Your thoughts on the [PS3]HORI Fighting Commander Pro 3

franman

[13] Hero
In case some of you folks are curious about this controller I'll give you my input even though it's been one day of using it.

The disappointing aspect is that I can't iTP at all, not with just d-pad alone no matter the angle I've adjusted at.

Aside from that, the d-pad is precise I can iGDR very consistently with this with very slight errors in SC4.

There are times when my index fingers accidentally touch L1 or R1 which I assign A+K and B+G on the wireless PS3 pad, but with the HORI fightpad, the way my index fingers are positioned is far from touching them unlike the latter which my fingers barely touch.

Finally the face buttons are bigger than the original PS3 controller. My worry is that when doing slide inputs my finger may collide with the wrong button but to my surprise I'm doing slide inputs consistently well so far in 1 day. The only thing that matters is that I have to get accustomed to the 6 face button layout since I'm already used to 4 which hopefully wouldn't be a problem.

In conclusion, if you're a Cervy player and you want to do all of Cervy's move sets then you're in for a disappointment (hopefully not in SC5) unless you can iTP very well on a d-pad. Aside from that, I think it maybe a great controller to use although you have to deal with 6 face-button layout.
 
I might get it purely so I have a six button face pad - then I'll get some sexy shoes, turn-up jeans, become generally more attractive and pretend I'm Docvizzo, lol.
 
d-pad is very good, with Cervantes I can iGDR just as good as on the regular PS3 pad. aGA I just assigned L1 as G and do aGA from there I say it's not bad took some getting use to; I couldn't do the instant version of it though.
 
Mine arrived in the mail last night.

I can personally testify, it's tight like a tiger.

The buttons are large and sensitive, as is the d-pad. It will take my hand some time to realize there are six face buttons, the L-R switch feature is excellent. All 8 buttons at my right hand. This is an awesome controller.
 
In case some of you folks are curious about this controller I'll give you my input even though it's been one day of using it.

The disappointing aspect is that I can't iTP at all, not with just d-pad alone no matter the angle I've adjusted at.

Aside from that, the d-pad is precise I can iGDR very consistently with this with very slight errors in SC4.

There are times when my index fingers accidentally touch L1 or R1 which I assign A+K and B+G on the wireless PS3 pad, but with the HORI fightpad, the way my index fingers are positioned is far from touching them unlike the latter which my fingers barely touch.

Finally the face buttons are bigger than the original PS3 controller. My worry is that when doing slide inputs my finger may collide with the wrong button but to my surprise I'm doing slide inputs consistently well so far in 1 day. The only thing that matters is that I have to get accustomed to the 6 face button layout since I'm already used to 4 which hopefully wouldn't be a problem.

In conclusion, if you're a Cervy player and you want to do all of Cervy's move sets then you're in for a disappointment (hopefully not in SC5) unless you can iTP very well on a d-pad. Aside from that, I think it maybe a great controller to use although you have to deal with 6 face-button layout.

I'm getting it next month, tnx for the review, but pardon my ignorance, what is iTP?
 
For SC5, definitely.

I'm really like it by far from my experience. I didn't mention this but for the d-pad there's like a scroll in front and under the d-pad you can twist it to loosen the d-pad. When I'm using Cervy I loosen the d-pad all the way for better chance of iGDR execution.
 
I got mine in the mail today and have spent a couple of hours playing with it. Previously I was using a Madcatz Fightpad - I use both 'piano style' with Arcade button layout, no shortcuts/macros. I'll list my pros/cons

Hori Fight Commander Pro 3
+ Button response feels much more solid than the FP, which was frankly a bit 'squishy'
+ D-pad feels like an upgraded Gamecube pad, which was already my choice fighting controller. The Madcatz pad may be better for Street Fighter and it's daft motions, but I was never sure whether I'd hit my double-taps correctly.
+ The D-pad adjustment features all work well though I didn't need them as diagonal response was perfect by default
+ Button Alignment is also better than the FP, the face buttons aren't in a straight line and this seems to prevent my fingers from getting 'lost' when moving away from default hand position. On the FP I would often hit R2 (button 6) instead of R1 (button 3) by accident
+Build quality is vastly superior to FP, in terms of size, feel/grip and durability.

