how to prevent left thumb blisters?

[practice]

yesterday i was in training mode practicing a highly advanced combo with an xbox 360 controller. the combo requires heavy use and rapid rotation of the controller's joystick. i must've done the combo at least 1000 times. my left thumb was sore at the end of the day, and when i woke up this morning. there's no blister on my left thumb right now, but i feel that if i continue practicing without a day off, a blister will definitely develop.

i just *know* that there are blister-preventing experts on this forum. what do you guys suggest? should i wrap a thin, breathable bandaid around my left thumb? would that work?

[unclassified]

there is the hidden advance pro technique which barely anyone knows so keep it as a secret.
buy a condom, the smallest you can get so probably the ones you use anyway, cut the top off, pull it over yout thumb and use panzer tape to fix it. done.
special tipp...use a knobbed one with flavor! :3

[«Fexcax»]

Originally posted by appomo:

there is the hidden advance pro technique which barely anyone knows so keep it as a secret.
buy a condom, the smallest you can get so probably the ones you use anyway, cut the top off, pull it over yout thumb and use panze tape to fix it. done.
special tipp...use a knobbed one with flavor! :3

*slow clap*

[Plasma Waffle]

get a stick

[practice]

Originally posted by appomo:

there is the hidden advance pro technique which barely anyone knows so keep it as a secret.
buy a condom, the smallest you can get so probably the ones you use anyway, cut the top off, pull it over yout thumb and use panze tape to fix it. done.
special tipp...use a knobbed one with flavor! :3

what

[optimistic realization]

You need to take breaks or you'll ♥♥♥♥ up the nerves in your thumb like I did. lmao And, get a Playstation controller, much easier on your thumbs than a 360 pad. 360 is the worst, I should sue MS for my thumb damage.

[DirtyStinkyHippy]

Hate to say it but this is one of many reasons why gamepads make bad fighting games controllers (stand by for Luffy fans to point out what he used).

Thumb sticks work fine when you are fine tuning aim, barely nudging the stick from the center. They are horrible when you are sliding the stick all over the place. Back in the N64 days Nintendo Power offered a free glove to Mario Party players because some of the mini games were impossible to play without getting blisters.

The 360 controller is hands down the worst option you could possibly use for street fighter yet I realize not everyone wants to rush out and get an over priced tournament stick. Try the keyboard out if you don't want to go that route. The controls may seem odd at first but you can actually click things a lot faster using all 8 fingers over the gamepad setup where your 2 thumbs have to do almost everything. Even if you insist on gamepad, don't use the stick, use the Dpad. There's nothing gained using an analog control for digital input and you actually slow yourself down trying to guide the stick around. 360 does have the world's worst Dpad though, which is why those who insist on gamepad usually go for the playstation offerings.

[Zoidberg Ranger]

Be a man, skin gets tougher with time.

[practice]

Originally posted by Senael:

Hate to say it but this is one of many reasons why gamepads make bad fighting games controllers (stand by for Luffy fans to point out what he used).

Thumb sticks work fine when you are fine tuning aim, barely nudging the stick from the center. They are horrible when you are sliding the stick all over the place. Back in the N64 days Nintendo Power offered a free glove to Mario Party players because some of the mini games were impossible to play without getting blisters.

The 360 controller is hands down the worst option you could possibly use for street fighter yet I realize not everyone wants to rush out and get an over priced tournament stick. Try the keyboard out if you don't want to go that route. The controls may seem odd at first but you can actually click things a lot faster using all 8 fingers over the gamepad setup where your 2 thumbs have to do almost everything. Even if you insist on gamepad, don't use the stick, use the Dpad. There's nothing gained using an analog control for digital input and you actually slow yourself down trying to guide the stick around. 360 does have the world's worst Dpad though, which is why those who insist on gamepad usually go for the playstation offerings.

every time i press up on my xbox 360 controller's dpad, it does an up+right instead of just up.

i'm gonna throw this controller away and get a ps3 controller right now.

[Heroxoot]

Originally posted by Plasma Waffle:

get a stick

[76561198114094360]

Originally posted by Non:

Be a man, skin gets tougher with time.

Totally agree! I used to have permanent blisters when I started playing Fighting Games (because I kept on playing even if it did hurt and some times even worse) but now, my thumbs skin hardened and I never get them any more.

But you don't have to go this way!! I got those nasty blisters because I was using the controller wrong (and I assume you do too). After a lot of time experimenting (and trying to avoid the pain while playing but keeping my execution consistent) I found the right way to do it.

