basically starting from the beginning again but overtime you can gain that muscle memory back
I use your same layout and have all my sticks modded with 6-button face plates. I hate that last row and it's never necessary for fighting games. Feels great to get those buttons out of there.
I like the third style you chose. I use all 8 buttons on my arcade stick. for the two extra buttons you dont use I have the top mapped to the rush (to make up for the annoying heavy special timing you alluded to) and vanish on the bottom button, works pretty well and I like the 1 2 3 layout of the attack buttons.
You should do a hand cam video with the arcade stick in Fighterz for a couple matches. Would be cool to see how fluid the button presses turn out to be while playing.
Saving this for I literally just bought an F500 Elite to play DBFZ for the first time on an arcade stick. I splurged some money into a hobby I am 100% gonna like.
It's pretty surprising to see that you primarily use only your index and middle fingers to play. I always felt it natural to use index, middle, and ring, with the thumb to help out and pinky to hit the right two. Very cool to watch how different everyone is.
my preferred button layout is light on cross, medium on square, heavy on triangle, and special on circle. although i also dont have a problem using the L1 and L2 buttons lol
I use the GG layout described but I use my fourth buttons as assists, that is to say: My top row is L, M, H, A1, bottom row is Ki, grab, dash, A2. I really like it, I never use my grab or dash buttons unless im doing a sparking, and the thumb/ring finger slap for dashes is SO satisfying.
You should do a fight stick buying guide too, my god, it's such a zoo finding a proper stick. I bought a Hori Fighting Edge, after hearing like 20 reviews about it, then sent it back near immediately because I didn't realize Hayabusa parts are just friggin' loose. It comes feeling like worn out parts already - despite, admittedly, I loved that metal topdeck. If you customize a fight stick hardware how you like it, I will freakin' buy it, because I'm losing my mind going through parts trying to figure it out. The Maximillian Dood Stick, my god, take my money. I'll keep shoppin', but I'd love to hear you come up with your "perfect" deck.
Awesome video Max. I normally if i am gonna use an Arcade Stick is swap the hard's around with the Light's so Hard punch n kick buttons is nearest too the stick and the Light punch n kick is on the 3rd row of buttons and the extra buttons on the 4th row are for what ever.
"these over here they don't do sheeit....they don't do sheeeeit!" lmao I'm tryna learn about arcade stick and u got me laughing waiting for uber trips (as the uber driver lol)
Great video Max! I use the third layout and I play on a hitbox (24mm buttons instead of the usual 30mm for arcades). The smaller buttons make the H+S super dash issue not a problem at all :)
I didn't play a lot of Marvel 3 nor BlazBlue, but that layout is pretty much the only one I feel comfortable with. Just feels natural, honestly. LMH, ABC, buttons go in sequence, easy as that. Doing the dash is simple, at least for me. I always keep my thumb on S, and index, middle, ring fingers on L, M, H, respectively. So I don't have to cross anything, I just press the buttons. Works the same for anything else, be it rush or vanish. For those it's like using EX moves in Street Fighter. To use the assists I just quickly bring the fingers down and I'm good.
For those who use R1 for heavy, I've discovered you can kind of plink with heavy and ki blast. If you hit them separately but really quickly you'll still get the super dash.
Thank you sooo much!! I've never thought of this layout you use! :D I actually ended up with the 2nd you showed like GG, which is nice, but I'm gonna try the first one and check which one is more comfortable to me. ^ ^
Haven't played the game a lot, because... you know... Monster Hunter. But I also felt like using all 8 buttons was a little overwhelming, I kept pressing the wrong button. So I've been using the same 6 button layout and it really helped me out.
Use your thumb and ring finger to simultaneously press H + S using the second button layout. Index finger hovers around L and middle finger around M. Middle and ring fingers go down to press assists 1 & 2, in general.
I use the one with the LMH on top since I'm used to Blazblue and UNIEL and that''s the layout I use for them. Super dashes took a little bit to get used to but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. And losing muscle memory is 100% true. I got my stick at the end of the year since a friend of mine sold it to me for $60 and it took me about a month to get competent with it since I wasnt used to the movement with the stick. It took me a lot of sessions of Shovel Knight to get used to movement and it took me like a week to get quater-circles and over crazy anime game movements down.
