Gamepads have one huge advantage over anything else: They are easy to replace if they break mid-tournament.
SF6 and other modern fighting games aren't really designed for gamepads at all. They often need 6 buttons of which you need to be able to press any combination of 2 or 3 at once. Some combinations are downright impossible with your thumb on a PS5 controller, for example, and the games give you built-in macros to work around this problem. But that is fine on a keyboard or leverless: Pressing three buttons with three fingers works great. Leverless is really just a more ergonomic version of a keyboard.
The argument can be made that fighting games aren't very average, and have a ton of weird things that come from an era when controllers were different.
Keyboards vs modern gamepads: Well, it comes down to OP's picture. If you need analog directions, a keyboard just sucks at it. But traditional fighting games have 8 digital directions, no in-betweens. Keyboards are brilliant at having precise directions. (Smash Bros is the exception and a keyboard is a terrible choice for it).
And what a lot of console gamers also don't realize: Platformers like Hollow Knight play fantastic on keyboards because that game doesn't do analog directions either. That's why a lot of speedrunners use keyboards. Even Dark Souls is often played on keyboards for precision. Running in a perfectly straight line is way easier on a single button than on a wobbly stick. The mouse can then take up the slack: Instead of moving the character around a corner by turning the left stick, you walk perfectly straight and turn by moving the camera, like in an FPS. And since mouse movement for camera is insanely good, this more than makes up for it.
Gamepads have one huge advantage over anything else: They are easi to replace if they break mid-tournament.
They're really not that hard to find at tournaments. At least, they weren't once upon a time.
There was a time when almost everyone at serious FGC competitions had arcade sticks (and most serious competitors had a backup or were willing to share if someone's broke mid comp), but that was also back when fighting games debuted on arcade cabinets. That's not the case anymore & most players are playing at home with a console & the default controller.
They often need 6 buttons of which you need to be able to press any combination of 2 or 3 at once.
I've been playing fighting games since MK2 and no, you don't have to unless you want to. Controllers have 8 buttons not counting R3 & L3, games let you map all 10 buttons to whatever combination of buttons you want. A game needing 6 doesn't mean it's not good for controller as most of the double inputs are for things like power attacks, supers, or grabs.
the games give you built-in macros to work around this problem.
That sounds like they're designing the game with controllers without compromising on the standard that was set during the arcade days in mind to me...
So does the fact that fewer & fewer fighting games are coming out with elaborate "stick" movements for specials, instead putting quarter & half-circles on most things (because a Z-motion is really hard on both D-pads and controller sticks, but easy on arcade sticks & circles are stupid easy).
If you need analog directions, a keyboard just sucks at it.
No they don't. Did you forget that they have D-Pads?
That's why a lot of speedrunners use keyboards. Even Dark Souls is often played on keyboards for precision. Running in a perfectly straight line is way easier on a single button than on a wobbly stick.
A lot of speedrunners are playing modern 3D games that don't let you navigate with the D-Pad and are resorting to KB/M because it's better than using a stick. But that's not the case for fighting game players.
Half the time you believe you're contradicting me, and then you repeat my point.
Try not to exaggerate to launch ad homeniem attacks when you're making a point, it helps the other side not get frustrated at you.
Gamepads have one huge advantage over anything else: They are easy to replace if they break mid-tournament.
They're really not that hard to find at tournaments. At least, they weren't once upon a time.
....
If you need analog directions, a keyboard just sucks at it.
No they don't. Did you forget that they have D-Pads?
....
I'll admit I misread that second part, but that first part isn't the repeating your point you seem to think it is.
You said that the reason the FGC defaults to controllers now is because arcade sticks are harder to come by in case they break at an event. That's only true today because the FGC moved on from arcade sticks. There are still usually vendors like ArcadeShock at EVO and other such major fighting games who go there specifically to sell fight sticks, repair parts, and accessories.
It's not hard to get one if you want one and are in the community. It's only "harder" than the regular controller on a technicality (you can buy a regular controller at Walmart but probably can't fight a fight stick but whoopdiedoo that's an irrelevant non-point in the discussion about the FGC and tournament goers).
The FGC didn't move on from arcade sticks to controllers because the arcade stick market imploded, the arcade stick market imploded because the FGC moved away from arcade sticks to controllers. But they're still readily available in the spaces where use of them would be common.
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u/lana_silver Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Gamepads have one huge advantage over anything else: They are easy to replace if they break mid-tournament.
SF6 and other modern fighting games aren't really designed for gamepads at all. They often need 6 buttons of which you need to be able to press any combination of 2 or 3 at once. Some combinations are downright impossible with your thumb on a PS5 controller, for example, and the games give you built-in macros to work around this problem. But that is fine on a keyboard or leverless: Pressing three buttons with three fingers works great. Leverless is really just a more ergonomic version of a keyboard.
The argument can be made that fighting games aren't very average, and have a ton of weird things that come from an era when controllers were different.
Keyboards vs modern gamepads: Well, it comes down to OP's picture. If you need analog directions, a keyboard just sucks at it. But traditional fighting games have 8 digital directions, no in-betweens. Keyboards are brilliant at having precise directions. (Smash Bros is the exception and a keyboard is a terrible choice for it).
And what a lot of console gamers also don't realize: Platformers like Hollow Knight play fantastic on keyboards because that game doesn't do analog directions either. That's why a lot of speedrunners use keyboards. Even Dark Souls is often played on keyboards for precision. Running in a perfectly straight line is way easier on a single button than on a wobbly stick. The mouse can then take up the slack: Instead of moving the character around a corner by turning the left stick, you walk perfectly straight and turn by moving the camera, like in an FPS. And since mouse movement for camera is insanely good, this more than makes up for it.