You don't have to slide or roll your thumb across each button. Instead, just tilt your thumb a bit. You need to position your thumb with the articulation between the phalanges at the bottom button (A on 360, X on PS or "down" on the D-Pad), so you press "down" (A, X) with the bones joint, "up" (Y, /\) with the upper zone of your thumbprint, and you hit "left" (X, [_]) and "right" (B, O) with the sides of the upper portion of the articulation (the base of the upper phalanx). So in the end, you're just tilting your thumb a bit to access a button, eliminating the friction that occurs when sliding from a button to another and you get rid of those nasty blisters.

It will take a bit of time to get used to this kind of input but, using this method, you can do virtually any combo in any fighting game pretty consistently. It also doesn't matter how thick or thin your thumbs are, it works anyway.

For witch controller to use, I recommend a PS2 Controller, it's the steadier out there (those things last forever!!) and it's easy to find a good adapter to any system. The PS3 Controller does just as well but it doesn't have that much compatibility with other systems and it's more expensive.
The Xbox360 Controller is not as bad as people claim, but I don't like it because the D-Pad is too far to be comfortable reaching it - just a personal preference. But just looking at how Alioune makes it work proves that it's a viable input device in tournaments.

[MDZ jimmY]

if you play on a regular basis you won't get any blisters (as others already pointed out). used to play with a ps controller and I never had this problem, but I know alot of beginners do have this issue.

[practice]

Originally posted by Mizu Oni:

Totally agree! I used to have permanent blisters when I started playing Fighting Games (because I kept on playing even if it did hurt and some times even worse) but now, my thumbs skin hardened and I never get them any more.

But you don't have to go this way!! I got those nasty blisters because I was using the controller wrong (and I assume you do too). After a lot of time experimenting (and trying to avoid the pain while playing but keeping my execution consistent) I found the right way to do it.

You don't have to slide or roll your thumb across each button. Instead, just tilt your thumb a bit. You need to position your thumb with the articulation between the phalanges at the bottom button (A on 360, X on PS or "down" on the D-Pad), so you press "down" (A, X) with the bones joint, "up" (Y, /\) with the upper zone of your thumbprint, and you hit "left" (X, [_]) and "right" (B, O) with the sides of the upper portion of the articulation (the base of the upper phalanx). So in the end, you're just tilting your thumb a bit to access a button, eliminating the friction that occurs when sliding from a button to another and you get rid of those nasty blisters.

It will take a bit of time to get used to this kind of input but, using this method, you can do virtually any combo in any fighting game pretty consistently. It also doesn't matter how thick or thin your thumbs are, it works anyway.

For witch controller to use, I recommend a PS2 Controller, it's the steadier out there (those things last forever!!) and it's easy to find a good adapter to any system. The PS3 Controller does just as well but it doesn't have that much compatibility with other systems and it's more expensive.
The Xbox360 Controller is not as bad as people claim, but I don't like it because the D-Pad is too far to be comfortable reaching it - just a personal preference. But just looking at how Alioune makes it work proves that it's a viable input device in tournaments.

holy crap thank you so much. i just followed your advice to a tee and pulled off a 7-seismo seismo chain in training mode with NO PAIN at all.

previously i was sliding my proximal interphalangeal joint all over the dpad. i guess this is what caused the pain.

from now on i'm going to keep my proximal interphalangeal joint stuck to the "down arrow" of the dpad at all times.

[76561198114094360]

Originally posted by cherrieluvr:

holy crap thank you so much. i just followed your advice to a tee and pulled off a 7-seismo seismo chain in training mode with NO PAIN at all.

previously i was sliding my proximal interphalangeal joint all over the dpad. i guess this is what caused the pain.

from now on i'm going to keep my proximal interphalangeal joint stuck to the "down arrow" of the dpad at all times.

I'm glad it helped :)

[practice]

Originally posted by Mizu Oni:

I'm glad it helped :)

your advice is literally the holy grail of dpad-playing advice.

just pulled off a 16-seismo seismic hammer chain with *still no pain* at all!

(and like a million other chains of 9 seismos)

[EndZiiel]

Originally posted by cherrieluvr:

yesterday i was in training mode practicing a highly advanced combo with an xbox 360 controller. the combo requires heavy use and rapid rotation of the controller's joystick. i must've done the combo at least 1000 times. my left thumb was sore at the end of the day, and when i woke up this morning. there's no blister on my left thumb right now, but i feel that if i continue practicing without a day off, a blister will definitely develop.

i just *know* that there are blister-preventing experts on this forum. what do you guys suggest? should i wrap a thin, breathable bandaid around my left thumb? would that work?

Buy a Qanba Q2 or something like that!. There fixed!!