New to using a fightstick, so I haven't really thought about switching up the shoulder buttons until now but I've actually been running a setup where L/M/H are X/Square/Triangle, and circle is special. Not sure if it's any better, but it's just what made sense to me as the layout.
I have one button layout too which utilizes L1, the 4th button. Basically its the same as the MvC3 layout but this is what I call the "Neo Geo" layout. All of the strength base buttons light, medium and heavy are at the first 3 buttons on the stick while the special button is in the 4th button. Assist 1 and 2 are mapped at thr first last two buttons (on PS, its X and Circle).
For the GG layout, I dedicate a finger to each basic button: L is middle, M is ring, Heavy is pinky, special is index. Doing super dash is then just pressing index and pinky at the same time. It's a little awkward, not going to lie, but at least you don't have to stretch your fingers out to reach.
Hey Max! I watched this video and i followed your button layout and it does make me feel very comfortable as this is my first 2D Fighting Game.. I was wondering if you can also do a button layout for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle as well. Keep it up with your videos!
I use the mvc3 layout, and it’s a simple workaround to get the rush. I use middle, ring, and pinky on the top row, and index on the first button of the bottom row. It actually feels more ergonomic that way anyways lol. So, rush is just index and pinky, and they’re already on the buttons
Pretty great for all the newcomers and any new stick owners, I use the Marvel 3 layout my self, only drawback is having to use L1 for Super dash, but it's not too big of a deal.
I used the same layout when i played KoF on arcades as a kid. The two upper buttons being lights and the other two below being heavys. I remember i always raged when an arcade machine had a different buttons layout lol
Coming from guilty gear, getting used to the layout of buttons of this game is something i'll need to get used to apparently. Nice layout suggestion! I'll make sure to try those out!
As a fight stick scrub, I've been using all 8 buttons, because it never occurred to me to eliminate the last two and use button combinations. Perhaps I'll give it a try and see how it feels. Thanks Max!
"i like pressing a lot of buttons in versus games, it makes me feel very good"
Amen
Glad the DBZ fandom is embracing the FGC movement with my boy Max leading the charge.
RandomBlackGamer People like Max show the fun/bright side of the FGC
I was just punishing people online for random airdashes. Feels so damn amazing. Max taught me lol.
RandomBlackGamer Also glad the FGC is embracing DB
i wouldn't say embrace per say imo they still gonna give *Guilty gear the bird* when Arch systems made that series and they freaking know that again this is how i feel on it the usual *oh meh gwad it's DBZ* at it the system in this is not to complex as GG i think *ain't play it my self i for sure will* from lil i seen max play it and him not "get it" well i get he busy af but yea any how how as i keep saying they give *Guilty gear* a chance other fighters overall *skullgirls (team behind it is so great btw) and so on they not too keen on*
budokai 3 was absolutely not better than marvel vs capcom 2
Why I my watching this i don't have an arcade stick :v
because deep down you really want an arcade stick
Benjoleo I watched it too and I don't have one but I suck with the stick I never could play arcades because of that I got used to play with consoles and the d-pad
Long ago I was getting good at playing SFA3 on the PS1 with an arcade stick my friend gave me. About a month later that friend accidentally stepped on that controller and broke it. Controllers from then on. Arcades died out anyway!
neither do I. Also I dont even play that game XD
No se we :v
max is the best UA-cam channel
Just got my arcade stick and I was waiting for this
It was made for this!
Where did you buy it? Im trying to buy a good one
Gamesandeverythingelse amazon
Which arcade stick you buy ?
I'm waiting for mine still. Gonna be here on Friday! I purchased the Mayflash F500 from Amazon. It was $90 and works with PS4, PS3, XBOX ONE, XBOX 360, PC and Android.
Can you talk about applying pressure when the opponent is guarding. Like when to use assists and what strings work best. Im sure its character dependent, but would be nice to have a general understanding. Keep up the great work Max! You make my days dood! Thanks again.
Rafael Alvarez watch umvc3
That is a great suggestion! I kept finding myself punished for just rushing in like an idiot because I got used to dealing with the bots in the story mode. I could see it helping allot of new players just to have something to look to as far as ideas because I know there's allot of options to choose from when it comes to when and how to go in.