- L2/R2 (second shoulder buttons) feel a bit rubbish. Not a deal-breaker since I don't use them and they're still nowhere near as bad as the FP's rock-hard shoulder buttons. Just a bit looser than the others which seems odd.
- Rubber Start/Select buttons do not feel nice at all. At least they're not too close to the 'PS/Home' button like the FightPad
- USB Cable. I know some people will hate this so I grudgingly include it as a 'con' even though the Wireless USB setup on the FP was far more irritating in my opinion. I'll take cable any day over batteries & potential lag.

Ultimately, the Hori Pad seems to be as good as advertised and a real treat for piano pad players. Infinately better than a stock PS3 pad and beats the Madcatz offering to a pulp. Sure, it doesn't have a 'floating' d-pad and that might make some difference to Street Fighters (I don't know, ditched that game within minutes. urgh.) but for Soul Calibur (and Tekken!), this controller is the king. I really can't praise it enough.

edit: One last thing I've noticed, and it speaks volumes: When looking at the 'input display' in Practice Mode, the inputs match what I intended to press exactly. No extra directions, no missed diagonals, no missed dual-button presses. I cannot say the same about any other controller I've tried (note: I don't play sticks so I can't comment on those).
 
I just wanna add something here. I took a long time for me to realize this but another thing that is bothering with this controller is the buttons being too big. I have my default face buttons including R1 set to default except R1 is B+G. Whenever I try to punish with aB I slide my index finger across two buttons but sometimes it touches a bit on R1 resulting in cancelling aB.
 
slide your index finger from A to G (Square to X) and push A as soon as possible. Try assigning another A elsewhere so you can easily access it.
 
slide your index finger from A to G (Square to X) and push A as soon as possible. Try assigning another A elsewhere so you can easily access it.
With the ps3 I usually do it with L2 as A, but with this pad pressing L2 right aftet X is a pain in the ass and the other way with just square X square is even harder cause the buttons are too big.
 
I just wanna add something here. I took a long time for me to realize this but another thing that is bothering with this controller is the buttons being too big. I have my default face buttons including R1 set to default except R1 is B+G. Whenever I try to punish with aB I slide my index finger across two buttons but sometimes it touches a bit on R1 resulting in cancelling aB.

I don't see how the buttons' size has anything to do with that - their proximity from one another, perhaps. At any rate, I'd avoid actually sliding your fingers across several buttons - it's not neccassary, the same input can be achieved with seperate fingers - and having a 'finger per button' approach will improve your technique a lot. Consider Arcade buttons - they're huge, and all the best players use them.

With the ps3 I usually do it with L2 as A, but with this pad pressing L2 right aftet X is a pain in the ass and the other way with just square X square is even harder cause the buttons are too big.

Well, it is a piano pad. If you're going to play with your thumbs might as well just stick with a stock controller. It'd be totally useless for the intended purpose if the buttons were smaller... I know it's daunting at first, but once you get used to the right-hand-over approach, you'll never want to go back. All the clumsy control problems go away because that's how the game was designed to be played.
 
Yeah....no!

Well... not really sure what you're objecting to, or what exactly you're looking for... at the end of the day you can only adapt to the tools at hand, or find new tools. What is it you actually want from a controller? There may be something out there to fit your needs, though honestly it's probably just going to be a 3rd party clone of the stock pad with a better dpad.
 
This pad is meant to be use as u want it to use it, you can use it piano style if you want or just the normal pad style, so changing my style is not the answer I was looking for, but tnx anyways.
 
This pad is meant to be use as u want it to use it, you can use it piano style if you want or just the normal pad style, so changing my style is not the answer I was looking for, but tnx anyways.

I get where you're coming from, but I really don't think it was intended to be used thumb-style, hence the lopsided design. At any rate, I gave your problem some thought last night (damn insomnia!) and I came up with something that might help - a slight button layout re-arrange. Using a regular pad (or a copy, if you find something more comfortable):

Square = A
X = B
Circle = K
Triangle (not used)
L1 & L2 for throws
R1 = Guard
R2 = ABK

This way, the three attack buttons are all accessible in such a way that you can do the 'Simultaneous Button Press' moves with your thumb without any need for macro buttons. Likewise, all the slide inputs are easily accessible.

Rearrange the shoulder buttons as you see fit and you can always macro the triangle button if you really want... though honestly I think macro-ing anything other than ABK or throws is a bad habit.

Anyway, I went through Siegfried's move list and pulled everything off with ease on a regular Dualshock3 using this layout (thumbs only!). Perhaps it'll help with your sliding problem. Good luck!
 
Now we are talking, pretty useful :D tnx buddy tnx a lot, I'll se up the hori like that today and give it a try.
 
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