HORI fighting commander review

[heli]

HORI fighting commander review :

I am new to the PS4 shmups so i needed a new gamepad that dont make my left-thumb tired like the original PS4 dpad does.
I am used to play on sega saturn, it has the perfect SHMUP gamepad if you ask me.

This HORI fighting commander is for PS4, PS3 and PC compatible, very usefull.

I directly noticed the directional pad is not good, it is like a dreamcast, very bad.
If you press in reaction down, and need to avoid bullets by going sideward, it wont go sideward because you press down to hard,
this is because of the shape of the dpad.
What it should be : like sega saturn, a light moving round thing, not a heavey cross.

Compared to the PS4 you dont have to press that hard, only the reaction is sometimes not there with moving 2 directions,
while the PS4 controller has 4 loose individual buttons, that can all be pressed together because it is not connected in a cross shape.
It is a fighting commander not a SHMUP commander, so maybe it is good in tekken or streetfighter, only i dont play that, you might miss a few combos.

It has a nice long cable and no joysticks ( that break the first ), no accu that dies after a while, so it should be long lasting.

The X square triangle and circle buttons are very good, nice big, good pushable, many times better then the original PS4, and better then saturn controller buttons.
It dont has L3 and R3 buttons, only if you configure a switch that sets replaces R1 and R2 on top and configuring the L1 and L2.
Auto fire i dont use, might come in handy sometime.

You can not power the PS4 up with pressing the PS button, you need to use another controller before it works.
There is no options button, if you press the PS button twice you still can get into the pause menu in battle garegga.

The thing is very big, and has a bad shape if you ask me, to stretched, rounding at the end,
on the other side it is light-weight compared to the PS4 with rumble-pack and accu, long not as light as the saturn controller where the cable is heavier then the pad itself.

I am still searching for a good gamepad for PS4, any advice ? please leave a comment and maybe i review the next.
Do i recommend this HORI fighting commander for SHMUPS : No, because it has a dreamcast dpad, that is the most important thing, if it had a good (saturn) dpad : YES.

[heli]

I want you to know the buttons get stuck already, bad for playing platformers.
Did not expect this to happen.

[Fatass]

I have a hori fighting commander for the Xbox but I use it also with my PS4 through a brook x360 to PS3/4 converter.

Yet I still prefer a Saturn pad.

At the moment I have a black retro-bit Saturn USB pad hooked to a white brook PS3 - PS4 adapter. That takes care of all my 2d fighters and shmups but only because I've been playing with Saturn pads since 1997 and I've gotten used to the floatiness of its dpad.

There's a Saturn styled fightpad by powerA (fusion?) and another fightpad with a similar design called the razor raion but they cost more and I've not tried them. Both use floaty round dpads I think.

Having said that, the dpad on my retrobit Saturn pad has broken a few times in the last year but I've managed to fix it every time by propping the rubber contacts on some electrical tape.

[SCARTicus]

Sticks are better for shmups and fighters. Not for everything, but for shmups and fighters they just plain are.

But, pads are small and they can be convenient. Sometimes I don't want to bust the custom arcade stick out. In those times, I reach for my Neo Geo CD joypad. It has a microswitched thumbstick that is almost as good as a proper joystick. It is super responsive, and has nice , large , flat buttons with great action that never get stuck. All this in an extra-comfortable enclosure. It's the Ferrari of joypads. True luxury.

To use it on the PS4 you will need a Brook board and a DB15 connector. If you get a DB15 with screw terminal blocks then you can put the adapter together without a soldering iron.

https://arcadeshock.com/collections/bro ... board-plus

You really should put a stick together, though.

[DoomsDave]

Sticks are better for shmups and fighters. Not for everything, but for shmups and fighters they just plain are.

But, pads are small and they can be convenient. Sometimes I don't want to bust the custom arcade stick out. In those times, I reach for my Neo Geo CD joypad. It has a microswitched thumbstick that is almost as good as a proper joystick. It is super responsive, and has nice , large , flat buttons with great action that never get stuck. All this in an extra-comfortable enclosure. It's the Ferrari of joypads. True luxury.

To use it on the PS4 you will need a Brook board and a DB15 connector. If you get a DB15 with screw terminal blocks then you can put the adapter together without a soldering iron.

https://arcadeshock.com/collections/bro ... board-plus

You really should put a stick together, though.

I mean that's really subjective. How can you say sticks are better for shmups when Gus is getting WRs in Futari Ultra with an Xbox 360 DPAD. Reminds me of when Super Meat Boy had that "play with a controller" warning but all the best Meat Boy players use keyboard. Play with whatever makes you comfortable and gives you the results.

[bigbadboaz]

Plenty of people prefer pad to stick, in plenty of scenarios. It's not for you to say what is best for them.

Anyone wondering about that PowerA Saturn-styled controller mentioned above, I had one last year and sold it last year. There was nothing wrong with it and it seemed to be of fine quality, but it wasn't the same as a Saturn pad. Some of that was "improvements" they decided to make to the design, and some I think was simple failure to recreate the Dpad itself 100% on their first try. They made the pad bigger, added molded grips on the back, and added extra triggers. All of this, for me, just made a more cumbersome and less effective shape. The Dpad itself worked great - really great - but had noticeably more throw than the Sega original and had perfectly smooth movement without Sega's little tactile bumps at the contact points. I had zero issue getting accurate results but it didn't feel anywhere near as great as the original pads do.

For the ridiculous $50 they were charging for it, not worthwhile. It's a PAD. They should have forgotten about the "premium" features added and just released something at the proper pad pricepoint.

[heli]

Yes i have the Nacon Arcade stick for shmups, only i cant play platformers with it,
and its like you say, sometimes you dont feel like taking out the big stick and rotate your TV.