With the MvC3 style layout, when I go to hit H + S, I use my ring finger on H and thumb on S. To me it feels pretty natural, I just keep my index on L, middle on M, ring on H, and thumb on S, it feels like typing, each main button has a finger and I move the middle and ring fingers down to hit assists.
Exceed exactly bro that’s why I chose it the MvC3 style just feels so natural to me
I've never really been able to use my ring finger in much of anything. I use it to type but I'm not a touch typist, and still primarily use index and middle. My pinky and ring seem very dependant on each other and so moving my ring always feels like more effort than the dominant index and middle.
Exactly, Marvel 3 beta layout all the way!
Watched this video 3 years ago, and I swore to myself I'd get an Arcade Stick. Today, I finally scored a Mayflash F500 Elite. You were right about the muscle memory, but now I have the reflexes to actually guard. I can't wait to see how far this baby can take me
Only got a fighstick just cause it looks like a lot of fun. Its fun to re learn stuff youre used to. For me at least. So used to a pad i just want something to spice up my gameplay
L U C K Y B O Y so was it worth is it fun?
The5GIO5 ofc it was
I suck at fighting games on pad
But I'm better on stick
arbetor12 I have hope then lmao what console you on?
@@thehinami832 PC
Don't get your stick sticky.
Retro8bit is
sage advice.
Really wished you got into the Dragonball series Max. The nostalgic feeling of my childhood resonates with this game so much I feel like youre missing out. Good vid btw
I use the Second method. I realized how comfortable it was for me when I was messing around with the settings. I didn't know it was actually a real default control setup for some game since I'm fairly new to stick. I only did it because it worked well for me when playing DBZ.
Great video Max.
I prefer the Type B Blazblue and Guilty Gear style. Most anime fighters use that so it works for me.
Techno Crown
Yeah me too
Same, also I'm not moving my wrist around like I would for SF. Thumb is special, pointer finger is L, middle is M, ring is H, then for me personally pinky and hand is the two far left ones for assists that max despises.
me too
Type A i guess you mean, since type B in BB is like Marvel and every other anime game except Guilty Gear.
Same,
I'm a controller scrub. I have a fight stick, and I think it's REALLY awesome, I really love fight sticks, but if I'm playing for reals, I'm way better on controller because I never had access to arcades growing up and all I had was home consoles.
Good stuff with these vids Max, I love watching them even though I don't really need them!
We don't even have any arcades where I live but I still play with a stick
Hey I’m in the same boat as you. But after playing with a typical dell keyboard like the one I’m typing on right now, I can never go back to a controller. The added bonus is that I have directional inputs now (wasd) and I’m using the Insert,Home,PageUp,Delete,End,Pagedown sectional chunk of buttons to represent perfectly a fightsticks layout. It’s really cool and it helps with everything. I have all my fingers engaged instead of my one thumb searching for every button on my controller.
PatVX1 oh and I forgot I’m using the keyboard on the Xbox one. You can get any adapter to allow the use of such peripheral. Saves money on a fight stick and you’re getting rid of the annoying joystick. Win win
Ah that's fair enough, I've tried using a keyboard for fighting games before but never really got into it seriously. The main issue for me was just that I was absolutely junk at trying to input quarter circle or half circle motions on a keyboard.
i thought it was hard too, but then I realized it's way less effort than a stick, or a d pad on a controller.. it's literally down foward or down back for the quarter circles for dbfz super easy.. only time a half circle is needed is when calling in the assist cancel supers mid-combo. you don't even have to string them together, it's singular presses. if you can type here "asd" and "dsa" thats the half circle motion. and "sa" & "sd" is the quarter circle motions.. its the easiest thing ever it's a joke thats why I'll never look back. I really think anyone struggling on a controller should give it a solid 1 hour of using it.
Dear UA-cam. This concept of muscle memory applies to any game you play. Speed running, smash bros. street fighter. It doesn't matter, find a layout and stick with it.
YO I LEGIT NEEDED THIS THANK YOU MAX
I was under the impression for the longest time that stick users have an inherent advantage over controller users in fighting games. It didn't help that the few stick users I did know were always insistent that I NEED to get a stick if I want to get "serious" good at fighting games in general. It was only recently that I really learned that it was simple elitism, and that sticking with a controller is not a handicap at all. I guess what i'm trying to say is that hearing people like you saying "stick with what works for you and it'll help a lot" is super reassuring.
