How many people use arcade sticks? If so, what kind? I'm wondering if I should learn to move the piece with my left hand so that if I ever get an arcade stick, I will be used to it. Is it beneficial to use one, I mean, is it faster or more efficent? Thanks.
Right now I'm faster with a keyboard, but I think for the TGM games I'll eventually be faster with my joystick when I get more proficient with it.
So you practice the keyboard with moving pieces with right hand? Is it hard to transition? What kind of arcade stick do you have?
I was a keyboard player, but 2 years ago i made the switch and now my joystick technique is better than my keyboard technique ever was. I used to move with my right hand, though obviously with a stick I have to move with my left hand now. The transition was extremely painful at first, because I wasn't used to sticks at all, and I wasn't used to using my left hand on top of that. I'd say the switching of my hands part hurt my performance more, but it didn't last long. Learning to use a stick in general continued to be challenging for a longer period of time.
Yeah, moved pieces with my right hand, so had to swap those around too. It was a hard transition. It took a week or so at least for me to get used to the stick, and I'm still not up to the level of speed I was with the keyboard even a few months later. That said, I don't play with the stick that often, and tend to play Heboris and Texmaster using my keyboard. Switching between both is no longer a problem though, and my hands are now pretty ambidextrous. As for the stick, I use a Virtua Stick High Grade, but these seem to be discontinued. Your best bet now for a high-end arcade stick is the HRAP3, which uses the same joystick, but with different buttons. Both are PS3 sticks, but work fine on PC's, though you might need Joy2Key to convert the inputs for a few things.
I have a MAS super-pro stick that I use for fighting games on my ps2. It's over $100. But I think I'll buy a cheaper one for use with texmaster. I think I'll continue using my right hand to move pieces on my keyboard for now though because I'm already experienced using a stick. http://www.got-next.com/features/hardware/mas-stick.jpg
That would be an american style stick with a bat-top and straight buttons, whereas most TGM players are used to Japanese layout with a ball-top. In the end it comes down to preference, but I'd say at least for tetris play (3 to 4 button use, no uncoordinated bashing involved), a balltop with a curved button layout that follows the shape of your hand would be preferable.
On that topic, even if you do use a bat-top you're going to want to make sure it's set to 4-way not 8-way.
