Help with fighters!

HELP!!!

I like shooters, they are simple (like me) shoot everything, avoid the bullets... Simple. No need to press up-down a then b then a quater back turn to shoot the enemy, just shoot it... Easy.

BUT the neo is FULL of fighters, I want to play them I really do but I am shit. Every fighter I have played just batters me...

I need a start point so my question is, what is a good fighter to get the basics? Something easy to ween me into the genre so I can start to appreciate the remaining 80% of the Neos catalog.

Any help greatly appreciated.

If I were you I'd begin with Street Fighter 2. If you have a PSX, SNES or Genny, you could buy one of the SF2 ports and start from there. SF2 is the most basic and best way of getting started with fighters. It provided a solid base for most other fighting games to come and sat most standards of the genre while it is still big fun to play and easy to get into.

Next in line for me would be Samurai Shodown (the first one of course). What SF2 is for weaponless combat, Samsho is for weapon fighting.

From then on you can move over to Fatal Fury Special, the Last Blade games, the other Samurai Shodown parts, and finally the KoF games, which are among the most technical 2D fighters available and offer endless replay value.

Now, get a couple of FAQs off of Gamefaqs for these games, try a few things, fool around with all characters, try combos, etc. until you've got the grip of which normal punch or kick works best in what situation, then gradually increase the difficulty level and start working on combining your normal attacks with special moves and on strategies for your fave characters once you got the basics down.

However, the fastest way to learn how to play the games is playing against ppl that know their shit and could show you a few tricks, this will tremendously help to improve your skills - remember that almost any fighting game engine uses offensive and defensive patterns that you will know inside out one day if you play a game long enough, but a human opponent always is unpredictable to some extend and is able to change from offense to defense in a fraction of a second, the CPU normally does not fight that way, it mostly reacts on a per-attack or per-defense basis.

Wow! Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Sorry to be a complete novice to all things fighters but is the neo known for its complex fighters? Whats the simplist fighter on the neo then? Fatal Fury?

Time to get me a CPSII then!

Ill6 said:

Wow! Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Sorry to be a complete novice to all things fighters but is the neo known for its complex fighters? Whats the simplist fighter on the neo then? Fatal Fury?

Time to get me a CPSII then!

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The first Fatal Fury has the honourable status of being the first Neo fighter and the one that started a wave of interest that exploded when Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special and later on KoF94 came out, but compared to SF2, it lacks characters and moves. I'm a big Neo fanboi but I have to admit that SF2 managed to conserve its playability while FF can be nice for half an hour or so but not more. FF2/Special is a whole 'nother thing, specially FFS is one of my Neo faves and definitely part of the Hall of Fame of 2D fighting games. No game library would be complete without it.

Simplistic Neo fighters as in "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master" would be Fatal Fury Special like I mentioned before, then Fatal Fury 3, the first Art of Fighting (tho it has a "different" engine that may seem weird at first), KoF94, the World Heroes series (heh, you will find a lot of WH haters on here, so beware...), Fighter's History Dynamite and perhaps Double Dragon. A lil' more technical but still easy to play would be Waku Waku 7 and, IMO, Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer.

The technical and gameplay-wise top of the ladder would be Art of Fighting 3, King of Fighters 95, 98 and 2k1, Garou - Mark of the Wolves, Samurai Shodown 2 and 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury/RBS and Last Blade/LB2.

Takumaji covered pretty much all the pertinent bases for you Ill6, the only thing I'd add is supporting his suggestion to start off with Street Fighter II...give each character a try until you can pull off their special moves with a good degree of consistency; this will expose you to the whole spectrum of move commands from circular motions to charge moves. After a good degree of play you'll find that you will prefer some characters over others for various reasons: whether you're more proficient with their move commands, the character design appeals to you, or their strengths/weaknesses are best suited for the skills you have.

Now that you have a preferred character(or several), get to know them inside and out, from their flashiest moves to their simplest attacks and experiment to find out which moves are effective in a given situation. Playing against all kinds of people will help you learn to adapt to the unknown. DON'T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT, you'll be amazed what you can come up with just by accident.

This is all stuff that you can apply to any fighting game by any company. But when graduating from SF2 to any NEO game, keep in mind that the NEO is famous for its high standards of control. In other words, you'll see that if a particular character's move is done with a half-circle motion, then anything less than that exact motion will get you nothing. Don't let that scare you...if you've followed what Takumaji and I have said all you'll need is a little practice and you'll adjust in no time.

Best of luck and welcome to the wonderful world of fighting games, where there is always something new to learn no matter how long you've been playing.

Great responses guys, thanks alot!!!

