What is the definitive 16-bit home version of Street Fighter II?

[Asura]

As an aside I heard that a bunch of contestants were using pads at Evo this year. I thought it would always be sticks

There has always been a pad presence at Evo. Have any ever reached higher than top 64?

Yep, people have placed highly with them, even. The only thing I can't abide by are hitboxes (controllers like an arcade stick, but they replace the stick with four directional buttons). You can do certain things on them which are simply impossible on other controllers (e.g. you can hold left and right simultaneously) which can result in a genuine advantage at high level play over other controllers.

[_SD_]

I’ve seen the Hitbox controllers, and the Mixbox that has a keyboard style set of direction buttons... wasn’t too sure what to make of them to be honest. I’m so used to a standard joystick I think it’d be very difficult to get used to something like that now.

[speedlolita]

There has always been a pad presence at Evo. Have any ever reached higher than top 64?

Luffy won SFIV with a PS1 digital pad. Most of the Japanese players use sticks but Americans and Europeans commonly use pads.

Pretty sure ProblemX won with a PS4 pad this year even. Plenty of top 8 competitors, let alone 64.

[dataDave]

Great stuff. I've not followed Evo since 2012.

[dataDave]

Yep, people have placed highly with them, even. The only thing I can't abide by are hitboxes (controllers like an arcade stick, but they replace the stick with four directional buttons). You can do certain things on them which are simply impossible on other controllers (e.g. you can hold left and right simultaneously) which can result in a genuine advantage at high level play over other controllers.

Yep. Not to dissimilar to the Switch 'd-pad'.

Pressing left and right simultaneously is a requirement for speed-running Super Mario Bros., although I'm not sure I'd want to play anything to that level. You don't need to though, I know I'm in a minority but I reckon those digital buttons are a God send for any and all 2D stuff, especially for KoF.

When I first laid eyes on the PSX controller I thought the d-pad was going to be buttons and I was a little annoyed when I realised that wasn't the case.

[samanosuke]

I’ve just had a look at those hitbox/mixbox controllers and wow, I never knew such things existed. They look well dodgy, like those long putters in golf. Ban ‘em, I say!

[_SD_]

Well after watching the videos on the Mixbox site I’m actually quite intrigued. Thing is it’s very expensive just to satisfy a curiosity...

[Dogg Thang]

Just googled to see what they look like. Oh dear lord, they are the arcade equivalent of the joycon.

[Neon Ignition]

The idea of all these controller types mixed together at a competitive level just feels like it would make the contest a joke and impossible to take seriously. If the playing field isn't 100% level then it's a meaningless defeat/victory like tying one football teams shoes together.

[dataDave]

I actually believe pads outweigh arcade sticks (especially if you can map those shoulder buttons), it's just that they take more work to get good with. Also I guess Ultra presence in the arcades is non-existant, so there's no need to replicate that config at home.

I wouldn't say it's that much of a joke. Look at F1, for example.

[speedlolita]

I can't say I've ever seen a Hit Box or any other variant in the top 8 of a game that mattered, always sticks or pads.

I don't really see why you'd feel the need to enforce one type of controller. At the end of the day they're just different types of input device and none offers a real advantage over another. A Hit Box maybe be more efficient (in theory) than using an arcade lever but that's only half the story when it comes to the talent of the players.

[Asura]

I actually believe pads outweigh arcade sticks (especially if you can map those shoulder buttons), it's just that they take more work to get good with.

I disagree; like in theory they're closer than people give them credit for, but I strongly believe there are factual qualities to sticks that make them better.

For instance, it's much more difficult to "piano" or do negative edge presses on a pad because the buttons typically aren't microswitched (they're not mechanical).

"Whatever you're used to" will always be the best for the player (or no-one would ever do well at Evo with a pad) but I firmly believe sticks are just better. The reason I dislike hitboxes is purely selfish, it's because they're a step above sticks, but they're also playing the game in a manner I don't believe it was designed to be played and I don't want to learn to play a videogame like that.

[Neon Ignition]

It's like which is better between KB&M and controllers (controllers)

[Dogg Thang]

they're also playing the game in a manner I don't believe it was designed to be played

Yep, for me this is basically the whole thing when it comes to those controllers.

[endo]

I can't say I've ever seen a Hit Box or any other variant in the top 8 of a game that mattered, always sticks or pads.

I don't really see why you'd feel the need to enforce one type of controller. At the end of the day they're just different types of input device and none offers a real advantage over another. A Hit Box maybe be more efficient (in theory) than using an arcade lever but that's only half the story when it comes to the talent of the players.

Absolutely. I remember years ago on here some fella (Chinese I think he was) posted a load of mental KoF combo videos and he'd done them all in an emulator using his PC keyboard. And they were properly good too. This was literally about 15 years ago though.