Street Fighter 6 Which Controller to start with?

I wanted to share my experience when selecting a controller to use in SF6.
Controllers shown:
Xbox Elite Controller
www.xbox.com/e...
Razor Kitsune
www.razer.com/...
NACON Daija Arcade Fight Stick
www.amazon.com...
What controller do you use?
Really cool website for fighting game art:
www.fightersge...

[@vbby]

grew up playing fighting games casually on pad, bought into the arcade stick hype during SF4, went back to pad after because it felt more comfortable, more comfort = play fighting games longer for me

[@duxnihilo]

I started on d-pads on the Snes and then I got myself a stick for SFIV. Now I have 3 sticks and one more on the way, the new Daija for the PS5.

[@locdogg86]

i absolutly love everything about the elite controller but the d-pad. I really want them to make another one with the series x d-pad

[@el_teqck]

Cosmox R16, w/Booster 5, if you play on PS5. They’re undefeated right now.

[@Revz8bit]

Sony style dpads, especially PS4 and PS5, are really good for fighting games imo

[@DerektheMenace]

Anything compared to the trash d-pads on every Xbox controller, will seem really good. Unfortunately, the d-pads on the Sony consoles are not 4 individual buttons rather 1 solid piece of plastic.

[@Craighgbnn]

@@DerektheMenace The series X/S dpads are great, far better than the base PS5 controller

[@ampdmg]

Haute42 / cosmox are great leverless. I recommend the r16 if you want a larger size like the kitsune, m16 if you want a metal kitsune comparative, or the g13 or s13 for something portable. Get a magicboots 1.1 or cosmox booter if you need PS5 comparability.

[@G0rgar]

I've got the g16 and it's fantastic. I do kind of regret not getting the larger one, though. The small one is great for desktop use but is a bit small to use in my lap. Brooks also makes a usb stick for ps5 compatibility. I'm not familiar with the magicboots or cosmox ones but I imagine they all work the same..

[@SoundToxin]

@@G0rgar Brook adapters go in the middle of the connection while MagicBoots and similar go in an extra USB passthrough port on the controller (not all controllers have this, it's a fairly recent thing) and you still connect the controller to your PC/console normally. MagicBoots is also physically quite small so not a big deal to leave in all the time which makes switching between PC and PS5 a bit more seamless. Brook stuff is also pretty overpriced and they've been holding the scene hostage making people rely on their adapters for years, so ideally I don't think they should be supported. Using controllers with GP2040-CE and avoiding Brook adapters seems like the way forward. If you're doing a big box-style arcade controller build, leverless or lever, you can even get encoders with the passthrough USB on them so your MagicBoots is completely hidden away inside the controller and you never have to think about it. You can find those on Etsy under names like "advanced breakout board". If you have an old arcade stick already, those also make for a good upgrade.

[@G0rgar]

@@SoundToxin Interesting. I haven't made the leap to going to to locals and I play on PC at home so I haven't really had any need to look into it. If I ever do get around to getting into the local scene I'll have to look into MagicBoots.

[@yungtechnology1378]

great video! loved the doggie in the background :)

[@chanbenyamin3527]

kitsune user here. its great but it has a learning curve if you been playing with stick. took me around 6 months

[@Ejp23_]

They sell better quality leverless controllers for 100 and less, any size you want for any system.

[@jerry5847]

