How many controller players are out there?

[Space Banana]

I mean specifically for bullet hell, because using the controller is common for fighting games.

I play Touhou since 2019, and for years I always used a linear switch mechanical keyboard. A few months ago, I switched to controller and I love it.

 

Do you play the bullet hells with controller?

 

 

[Juuni]

The day I swapped to controller, first run i did was my IN easy 1CC. Haven’t looked back since. I think I’m more precise with controller because I’ve used them all my life as compared to keyboard only since last year

[Space Banana]

At first it might seem that using a controller is worse if you are only used to using keyboard (it happened to me). The moment you build muscle memory for your controller, it's amazing

Deathbombing with a controller is also easier (at least to me)

If you already use controller frequently then it's even better

[Pepi]

When i started playing Touhou in mid 2022, i noticed that i missed a lot of my bombs. That's when i discovered my keyboard had Ghosting.

That error happens on cheap (or even good membrane keyboards) when you press a group of keys very close together, making one or all of the pressed keys in the area stop registering input. Touhou is vulnerable to this, as you always press Shift + Z, meaning that when you go bomb, it will Ghost.

As soon as i got my logitech controller, i improved A LOT. The movement using the D-Pad feels very responsive and bombing/releasing is very fast and fun (to the point you can deathbomb somewhat reliably.).

[Space Banana]

Exactly this!

When I played Touhou with my mechanical keyboard it was on my desktop. For many reasons, nowadays I'm mostly on my laptop, but my laptop's keyboard has ghosting and doesn't let me deathbomb. This was my first motivation to give my controller a try

My controller's D-pad isn't good enough to use it on bullet hell, but I don't mind using the joystick

[Eulogous]

I use a pretty cheap Logitech F310 pad, but it feels "right" when playing Touhou.

For some reason I had a lot of trouble doing diagonal movement before switching, now it's no problem at all. Also helps I can rebind a face button for the times the mainline games add an extra key input like in HSiFS.

[ZeKeal]

hello

[Canaranjo]

I've been on and off my Xbox One controller over the years. Like what Pepi said, a keyboard without NKRO actually handicaps you into being unable to deathbomb in certain situations, so, without my mechanical keyboard, I would've probably stuck to the controller.

To me, the main issue with a controller is precision. Light taps and movement adjustments require a lot more restraint to do with a stick than with static keys.¹
On the other hand, a stick gives you a lot more freedom of movement, and I greatly enjoyed the perks it gave in the likes of Deathsmiles, Dariusburst and so on.²

Generally, I've found controllers to have helped my game sense, and afterwards, my gameplay with a keyboard improved as a result, since my brain started considering more complex pattern dodging paths than when I was exclusively conditioned to keyboard inputs. Although how much of that was actually due to experimentation and how much is just practice/rote learning up to anyone's guess.

With my experimentation phase over, I mostly stick with the keyboard now. Still, I will move over to using a controller if a mechanical keyboard is not available or if my old hands are already giving me a prescribed dosage of joint pain, a result of the many micro inputs required in an extended play session.

Little bonus fact: I had a similar journey with fighting games. While I used fighting game sticks/xbox 360 controllers in my early masher years, I moved from using the stick to eventually being fonder of the precise inputs of a keyboard. I can say that safely hasn't stopped me from sucking, but at least I suck while pretending to know what I'm doing now.

Image credit: baalbuddy over at https://twitter.com/baalbuddy

¹ I will not consider the usage of a d-pad here, mostly because as far as an xbox controller goes, using a d-pad is very analogous to the keyboard. I am not sure if the pad in the PS4 dualshock is any better, but it is a popular choice for fighting game players.
² Old touhou games are actually not included here, since the way the game interprets movement inputs is very static. I don't remember if this trend is kept with the newer titles.

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Canaranjo
Typos

[Pepi]

1 hour ago, Canaranjo said:

With my experimentation phase over, I mostly stick with the keyboard now. Still, I will move over to using a controller if a mechanical keyboard is not available or if my old hands are already giving me a prescribed dosage of joint pain, a result of the many micro inputs required in an extended play session.

Exactly! The main disadvantage i see in keyboards is ergonomics. Not only do you need a good keyboard, you also have to get a good chair and table at the correct heights to prevent pains in the arms/hands.
A controller usually (you can get pain with a controller too) reduces pain because the ergonomics are designed to fit in your hand, and it's easier to find a comfortable position.

1 hour ago, Canaranjo said:

¹ I will not consider the usage of a d-pad here, mostly because as far as an xbox controller goes, using a d-pad is very analogous to the keyboard. I am not sure if the pad in the PS4 dualshock is any better, but it is a popular choice for fighting game players.

When i play, i use the D-Pad. For it's price, my Logitech F310 (Yeah Eulogus, we have the same controller) has the best D-Pad i ever used (tried PS2-4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Gamecube).
The D-Pad is very well-placed, it gives a soft feeling that allows pretty fast inputs (all the other ones feel very stiff, Playstation is the best of those).

With a keyboard, you can get almost instantaneous inputs, my brother can't play his rhythm games without one due to the speed required. He tried to use a controller, but the time needed to go from one input to another, combined with simultaneous inputs not covered by the diagonals, giving him a handicap.

 

 

2 hours ago, Canaranjo said:

Little bonus fact: I had a similar journey with fighting games. While I used fighting game sticks/xbox 360 controllers in my early masher years, I moved from using the stick to eventually being fonder of the precise inputs of a keyboard. I can say that safely hasn't stopped me from sucking, but at least I suck while pretending to know what I'm doing now.

Before i gave up with fighting games due to not having a wired connection, i always ended up as a masher, using characters that hit you 3 times and KO you. Yeah, i was that guy with the horrible connection who used Utsuho and Ganondorf.
A keyboard is godly for those combined movement inputs to launch an attack.

[Bingles Praise]

I do! Sometimes with AntiMicro for help, in case of wanting turbo buttons(auto Malice cannon for example) or other things that the games don't allow by themselves. But yeah, it's my preferred way of playing the bullet hells!

[Pepi]

45 minutes ago, Bingles Praise said:

I do! Sometimes with AntiMicro for help, in case of wanting turbo buttons(auto Malice cannon for example) or other things that the games don't allow by themselves. But yeah, it's my preferred way of playing the bullet hells!

AntiMicro is also useful to play the PC98 games with a controller. I have to launch it after the controller and retroarch (with emulator Neko Project II Kai) load, then it works.

[Space Banana]

From reading the replies, wow I didn't expect the D-pad to be this popular for bullet hell

My controller's dpad is alright but not good enough for bullet hell, but I really like using the joystick so it's not a big problem for me. I think I would only need a good dpad for much higher precision, for example Junko in hard or lunatic. That's a precision I can get with my linear switch keyboard, but I'm not quite there yet on joystick