While it is more about personal preference, the objective differences are still there. Consoles originally invented pads as a new type of controller that could be cheaply manufactured and easily packaged compared to traditional joystick + button setups. While they do have their own standards of build quality (because controllers breaking in use gives you a really bad reputation), in some aspects they don't simply compare to arcade quality buttons and joysticks.
My personal gripe with pads (which I first felt when playing Flatout and Tekken 5 on PS2 after spending all my time on PCs and keyboards, ie. basically on a hitbox) is the fact that you have to do so much precision work with only your thumbs; you could imagine doing anything you usually do with your whole hand (like using a pen for writing, cleaning your teeth with a toothpick, painting a model kit with a brush) and then imagining doing all those things with only your thumbs (ie. taping the pen/toothpick/brush directly to your thumb).
Spreading the buttons to one for each finger is another quite obvious advantage with anything that involves multi-button execution and if you want to accomplish that with a pad, you are forced to use shoulder buttons and/or spread the buttons between both hands. And on top of all that, the usual console pads are designed to be a size that works decently for any kind of user which means they aren't that comfortable for people with differently sized hands.
This doesn't mean joysticks are objectively best either; joystick as a controller is really easy to grasp as a concept, but when it comes to optimal direction inputs you have to deal with all the travel distances and spring behaviour, making inputs like double-directions (ie. dash or run forward/back) harder compared to other options. Traditional fighting games have all digital controls and when considering that, hitbox is actually the most efficient tool clean inputs. While at first It's the hardest control concept to get familiar with, its input speed and precision is so superior to both joysticks and pads that many people consider it to be cheating.
Personally I think the input method shouldn't matter at any level; if the game allows you to have that big of an advantage depending on the controller method, it's a badly or at least insufficiently designed as a fighting game. For example, Smash was originally designed as a party game and now people are complaining that some "system mechanics" which are pretty much glitches/bugs are too easy to perform on hitboxes when compared to the original GC controller. That sort of stuff actually happens in traditional fighting games too; the developers either remove them as unwanted bugs or integrate them more directly as real mechanics (eg. many stuff in GG like FD cancels, jump installs, and OTG bursts were originally bugs rather than features).
To be more accurate, sticks WERE a lot better for a lot of older games that were designed for sticks. Even as recent as in Street Fighter 4, specific characters like Gen were kind of a nightmare on pad in comparison. It's not a universal, however, as most of the cast could still be played efficiently on pad. But still, just playing pad would just soft lock you out of specific characters in situations like that so that's why I guess some people insisted on stick for full coverage.
It's definitely a preference thing in most modern titles, though.
Kenny Arruda considering that arcade sticks are much more ergonomically friendly than the controller, they do have qualities that are objectively better. If you want to avoid gamer thumb then you should probably get an arcade stick.
Kenny Arruda i can't play on controller for a while. It would start to hurt my hand
Postwarmage28 use google buddy
Been using the second layout since back in Blazblue Calamity Trigger and other late 2000's air dashers. Has always stayed faithful with almost any fighting game I play, works really well for this game too. Also finally someone who hates shortcut buttons as much as I do! Definitely more satisfying to press the combinations manually.
Nobody playing fighting games at competitive levels probably uses shortcuts unless they're hardcore pad players. On stick it's definitely more comfortable to just press two buttons since you have five fingers available for that.
Thanks soo much! Im so glad I watched this. I just got my first fightstick today (Qanba Obsidian) and was having the assist problem with the furthest buttons. Your layout makes soooo much more sense. Cant wait to try it out.
After years of putting it off and playing on pad, I finally got myself my first arcade stick and so far it’s an absolute blast, might give that MvC2 layout a go but so far doing manual rushes, dashes, vanish and even manual supers feels so satisfying on stick! I can see why folks like yourself swear by them, Shine On max! ^^
You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait
Masters bait
Master Bate
Sticking to one layout for multiple games would help me out a lot that's for sure! Thanks for the video max!!!
Max giving the wisdom once again he is our King Kai
That second layout is what I was using through both betas and since release, and it works great. One other positive is that to do default R2 supers, L2 might be inconvenient for lots of fast reaction moments, but as a hotkey for a super, L2 is an easy way to enter it quick.