I played on a victrix fs 12 leverless with 12 Gamer Finger Silver series buttons. The buttons were responsive, but it was not for me. I already had a victrix Fightstick in White for PS5. I have been on stick for the last 20 years. I outperformed many people who were on leverless. I did not have any missed inputs on the stick. I upgraded my stick to. I used Gamer Finger Silver series buttons on the 8 buttons and a Silent Sanwa stick with a 4 pound spring and a bat top. That thing is awesome. The movement is solid. I don't like it to be overly tight and definitely not so loose it feels like you would backwards jump by mistake with a 1 or 2 pound spring. All of my inputs were never missed and I was able to get big combos with SA3 in Street Fighter 6 with no problem. Maybe I am not used to the leverless design. I felt when I was playing on leverless I was just button mashing. So my game felt kind of empty. I grew up playing arcades and also I used to play on MAS sticks. I have probably had around 20 different Fight sticks on my journey. I remember my first fight stick was awful and I did not know about modding back then. The stick was the Capcom Fighting Stick for Street Fighter 2 on Super Nintendo. It was flimsy, loose, buttons felt awful.etc. If I had know about modding back then I would have changed my internal stick and buttons. I think stick is still the best for people who want to feel that real arcade feel. The leverless actually made my wrists hurt a bit. Maybe it was how I was holding my hands above the buttons. Also I was making lots of mistakes on the leverless because of the muscle memory needed to remember the left side inputs. It gets pretty confusing when all the buttons nearly look the same. It is especially hard when you are trying those long combos in Street Fighter 6. With the arcade stick my buttons are all 30 mm versus the 24 mm on the Victorix FS 12. Yeah and that's another thing the buttons are so small my fingers would many times be depressing both buttons. I don't play on PC so I don't really get the leverless idea. They say leverless came from the PC fighting scene. O came from console and the arcades. In know arcades are dead now, but I still like how the arcade stick feels. Especially my Victrix FS in white with the nice mods that I made. It feels very solid. I can play for hours with no fatigue to my fingers or wrists. So in conclusion I feel arcade stick is still very good and it is not dead for people who want to invest. Thanks and take care FGC.

[@braverix0117]

Thanks for the insight and wisdom. I'm going to keep practicing on my arcade stick because I love the feel of it. I prefer the leverless because I have WASD brain so the muscle memory is there for me.

[@SoundToxin]

The mirrored camera feed really messed with me when you showed the Xbox controller, lol. For an alternative to the Razer Kitsune, look at the Haute42 M16. I think there's a Plus version of the M series now also that's a bit bigger. If you play on PS5 you'll need to stick a MagicBoots in it, but all together should still be well under $200. If you don't care about the size/material as much, Haute42 G16 is dirt cheap. They keep pumping out new controllers super fast so might be worth looking around for other stuff. I see another comment talking about the R16, I didn't even know there was an R series now. I agree with you that you should either use what you have or go with leverless. Some people get tripped up by the up button being at the bottom, but I find they get used to it pretty quick if they stick with it. I did a bunch of Flatbox rev 5 builds a year or two ago and handed them out to some friends to try to get them into fighting games. The cost per controller was quite low ($20-$30 or so) when you ordered parts in bulk, and the builds were pretty fast as well. I used one of those until the Haute42 stuff popped up on the scene, then I got the G16 out of curiosity and because it had the USB passthrough port unlike my Flatbox. I play primarily on PC or consoles old enough that you don't need a dongle for GP2040-CE to work (PS3, Xbox 360), but I still wanted to have the option to play on a PS5 if the opportunity ever came up, without having to get a new controller. The Haute42 stuff feels pretty high quality compared to my DIY Flatbox builds. I just wish they'd make bigger stuff and that they'd do a split layout with more space between each hand. I also built some Open-Frame1 controllers which have ~20 buttons instead of ~12 and are used for Smash Bros, and those have a really nice ergonomic layout that I wish were more popular in other controllers. For anyone interested in more arcade controllers, with or without lever, I would recommend checking out HushMySweet's channel. He does a lot of reviews and builds on there.

[@braverix0117]

Thanks for the informative comment! I'm new to alot of this and it helps alot when a veteran like you drops some knowledge bombs. I will check out that channel.

[@duxnihilo]

If you haven't updated your firmware on the Nacon Daija, you should. There's a lot of input lag on the old firmware.

[@braverix0117]

Thanks, I will look into doing that

[@S1nGuLariTY_]

I'm starting with keyboard, the supreme controller

[@bence3461]

Keyboard is actually super good, my friend who never played any fighting game just reached master with it.

[@DroneCorpse]

baby hands

[@WhyAreWe_Here]

yup basically a leverless

[@SoundToxin]

If you bind it like a leverless (like with spacebar or something around there as your up key) it makes the transition a bit easier should you switch to leverless later. I think if you ever go to tournaments you'll need to use something besides a keyboard since PS5s are usually the standard. Not a big deal if you just play at home.

[@pkphantom]

​@@SoundToxin it pales in comparison to a proper leverless. Just spend $90 on a mayflash f500 flat and call it a day

[@MetalFacedGamer]

I travel a lot so the Kitsune is instrumentally better for being on the go.

