Shoulder-only Wii U Pro Controller setup thoughts

[danzibr]

There are a few threads here on controller setup, but I wanted to target this in particular.

I switched from GCC to Pro Controller (well, I played Melee and Brawl and don't yet have the adapter). I used to be somewhat competitive. I was thinking it might be worthwhile to use the Pro Controller with a thumb on each stick, four fingers on the corresponding shoulder buttons, and never have to your digits during gameplay (well, away from their buttons/sticks).

Here was my setup
Tap jump off
ZL Shield
L Jump
ZR Attack
R Special
Right stick Attack*

A couple nights ago I was messing around with it for a few hours. Here are my thoughts.

Merits:
1) You don't have to move anything from one button to another (the entire point of this exercise).
2) You can easily do aerials losing no momentum, even nair.* I'm quite certain setting the right stick to Attack is the only way to do this. With your right thumb on the stick, it's now much more convenient. In particular, since you can hop backwards while not changing your direction if you time it right, as Mega Man you can hop back at full speed while spamming nair.
3) Tilts are very quick and easy to perform.

Demerits:
1) No grab button. Probably the easiest way to grab is ZL+ZR. Or as Pazx suggested, making all A, B, X and Y grab.
2) Have to ZR+direction to smash. No more easy flicking.
4) Nair is kind of hard to do with the right stick. After a couple hours I still messed up sometimes (but practice would obviate this point, of course).

EDIT: This use to be demerit 3: Years of muscle memory. As GdspdUblprzdnt mentioned, this can be viewed as a merit or demerit. The only-shoulders control setup is radically different from from the traditional setup, so your muscle memory shouldn't interfere (mine doesn't). However, you do have all that practice...

There might be other merits and demerits which I'm blanking on. In particular, setting your right stick to Attack rather than Smash or Special might block out some options.

Verdict: I'm going to go for it, and not just for the lulz.

*I set it to attack rather than smash because, it seems, you can't nair when it's set to smash.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

This sounds really awesome honestly. If you feel like committing to it I say go for it!

Demerit three however is more of a merit. People are generally quick to disown change and stick to their comfort zone but modern pedagogy knows that reevaluating existing schema through alternative approaches can only fortify the learning process and result in more effective learning. Your brain is a thing, bro.

 

[Billcarlosbills]

Yeah, I've been playing around with this. I'd much rather have a controller with two sticks and 8 shoulder buttons :/ One can dream.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Yeah, I've been playing around with this. I'd much rather have a controller with two sticks and 8 shoulder buttons :/ One can dream.

they actually have Xbox and playstation controllers with buttons for your ring and pinky fingers on the back so it's not that big of a stretch. It'd be pretty easy for someone to rig a GCN controller version prototype if they had the electronics know-how.

 

[Pazx]

Solution: make A B X Y all grab.

In all seriousness I support this control scheme or any 4 unique shoulder button control schemes and regret transitioning to the GCC from my old Classic Controller Pro.

 

[Raijinken]

Years of muscle memory (and having never been a Playstation fan) lead to me hating having both index and middle fingers on the top of the controller even more than I hate the joystick being asymmetrical to the buttons. I'd never use this for more than lulz (like how I have a controller profile set specifically so I can play with my feet), but it's a cool idea for people who are used to that sort of control scheme.

 

[danzibr]

Thanks for all the replies!

GdspdUblkprzdnt (quite the name, by the way): Thanks for the encouragement. I'm going to go for it
At the very least, until I get sick of it or find a better setup.

Billcarlosbills: For a long time I've wanted a controller with eight "shoulder" buttons. More precisely, just buttons on the back. I feel ya bruh.

Pazx: I love this solution. Not only does it give you an easy grab, but also if you try to revert back to your old thumb ways, DENIED! I'll be making this change tonight (or whenever I get to play next).

Raijinken: It is a little awkward, I agree. However, I've done this for the past with some games I've played. It doesn't feel as weird with your thumbs higher though, and by that I mean on the sticks rather than the left stick and A/B/X/Y. Also, I'd love to see you playing with your feet (don't have a video on youtube by any chance, do you?).

Question for all: Any suggested changes to I mentioned as the shoulder buttons? I think what I wrote is most optimal for a few reasons (index finger has more finesse, allowing for short hops, and historically I always used my left hand to shield, having shield and attack on the middle finger gives easy grabs, and that leaves the right index finger for special).

 

[Mechageo]

I like the ideas behind this thread and am considering trying it with the Hori Battle Pad and the Pro Controller.

 

[Vyledust]

Copied from another controller post that I commented in.