Max I'm glad you're doing these tutorials it's been a while, I hope you do more since there are many people that are new to fighting games thanks to DBFZ.
7 minutes of Max teaching us how to play with our sticks
MvC2 style or give me death
That's the spirit!
My sentiments exactly. I hate how companies have dumbed down and modified proven working control scheme's. MvC2s control scheme was the last compromise from the traditional 6 button control scheme that felt like a good intuitive balance.
Dude, thks for doing this vid, I was one of who asked the button layouts. Htaks for listening to feedback! Love ya!
Thank you for taking the time to record and uploading this video. As this can help me, because I am wanting to create content with this gem of a game.
This video will help me, in my ordering an arcade stick; and that will be my default method of playing this game. I prefer my buttons being all in one place and not all over plastic.
I gotta thank you for getting me off playing piano chords to super dash, like I literally just got comfortable doing that through repetition and am just now getting over it
I've been playing DBFZ with a mix of MvC2 and BlazBlue style. I instantly knew I wanted the BlazBlue style of Light/Medium/Heavy on the top buttons and Ki on the X Button, but I don't like reaching for the Circle and R2 buttons for Assists so I throw them on L1 and L2. I'm also weird because I play with all four fingers of my right hand on all four attack buttons all the time (I don't use my thumb) so for me it's perfect, but for more traditional Stick players like Max it would be difficult to handle. As long as it works for me and I can build muscle memory from it, that's all that matters.
Do u do the iAd with the stick manually or do u use the macro of the SD?
@@pulguitadavid1608 Originally when I made this comment, I had exclusively used traditional IAD with upforward-forward. But in the years since I made this comment, I've since gained a tradition of mapping a dash macro to O (or the MK button). In this case, that would be the Super Dash macro. This works since most Anime-style fighters are only three or four button fighters and include a way to macro dash to a single button.
@@TheHarDeOne that’s really great, thanks for your advice!
Thanks, Max.
I knew someone on UA-cam would have a video for this. Of course it was you.
Doing the "Guilty Gear - Layout", it's not that ambidextrous if you use your ring finger and your thumb, almost like hitting a chord/interval on piano. For people who want to utilize 4 fingers, it also helps to map it like this:
L, M, H, S+H(R2 - Super Dash)
S, A1, A2, (nothing)
this way you can get used to the S+H motion using your thumb and ring finger, but also trigger it for fwd airdashes or late super dashes with your pinky. In my opinion and experience, it helps new players get into combos easier for a game like dbfz, where things are layed out a bit easier than with other cfgs!
Keep up the good videos, appreciate you showing both layouts!
Max, this was an EXTREMELY helpful video. I hope you do more (or that I can find the ones you already made :) for all the best fighting games. And the extra camera aimed at the fight stick…B.E.A. UTIFUL!
Look my homie whoops me up at the rec center every day so I was searching for this video hard ash
To dragon dash with guilty style. All you do is press S with your thumb and H with your ring finger. It's not hard at all lol, it actually feels better than default imo
Its like the Dante's Bold cancel move in UMvC3 to be honest.
You mean super dash but yea that's what I do as well
I disagree, I prefer the set up that max uses. But then again I have no GG muscle memory
A GG player would probably find more comfortable a layout with MSH on top and LA1A2 on bottom which makes the gatlings more natural. Although in this game L and M take most of the combos.
Frost Edge - TV yeah, the way how max keeps twisting his wrist to use his middle finger gets me riled up for some reason
Thank you for this wonderful video cuz I just had gotten a game pad and needed help understanding how I should use it so thank you
I just picked up the game and a fightstick and was thinking about changing the button layout to the first configuration you described. I had the same thought made me feel like it be more technical/fun to do dragon rushes and grabs manually after sometime with the game. Great video great advice thanks.
I just came here to THANK you for your video. I have the same preference like yours when it comes to these fight sticks. That's why I was sticking to my rather inexpensive MadCatz Fightstick Alpha which realy does the job miraculously, and it has 6 action button layout with the other two being on the top side where you can't actualy press them to play much only use them in menus or stuff. But having the preference of using 6 buttons on a fightstick made me migrate back to the controller in some fighting games while returning to the fight stick, when the game allowed me to do so. And Your video simply put my mind to ease that I wouldn't reduce my options if I switch to my little Alpha for this game. Thank You! (Gonna subscribe... what the hell...)
