I've been looking at some joysticks at radioshack, but they're all for flying airplane games. Would those still be okay for Tetris play? or should I get an actual fight stick. I can't order anything online right now, that's why I'm looking into radioshack.
You need an arcade joystick. Something with a long throw and analogue inputs, like a standard PC joystick, isn't going to cut it at all.
Is there any way to buy these sticks without ordering online? is there an electronics store or something that sells it?
Hori Fight Stick EX, right? Fight Sticks have proprietary parts, and the restrictor on the stock stick is 8-way only. You can do some modding and put in your own parts, but I'm under the impression that process is fairly involved. (Not to mention the fact that you'd have to find a place to buy the stick to put in... which would probably bring us back to ordering on the internet again.) However, I think I've heard you can find Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 at Gamestop? Any Hori Real Arcade products will have a Sanwa stick right out of the box. EDIT: Oh, and I imagine you'll be able to find a Street Fighter IV FSTE at Gamestop at some point. They are producing more of those, right?
So gamestop it is. do the SF TE sticks actually break down that often? And it has to be a Hori Real Arcade Pro version stick cause those are 4-way able right?
Both the SF FSTE and HRAP have Sanwa sticks, which are easily switched between 4-way and 8-way. The only problem I heard of with the SF FSTE was that some of the quick connects on the buttons came loose during shipping on some sticks. You can easily open it up and reconnect those, though. You'll be opening it up to switch it to 4-way for Tetris anyhow, haha. The SF FSTE has Sanwa buttons in addition to the Sanwa stick, whereas a HRAP will just have the Sanwa stick and proprietary buttons. It makes the HRAP a little bit cheaper, and the buttons should be just fine for Tetris and other things. I'm pretty sure it isn't hard to swap out the original HRAP buttons for Sanwas, so you always have that option in the future if you feel the stock buttons aren't up to snuff.
Is a joystick REALLY that worth it? Do you actually play that much better? or is it just the feel of it?
It's absolutely that worth it. Don't even think about it...honestly if you want to play TGM you must use a stick at some point. I look at it like this: one day, you may have the opportunity to play on an actual TGM cabinet. If all you have is keyboard skills, you're gonna be sad when you're getting S1s and S2s when you could get m8 or m9 with a stick. It happened to me, but luckily I had a few weeks notice of the new TGM arrival and I was able to relearn stick use.
the point is that if you're going to buy a stick you might as well get a good one. an inferior stick for tetris will make it hard to improve past a certain point. even if you can find one for $30, that's $30 wasted in the long run. i would recommend using a keyboard until you can comfortably afford the right stick. anyone can save up $100 over 6 months or a year (or one weekend mowing lawns around the neighborhood).
Okay, I think I'll get better on the keyboard while I save up, and wait until the SFVI craze dies down and the sticks cost less. Is the difference between the TE and the regular FightStick worth spending that extra money?
the regular hori flight stick is pretty junky, the parts are bad. i have one for wii, but i swapped all the parts. at the end of the day the $$ was the same as the HRAP3 ($100)
