Playing with the keyboard

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:28 pm

Some weeks ago I was visiting my family and was playing at my brothers PC. I was craving for some shmups so I had the choice between playing with a really really awful USB Pad or - the keyboard.

I tried it with the pad first but it turned out to be extremely frustrating, clumsy d-pad and buttons that need to be pressed down for half a mile until they response and sometimes stay pressed. So I switched to playing WASD for ship movement and the cursor key as buttons. And after half an hour or so I realized that it works quite well.

Its a bit awkward at first to have three fingers controlling the movement instead of a thumb on a d-pad (and I have only basic FPS experience), but after some time it felt a bit like playing with a stick, not with a pad - small tapping movements, and three fingers on the buttons, which worked just fine on DoDonpachi. I couldn`t notice playing any worse than I usually do with my USB Saturn pad.

To sum it up, playing with a keyboard was very refreshing and I am thinking about using it for a change, since I am not that much of a dedicated shmupper and simply love experiments.

Any similar experiences?

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:41 pm

Same here. I'm at work playing games when I have nothing to do. I'm using the keyboard to play DDP and ESP Ra.De on mame, and it ain't that bad. Maybe because on those games you can move slowly when holding down the fire button, and that makes it easier to dodge bullets with the arrow keys.

But the keyboard is terrible for horizontal shooters where you sometimes need precision. Gradius and R-Type for example. I'll most likely demolish my keyboard playing those games out of fustration.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:42 pm

I've always used a keyboard playing on the PC and haven't noticed any difference in performance.

Triple Lei · Post by **Triple Lei** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:43 pm

There was someone on this forum who wrote this gem:

Saturn pads>6 button Genesis>arcade joystick>SNES pad>NES pad>Atari pad>flight joystick>mouse>touching two bare wires together>keyboard

Keyboard sucks pretty bad.

Iori Branford · Post by **Iori Branford** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:25 pm

I've keyboarded way too many games and types of games to count. The only real problem with keyboards is that many of them have a hard time with certain key combos. And of course, special moves like Guile and Charlie's Super Somersault are pretty much out of the question.

I must say, though, the great Mac FPS Marathon can be played keyboard-only surprisingly well.

WarpZone · Post by **WarpZone** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:54 pm

Depends on the game, but I think a keyboard can work fairly well, although it's never very comfortable on the hands. With some games I can respond faster and feel like I'm in more control when I have three fingers over the WASD keys rather than trying to move one thumb across a d-pad. Dangun Feveron's a good example...

Also I prefer a laptop keyboard due to the shallower keys, which I find faster and more responsive.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:41 pm

I never could understand how people could play seriously with a keyboard. Sure, it's fine for testing games but if you're trying to do even remotely well...why?

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:19 pm

Damocles wrote:I never could understand how people could play seriously with a keyboard. Sure, it's fine for testing games but if you're trying to do even remotely well...why?

I'm better with a keyboard than with controllers

shiftace · Post by **shiftace** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:53 pm

I do better with a keyboard. I get lots of unintended diagonal movements on the PS2 pad, and I have a hard time imagining a thumb being faster than 3 fingers for taps and zigzags. Someone mentioned Dangun Feveron is well-suited to a keyboard; I definitely have the same experience with Parsec47.

Yes, there are problems with keyboards. I don't get the 4-buttons-at-once problem much outside of Gunroar, though. My big problem is noticeable key rise time, which I now think can be due to all of hardware, apps, and the OS together.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:59 pm

The only time I complain about using the keyboard is when the thing locks up and doesn't register anything once three or more keys are held/pressed simultaneously. This tends to apply to old PCs/keyboards though.

xaer0knight · Post by **xaer0knight** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:02 pm

myself, i try not to use the K/B much for gaming.. I bought a MS Sidewinder USB from back in the day ( win 98 ). I eventually modded a Pelican S XBOX controller to USB for MAME and other games. It takes less than 10 mins to do

XBOX Controller to USB Mod

XBOX to USB Driver

Good Stuff there... The XBOX controller is amazing for play on the PC. Halo Controls for Quake 3. HELL YA!

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:11 pm

dai jou bu wrote:The only time I complain about using the keyboard is when the thing locks up and doesn't register anything once three or more keys are held/pressed simultaneously. This tends to apply to old PCs/keyboards though.

I've had a similar problem with my old MSX computer. The keys had metal clips underneath, and once in while they fall out. Pain in the ass to fix cause I had to take the system apart to do it.

When I first got a MSX the keyboard was all I used for games. I pretty much crushed my Shift_key from playing Zanac.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:25 am

FrederikJurk wrote:I tried it with the pad first but it turned out to be extremely frustrating, clumsy d-pad and buttons that need to be pressed down for half a mile until they response and sometimes stay pressed. So I switched to playing WASD for ship movement and the cursor key as buttons. And after half an hour or so I realized that it works quite well.

Yes, real bad joy pad could worser than using the key board.

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:11 am

i use the keyboard a lot, esp on emulated stuff..

thing is, i never use WASD config... i like using the arrowkeys (right hand), thent he usual, ASDZXC for buttons... inverted, but i've grown accustomed to them,...

plus, hehe, i can play fighting games decently with the keyboard, how shamefull

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:41 pm

I play shmups and fighters better on keyboard than with my Dualshock2+usb adapter, no doubt about it.

I've been playing with a keyboard since the MSX times, and never had any trouble with it.

Oh, and I can make Geese Howard's special move, AND Guile/Charlie special moves on keyboard without much hassle.

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:30 am

i wouldnt touch a keyboard for shmups if i had any choice. i wont even use a pad for shmups anymore if i have a stick option.

actually i havent touched a shmup using a pad since i made myself a good stick.

xaer0knight wrote: Good Stuff there... The XBOX controller is amazing for play on the PC. Halo Controls for Quake 3. HELL YA!

and of the flip side of the coin: oh HELL no!

PC FPS with keyboard/mouse every damn time. i dont mind playing console FPS' with controllers, but given the choice ill go with a keyboard every time. wouldnt even consider a pad for an fps on PC.

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Playing with the keyboard

Playing with the keyboard

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