6:38 just got my fightstick and hes completely right switching is no joke its basically starting from the beginning again but overtime you can gain that muscle memory back
@5:20 try using ur thumb and the anular finger (ring one) for chasing so you have index and mid fingers free to press low and mid attack buttons
I found out that GO1's layout has
L M A1 SD(or was it DR)
S H A2 SPARKING
Interesting that he's using 1 button for sparking.
“That shit’s not bad” quote of the year.
Definetly going to give that first layout a shot. Thanks!
@Maximilian Dood awesome fightstick. Love the orange
After years of watching you I finally plan on getting my own fight stick.
I use your same layout and have all my sticks modded with 6-button face plates. I hate that last row and it's never necessary for fighting games. Feels great to get those buttons out of there.
Will max be streaming fighterz tonight???
I like the third style you chose. I use all 8 buttons on my arcade stick. for the two extra buttons you dont use I have the top mapped to the rush (to make up for the annoying heavy special timing you alluded to) and vanish on the bottom button, works pretty well and I like the 1 2 3 layout of the attack buttons.
You should do a hand cam video with the arcade stick in Fighterz for a couple matches. Would be cool to see how fluid the button presses turn out to be while playing.
Saving this for I literally just bought an F500 Elite to play DBFZ for the first time on an arcade stick. I splurged some money into a hobby I am 100% gonna like.
A "dexterous" move. It does not take "the ability to use both hands with equal skill level".
Good Vid, Max!
It's pretty surprising to see that you primarily use only your index and middle fingers to play. I always felt it natural to use index, middle, and ring, with the thumb to help out and pinky to hit the right two. Very cool to watch how different everyone is.
my preferred button layout is light on cross, medium on square, heavy on triangle, and special on circle. although i also dont have a problem using the L1 and L2 buttons lol
I use the GG layout described but I use my fourth buttons as assists,
that is to say:
My top row is L, M, H, A1,
bottom row is Ki, grab, dash, A2.
I really like it, I never use my grab or dash buttons unless im doing a sparking,
and the thumb/ring finger slap for dashes is SO satisfying.
You should do a fight stick buying guide too, my god, it's such a zoo finding a proper stick.
I bought a Hori Fighting Edge, after hearing like 20 reviews about it, then sent it back near immediately because I didn't realize Hayabusa parts are just friggin' loose. It comes feeling like worn out parts already - despite, admittedly, I loved that metal topdeck.
If you customize a fight stick hardware how you like it, I will freakin' buy it, because I'm losing my mind going through parts trying to figure it out. The Maximillian Dood Stick, my god, take my money.
I'll keep shoppin', but I'd love to hear you come up with your "perfect" deck.
Awesome video Max. I normally if i am gonna use an Arcade Stick is swap the hard's around with the Light's so Hard punch n kick buttons is nearest too the stick and the Light punch n kick is on the 3rd row of buttons and the extra buttons on the 4th row are for what ever.
This video helped out a lot, thanks Max!!!
As always, VERY INFORMATIVE.
"these over here they don't do sheeit....they don't do sheeeeit!" lmao I'm tryna learn about arcade stick and u got me laughing waiting for uber trips (as the uber driver lol)
I use the exact same 6 button layout as Max. It works very well for me.
This helped allot max great video dood
Great video Max! I use the third layout and I play on a hitbox (24mm buttons instead of the usual 30mm for arcades). The smaller buttons make the H+S super dash issue not a problem at all :)
This is a great set up thanks.
Also another awesome thing for fighting games is get you a controller with extra buttons and map them for shortcut inputs
I didn't play a lot of Marvel 3 nor BlazBlue, but that layout is pretty much the only one I feel comfortable with. Just feels natural, honestly. LMH, ABC, buttons go in sequence, easy as that.
Doing the dash is simple, at least for me. I always keep my thumb on S, and index, middle, ring fingers on L, M, H, respectively. So I don't have to cross anything, I just press the buttons. Works the same for anything else, be it rush or vanish. For those it's like using EX moves in Street Fighter. To use the assists I just quickly bring the fingers down and I'm good.