After playing with this setup for a day, I can say that this is awesome. For me. It might not be for everyone, and it took work to change muscle memory and all, but it really is interesting. I changed X to jump and A to grab and nothing on L. Why? I did not want to get used to L jumping if for whatever reason, I have to use a GC controller. X is a better substitute for me for ease of shorthops. Also, shield+attack grab is first choice, but A grab is ok also, since you can not jump and grab at the same time, so one finger for both works. A is already under my thumb anyways.

Edit: That was posted on Dec 13th and still going strong.

 

[Shadowfury333]

I experimented with some similar setups, and while they are nice in that they keep all options available at once, I found shorthopping was nearly impossible unless I put jump on the right side, and having attack and special on the same side as the left stick felt uncomfortable (in an ergonomic way). This was surprising, as I figured focusing everything on the shoulder buttons would be most ergonomic, but with the thumbstick immediately below the buttons, using up+attack/special felt too tense in my hand.

However, I was using grab instead of shield, and had shield on X. Since I play Zero Suit Samus I need the specific "Grab" input for zair.

 

[theMichael]

I recently started to use this control scheme and have been loving it so far. I have only been using it for about a week now and there was definitely an initial learning curve but it seems to feel more and more natural every time I play. Having a dedicated finger for each button means you reduce any travel lag you would normally have using your thumb for most inputs.

Has anyone else used this with success?

 

[RonNewcomb]

Billcarlosbills: For a long time I've wanted a controller with eight "shoulder" buttons. More precisely, just buttons on the back. I feel ya bruh.

Question for all: Any suggested changes to I mentioned as the shoulder buttons? I think what I wrote is most optimal for a few reasons (index finger has more finesse, allowing for short hops, and historically I always used my left hand to shield, having shield and attack on the middle finger gives easy grabs, and that leaves the right index finger for special).

This is why Street Fighters use arcade sticks. It ain't for the stick, it's for the buttons.

Only possible suggestion: move Specials to the left hand. This way, if you want to use Bidou for a secondary character, you'll all set up. Just change the right stick from Tilts to Specials in a second config and off you go.

Like you, I also transitioned to shoulder buttons. Jump on the right index finger helped my SH game a lot. Takes about 6 - 8 weeks and a lot of losses to transition but well worth it.

GCC controller is crap for a lot of reasons: 1 shoulder button + 2 shoulder "plungers" and the tiniest d-pad you've ever seen. I could go on...

 

[Machii]

This is how I've been playing for the past year. I use a HORI pro-controller that is mapped and modeled with official gamecube molding. The Z-shoulders on it are placed in the forefront though; as in, they're inverted.
My set up runs
L - Block
ZL - Jump
R - Attack
ZR - Special
A - Grab
C - Special

The only drawback I've found is that using manual grabs are difficult and the grab button does not seem to register reverse grab and instead inputs forward tilt. I've been playing Smash on for the last 15 years, I played Project M with wii-mote nunchuck for a bit, but overall it took me a solid week to get used to this controller setup for Wii-U. What you're essentially forfeiting is some of the quick, frantic inputs of the standard setup that make Smash feel like smash in exchange for more control and finesse.
If you didn't notice I run Bidou and I highly recommend picking it up while you're learning that setup. Bidou runs beautifully well on that setup. After a month I was performing all pivot techs on reaction from muscle memory. If you think having your buttons mapped to shoulder is going to be freeing, having two movement sticks makes this game new again. I will comfortably opt-out of playing Smash 4 if I can't use my pro-controller.
Seriously, people who scoff at the pro-shoulder setup and cite muscle memory are incredibly misinformed, don't let anyone discourage you.

 

[A Scrub]

I'm going to give my view on this, as I used this scheme for 6 months.

LZ - Jump
L - Shield
RZ - Special
R - Grab
A - Attack
R-Stick - Attack

This allows you to do nearly every control with a different finger, so you don't waste time placing your thumb where you want it. It's possibly the most optimal way to play>

I did this because of years of using nunchucks, and this was the closest mimick I could get.

 

[Machii]

I'm going to give my view on this, as I used this scheme for 6 months.

LZ - Jump
L - Shield
RZ - Special
R - Grab
A - Attack
R-Stick - Attack

This allows you to do nearly every control with a different finger, so you don't waste time placing your thumb where you want it. It's possibly the most optimal way to play>

I did this because of years of using nunchucks, and this was the closest mimick I could get.

Switching between two different buttons for each input sounds like trying to type on a keyboard with two of every character. Thats a whole other level, haha.

 

[theMichael]

After about a week playing, this feels very natural. In fact, when I tried my old control scheme it felt very weird. Here is how I have mine mapped:

Tap jump off
A+B smash on
ZL Special
L Jump
ZR Attack
R Shield
Right stick Attack