I really want to get into these games cos the animation is great - but only the CPU cos it got all the moves... A friend suggested just hitting all the buttons but that don't work (as you say you need to be precise). I tried downloading the FAQ's but it was so overwhelming! Thats why I needed a start point.

I will take your suggestions and get a SFII CPS2 or a SNES version soon and take it from there.

The last fighter I played was IK+ on the Amiga... A pretty simple affair! I still have fond memories of the bonus stage.

Don't mention it...good luck and keep us updated on your progress...these boards are full of random bits of knowledge you'll find useful or at least interesting...

If you want to stay on the Neo but built skills I'd suggest Rage of the Dragons, trust me I know, I never have been that good at fighters (love em anyways) but RotD has helped me get the hang of things a little better, like I even finally beat RBFF which I have never been able to do until now. RotD is pretty easy for learning combo basics IMO. You should check this game out if you can.

if you want to skip the years that starting with sf2 would require (it will take a while anyways)..

try kof 02.

good to get used to a game that speed as modern fighters are generally faster.

has command throws, supers, normals, rolls, different jumping levels crossups, etc. most if not all of the fundamentals.

can also put it on super easy and the computer wont rape you. there is no tagging or just defending or line sway to get used to.

that would be my recommendation and thats my 2 cents

beelzebubble said:

if you want to skip the years that starting with sf2 would require (it will take a while anyways)..

try kof 02.

good to get used to a game that speed as modern fighters are generally faster.

has command throws, supers, normals, rolls, different jumping levels crossups, etc. most if not all of the fundamentals.

can also put it on super easy and the computer wont rape you. there is no tagging or just defending or line sway to get used to.

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...just BC combos, quick max, counter wires, CD blow offs, super cancels, super fast... yikes. Talk about throwing him in the deep end. Sometimes it works best I guess, but I think the recommendation for SF2 was in the interests of him learning the basic movements on a game that isn't reliant on combos, until he gets used to the fundamentals. Crawling before walking and whatnot. I dunno, maybe it is better to just dive in...

SouthtownKid said:

...just BC combos, quick max, counter wires, CD blow offs, super cancels, super fast... yikes. Talk about throwing him in the deep end. Sometimes it works best I guess, but I think the recommendation for SF2 was in the interests of him learning the basic movements on a game that isn't reliant on combos, until he gets used to the fundamentals. Crawling before walking and whatnot. I dunno, maybe it is better to just dive in...

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i never use any of that sept the cd counters which are not what you would call hard to use...

yeah sf2 is a good start but its also light years from modern fighters hence kof 2k2 as my pick, an intermediate game.

I had just ordered ROTD anyway (cos its so cheap)...

I am currently trying to get a CPS2 SF2 (pref with the suicide battery fixed up) - I suspect this might take longer. Don't suppose anyone has one lying around?

ROTD is an awesome game. Can be a little tough at first but definetly a game worth WAY more than its current price.
Though, I hope you have a Neo Board that can play it...
Do a search in the forums about what boards work with it if you have any problems.

I think Street fighter Alpha 3 is a great game with alot of possibilites especially with the different ism's. There are also a large variety of char's to choose from and if your playing it on console the world tour mode is pretty cool I still prefer it on the cab though. It also has all the basics that SF2 has Imo plus alot more added. Anyway thats what I think

Best of luck with your fighters quest...


I too reccomend SFII

Game Detour

If you're hard up to jump into KOFs. You could transition a bit quicker with a Street Fighter Alpha. SFA2 would be better recccomended. If you can get the hang of Sodom's Katana or Adon's air jumps, they're great practice for half circle commands and character tricks.

Or......you could just jump right into KOF '97 or '98. Any title from that year with a practice mode should do you good.

You just may want to steer clear of Mortal Kombat for a while. As it uses a Dial-a-combo system. It's not exactly something that's easy to pick up on. And though the price for MKTrilogy is nice, it's a little frustrating, and lacking in the save category. No offence to any MK fans on the boards. The game play and framerate just do a number on me. Just my two cents.

Good luck with the quarter-circles, Ill6.

Struggling!!!

I recently got ROTD and although I am practicing it still beats the crap out of me every time... They pull alot of moves I can't block and shove me into the corner... Very frustrating. I think I have picked up the basics but havn't been able to pull off any special moves (unlike the CPU!).

I really want to persevere with this game though cos its very nicly presented.

I also have Waku Waku... I can get further on this - I think to the 5th opponent or so... This game is very frustrating though cos the CPU is pulling specials out ALL THE TIME and I never do any specials...

Not got SF yet but will get it when I see it.

Thanks for all the help!!

good job, ill6! hang in there...