Thank you so much I tried all of them and they all worked so well
Thumb + Ring Finger for the GG style layout too, Max
For those who use R1 for heavy, I've discovered you can kind of plink with heavy and ki blast. If you hit them separately but really quickly you'll still get the super dash.
Thank you sooo much!! I've never thought of this layout you use! :D I actually ended up with the 2nd you showed like GG, which is nice, but I'm gonna try the first one and check which one is more comfortable to me. ^ ^
Haven't played the game a lot, because... you know... Monster Hunter. But I also felt like using all 8 buttons was a little overwhelming, I kept pressing the wrong button. So I've been using the same 6 button layout and it really helped me out.
Thank you Max, I took my buttons off to make a 6 button stick so I wasn’t sure if I could even play this on mine.
Use your thumb and ring finger to simultaneously press H + S using the second button layout. Index finger hovers around L and middle finger around M. Middle and ring fingers go down to press assists 1 & 2, in general.
I’d really love a similar video but for STRIVE :D
I've been playing the default way, but I can definitely get behind how Max plays.
Personally I use the default layout, but I might try this layouts. Thanks for the suggestions Max.
I use the one with the LMH on top since I'm used to Blazblue and UNIEL and that''s the layout I use for them. Super dashes took a little bit to get used to but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
And losing muscle memory is 100% true. I got my stick at the end of the year since a friend of mine sold it to me for $60 and it took me about a month to get competent with it since I wasnt used to the movement with the stick. It took me a lot of sessions of Shovel Knight to get used to movement and it took me like a week to get quater-circles and over crazy anime game movements down.
New to using a fightstick, so I haven't really thought about switching up the shoulder buttons until now but I've actually been running a setup where L/M/H are X/Square/Triangle, and circle is special. Not sure if it's any better, but it's just what made sense to me as the layout.
You're a true OG max! I also need to use mvc2 style to play this lol
Nice i like that too will set up this lay soon mvc2 style for sure
It's funny I switched mine to your first button config a few days ago. Assist being on the final 2 buttons. Was crazy to me.
I have one button layout too which utilizes L1, the 4th button.
Basically its the same as the MvC3 layout but this is what I call the "Neo Geo" layout.
All of the strength base buttons light, medium and heavy are at the first 3 buttons on the stick while the special button is in the 4th button. Assist 1 and 2 are mapped at thr first last two buttons (on PS, its X and Circle).
For the GG layout, I dedicate a finger to each basic button: L is middle, M is ring, Heavy is pinky, special is index. Doing super dash is then just pressing index and pinky at the same time. It's a little awkward, not going to lie, but at least you don't have to stretch your fingers out to reach.
thanks bro this helped me a lot. its a lot better than my guilty gear setup also love your videos
I bet this dude can do a GREAT Goku impression.
Thanks Max!
Hey Max! I watched this video and i followed your button layout and it does make me feel very comfortable as this is my first 2D Fighting Game.. I was wondering if you can also do a button layout for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle as well. Keep it up with your videos!
I use the mvc3 layout, and it’s a simple workaround to get the rush. I use middle, ring, and pinky on the top row, and index on the first button of the bottom row. It actually feels more ergonomic that way anyways lol. So, rush is just index and pinky, and they’re already on the buttons
Thanks for the guide, Dood!
Pretty great for all the newcomers and any new stick owners, I use the Marvel 3 layout my self, only drawback is having to use L1 for Super dash, but it's not too big of a deal.
Thank you, Max!!!!
Great advice! Subscribed!
I used the same layout when i played KoF on arcades as a kid. The two upper buttons being lights and the other two below being heavys. I remember i always raged when an arcade machine had a different buttons layout lol
thanks max for the very helpful video! i personally like the marvel 2/infinite style, very used to it
Coming from guilty gear, getting used to the layout of buttons of this game is something i'll need to get used to apparently. Nice layout suggestion! I'll make sure to try those out!
As a fight stick scrub, I've been using all 8 buttons, because it never occurred to me to eliminate the last two and use button combinations. Perhaps I'll give it a try and see how it feels. Thanks Max!
How have you been liking it?
this is very useful thanks for the tip Mah Dood
Thank u so much I bought a arcade stick and I’m learned so this help so much!!! Thank you
I should try this game on Arcade stick next time. Thanks