[@davidcolon83]

Kitsune is awesome I also recommend Victrix pro fs or all button there all great

[@RonRon0110]

I am about to order a haute42 r16 leverless conteoller i currently play stick and i want the kitsune but 300 when the haute42 is 90 is crazy

[@WhyAreWe_Here]

Haute 42 T16 is very good. The only down side is that its thin and maybe smaller than many so using it on your lap may be a problem but the buttons and feel is great.

[@WhyAreWe_Here]

I always like fighting games but only ever played for a few minutes before giving up because i hate not knowing what to do. I have recently made the decision to get into them and ended with this same question, what controller? Well, all i had at first was my xbox one controller but i knew straight away it wasn't accurate. Everyone was saying how amazing the leverless is so i bought the Haute42 T16 from amazon. Issue is, my hands are stiff and doing half circle from right to left ended up less accurate than controller. Left to right half circle was so easy though and quarters circles are a breeze with the leverless. The learning curve is my brain trying to process what i want to do and make it happen haha. Its like 90% of my focus. Anyway what people say about leverless having "a lot of buttons to press" is true, compared to controller anyway. Its so close to keyboard that its hard to understand why it still has a learning curve. End of the day, all control types are different and i couldn't decide unless i tried them all, so bought the fight stick F500 elite, coming tomorrow. So i guess we shall see what i prefer.

[@braverix0117]

Nice, finding what best works for you is part of the fun.

[@molinaro_ink]

Did the fight stick arrive? What's you opinion now?

[@WhyAreWe_Here]

Hmm without a doubt the stick. It feels natural only needing a slight movement of the wrist to do the directionals. Full 360 is straight forward as is 720s. Half circles and quarters are super easy and you just need to work on making the movement precise. The leverless was good but it didnt feel natural, like a keyboard feels natural to type but the same inputs for a fighting game dont beat the simplicity of the stick in my opinion. For example my brain having to think really hard about what finger to press down first on each key, when doing half circles from right to left.. To me it feel likes trying to draw with my less dominant hand lol I dont have that issue with stick. I do like the extra buttons the haute42 t16 has though.

[@molinaro_ink]

@@WhyAreWe_Here Yeaaa, i feel you 100%, i have an old fight stick from my ps2 here that i tried to play with an adapter lol and the movements indeed felt more natural. Im still trying to get used to the leverless but flirting with the idea of buying a decent fight stick to have a proper test

[@WhyAreWe_Here]

@@molinaro_ink do what i done and buy from amazon to test one and do a return if you dont like it. The may flash f300 and f500 are decent. Elite adds the sanwa stick and buttons, i didnt really care about the buttons but i got elite because the stick is better and more responsive.

[@sergeyzakharov7326]

imo if you already have a pad, then play on a pad. but if you don't have one for some reason or you want to upgrade from pad to something that is better suited for fighting games, then try haute42 devices (board if you want wasd movement or s16 if you want hitbox style controller). that's how it worked for me at least. i started with xbox pad, then bought b16 cause i like wasd and an additional button under my left thumb (i use it for drive parry), and now i'm thinking about buying custom mixbox style controller with additional buttons because i want something bigger to play on my lap

[@CaBdosdos]

Punk won evo with a ps5 controller lol.

[@OfficeArcade]

The dual sense edge. Best polling rate on any controller.

[@Ejp23_]

Series x xbox controller has the best d-pad in any controller beside the old sega ones… Huate-42 is the best leverless controller in the market for 100$ or less.

[@TommyDanielsson]

I say Stick is most fun cause arcade era head like me... but IF someone is super new.. I say leverless but if its hurts then go for stick. Both takes tons of hour to "master" but its all about who you as a person do with the info you gather. I myself own 2 hitbox and 11 sticks.

[@jerry5847]

I like stick best. I have been on stick for over 20 years. I own a white Victrix FS with a silent sanwa stick and Gamerfinger Silver buttons. I use a bat top and a 4 pound spring for more tension. That stick is premium how I have it modded. No missed inputs and big combos on Street Fighter 6. Don't let influencers try to convince you there are better ways to play. Choose what you like best and what works best for you. FGC is awesome with so many people getting on board. Take care and enjoy your game.

[@MetalFacedGamer]

Oddly enough I have both of those

[@googleuser9073]

i find the xbox dpad to be terrible regardless

[@austinmuldoon9369]

Keep in mind, hitbox takes away all the fun from the user and his/her opponent.

[@OzonebxGaming]

Hitbox is cheating

[@JP-ks3kh]

😂

[@DroneCorpse]

Brain damage