Keyboard or Controller?

[Broseph]

This is my first fightan game and currently a fightstick it oustide my budget. My options are either and xbone controller or keyboard.

I'm trying to use xbone controller because it "feels" better, but often times it seems like the inputs don't line up to what I'm trying to do, and airdashing seems almost impossible. Don't know if this is due to my own inexperience or the fact that I'm using an analog input in a game that likes digital. The dpad on the xbone controller is garbage so I'd prefer not to use that.

Trying keyboard, I have a LOT more control over movement it feels like, but attacking feels weird. I much prefer the buttons on the controller.

For those of you out there who DONT use a fightstick, or have experience using a controller or keyboard, which do you prefer and why?

[Bootleg Megaboss]

I play everything with a controller, although whenever I played Street Fighter and SNK fighting games on Arcade it did feel slightly better.

It's best to play with whatever you feel more comfortable with.

[clappa]

I went from keyboard to controller to fightstick.

Honestly, play it for a week with keyboard then play for a week with controller. Then choose which one feels better to use for you. This is all personal preference.

[BodyOrgan]

Originally posted by Lolifister666:

I went from keyboard to controller to fightstick.

Honestly, play it for a week with keyboard then play for a week with controller. Then choose which one feels better to use for you. This is all personal preference.

I can echo this.

I'll give my (as in me) tier rating to go along with my progression. I went from controller (trash tier), to arcade stick (C tier), to hitbox (A tier).

Like the OP I saw immediate improvement in movement when using the hitbox (keyboard like), and after a short while I could perform the standard fighting game motions like quarter circles, half circles, dragon punch, etc....

If I couldn't use a hitbox, then I'd want a keyboard before having to go back to an arcade stick.

Like the quoted poster, give them all a fair shake and stick with what you like most.

[Penguinator]

If you have spent most of your life on a keyboard, there's not much reason to switch to pad.
Learning to use a stick will take time and it isn't really as accurate as pure digital inputs like keyboard or hitbox.
If you want to play in Japanese arcades then learning the stick is pretty much the only real option and if you travel to tournaments in general then you need something other than keyboard.
Htibox is one of the objectively best options (pure digital inputs in better form than keyboard), but they aren't as common as fight sticks so you may have to search or pay more for a good one (or create one yourself).

I have played GG on keyboard (WASD layout with arcade default layout on JUIOL) for about 2k hours and the only things I don't like is doing fuzzy defensive techinques (ie. motions like 14741) and mashing out of stun (mechanical keyboard with red switches, so for fast mashing you have to press keys very shallowly to register inputs), though honestly the former is a pretty big problem at high level play.

[Broseph]

Thanks for the responses guys, went ahead and tried the tutorial again with the keyboard and saw loads of improvement.

[There'sNoStringOnMe]

I think fightsticks suit people who can flexibly use their wrist to aid stick control, but I might be wrong. Controllers seem unintuitive, I have a x360 controller but have never felt too comfortable doing lots of motions using only my thumbs (especially double input like dashes), and I don't think it's good for your thumbs in the long run. Keyboards are good for finger users like me, I have little problem playing with one so far (although the 3-key limit on most keyboards would eliminate some of your options).

So, to my (mostly uninformed) opinion, fightstick for wrist, controller for thumb and keyboard for multiple finger.

Also think about the character you main and their movesets. Honestly, motions like DP (623) is a little unnatural on keyboards, and that's kept me from playing Dizzy for a long time. Full circles ... I'm not sure about hitboxes, but full circles feel like a lot of work on keyboard too. I would have little problem with many others tho (like 236s, half circles or Potemkin Buster) so I think you would be fine with these as well.

[It's MyGO!!!!!]

Originally posted by Bootleg Megaboss:

I play everything with a controller, although whenever I played Street Fighter and SNK fighting games on Arcade it did feel slightly better.

It's best to play with whatever you feel more comfortable with.

Do you use the left stick or the directional pad to control the direction? Because i feel that it's hard to control the direction with the left stick.

[2SAD]

Assuming like me you cant afford or dont want to shell out 200 bucks just yet for a fightstick then Find yourself something with a good Dpad. Fight pads are good I use a snes controller but I heard ps3 controllers are great, Ps4 controllers are trash with dpad and Switch pro has a decent dpad but its to small and placement is the same as 360 and thats bad.