How do you get GOOD at fighting games?

Rick Dangerous

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I've never been a big fighting game person. Sure i played the MK series back in the day, Primal Rage, Street Fighter, Killer Instincts and all that; but never delved deep into the genre.

I bought an MVS for the run n' gunners, beat em' ups, racing games and puzzle games to be honest. That being said; since there are SO many good fighting games on the system i may as well delve into that side of the library a bit. So far I really like the KOF series and Real Bout; what else are the top 3 must haves for AES/MVS in your opinion?

Also--I always watch the "how to play" thing on each game; and then will look up the special moves for a given character online, but can only really functionally learn the basic moves with a few button combos. The moves that are like 5 and above never seem to reallly work for me so i wind up trying to strategically button mash to win. How do YOU get good at fighting games?
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
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I really just comes down to memorizing the moves and then time, lots of time.
 

sr20det510

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I really just comes down to memorizing the moves and then time, lots of time.

That is a start, but you also have to play against others to see the different strategists and techniques that players have come up with.

The more you play against others, especially if they are good, the better you'll eventually become.
 

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
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get a good online connection, get a good controller without input lag, practice against real people.
 

neojedi

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I think the fastest way to start from scratch nowadays would be the 'CPU record' and '1-step guard' settings that are in the practice mode options of most fighting games. When playing normal matches against people or the CPU, keep an eye out for moves that consistently beat you or turn the tide of the match against you. Then go to practice mode on your character vs that opponent, record the opponent doing that particular move (you'll have to learn how to pull it yourself), and look for ways to not only guard against the move but also punish it before the opponent recovers their guard.

Long combos and counting frames are advanced topics and can be ignored by starting players, the core skill of fighting games is recognition, defense, and punish. If you have to go on offense then you will need to know what moves are safe/unsafe and spam your safe moves, but experience will teach you that.
 

GohanX

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get a good online connection, get a good controller without input lag, practice against real people.

This is really it. You can get perfect rounds against the computer at max difficulty and it really doesn't mean squat against human opponents. This is my weakness too, I don't play against enough real humans to really get good at fighting games. I'm okay, but far from the best.
 

fake

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Learn to Hadoken first. It's like learning to ollie on a skateboard. You try to do it smoothly for a year and then finally something clicks. Then move onto Shoryukens and whatnot. When starting out, maybe don't try to learn when it's best to use light, medium, and hard attacks. Just try to learn basic timing and spacing, and the difference between playing defensively and offensively.

People will probably disagree with me, but I'd recommend practicing on Third Strike because it's so smooth.
 

3rdStrikeMike

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I'd say getting a quality arcade stick, a display with minimal lag, and competent people to play against are the most important things. I know a lot of people have success with a controller, but for me personally there are a ton of things are much harder to do on a controller. Having a display that has very little lag is huge. A lot of regular TVs have quite a bit of lag and even those with a "game mode" usually only make it less shitty. I would suggest playing on a monitor rather than a TV. You can find a monitor with minimal lag for a decent price. Check out displaylag.com for some suggestions for low lag TVs and monitors. Playing against competent opponents in person is definitely the best route to getting better. Unfortunately there really isn't much of a fighting game scene in a lot of smaller areas, but make sure to look around no matter where you live. Most likely you will need to play online and that's where having a good internet connection comes into play as well. A lot of things can add up against you quick. A bad internet connection with a laggy display and a controller/arcade stick with bad input lag make for terrible experience. I completely agree with what fakeXsound said about the basics. Third Strike is a great game to practice a lot of fighting game fundamentals: normals/target combos/specials canceled into super, links into super (both normals & universal overheads), parrying, and throw teching. Not all of these carry over to all fighting games, but they will help you hone your inputs and timing. I also totally agree with what fakeXsound said about the game being "smooth". The game is a lot more forgiving input-wise compared to something like Super Turbo and the animations move in a way that the combos seem to make sense as you learn what combos into what. Hope this helps :D
 

Yamazaki

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get a bunch of Japanese or Chinese gaming friends.

it's what I did - had to spare with them every day for several hours...


maining 3rd Strike back then. then I realized how pointless this shit was and stopped playing FGs for like 12 years...
 

donluca

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Ignore everything that has been said and start from what is really important and what will make you a good fighting game player regardless of the game: the fundamentals.

You have to learn the very basics which are the backbone of every single fighting game and I'd rate above everything the concept of spacing.

You'd be really surprised by how many people I've beaten simply by doing 2-3 moves with a character and winning several rounds because my opponents were big on combos and executing special moves but they couldn't lend a single one on me because I'd always stay at the correct distance to punish them every. single. time.

New games have generated an absurdly amount of scrubs which think "hurr durr, I'll just get the best internet connection and fightstick and practice 24/7 my combos and 1-frame links and I'll be godlike" and then spend all of their times on reddit saying how the game sucks and how unfair certain players are.

So just pick whatever fighter you like (Street Fighter II would be perfect for this, but since we're talking Neo Geo, any KoF or Fatal Fury will do, although don't pick the ones with planes swap) and look for some tutorial online which will explain the concept of being always at the right distance from your opponent so that you're not too close to get hit but not too far so that you're unable to punish whiffed moves.

While going through this, start researching mechanics like hit-stun (how much time you're unable to react after you've been hit), block-stun (how much time you're stuck blocking after you've blocked a hit) and recovery (how much time you need after attacking to be able to block) and start-up frames (how much time an attack takes to happen).

You'll see that there are some very quick moves which have minimal start-up and recovery, but they cause very low hit and block-stun as well (which means, for the hitting part, that you won't be able after a successful hit to follow up with another move, thus increasing the damage dealt, this is the basic for combos, and for the blocking part, that your opponent will be able to counter-attack or do something else quickly after).

Once you've mastered this concepts you're already a *VERY* good player and you'll be able to make several people rage quit just by controlling space properly.

Going forward, you should start researching the game's specific mechanics and that's another whole story and depends heavily on the game.

Get a good stick, but don't go overboard with it or, if you've always played on a pad for your entire life, KEEP PLAYING ON THAT FUCKING CONTROLLER.

Holy shit, you have no idea how many players force themselves to learn playing on a stick and end up being absolutely garbage while they are already good with their own pad.
If you look at big tournaments you'll see that there are several top players playing on a pad, so just play with what you know best and feel most comfortable with. If you want to try out a stick, then sure, go for it, but don't force yourself down that path.

And one last thing: fighting games are hard.
Don't expect becoming the new Umehara in one month, it takes YEARS of practice and experience to become a good player, so don't give up after a short while, keep at it, practice and play against other people and ASK THEM for tips and advices and eventually you'll get there.

EDIT: some good reads you should definitely go through:

http://shoryuken.com/2008/07/21/domination-101-so-you-want-to-be-a-dominator/

http://shoryuken.com/2013/07/24/domination-101-controlling-space/

http://shoryuken.com/2003/07/21/domination-101-on-cheapness/

...and all the other articles by Seth Killian.
 
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Hine62

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I like everything said so far, but also learn the other characters moves and what moves counter them. Such as a jump from onecharacter can be countered by a medium kick or crouching hard punch, but doesn't work against a differernt character. The cpu does this the best. Just like in cpu in SSVS counters with a move most of us would have to practice forever.

Most of the time winning comes down to reaction time. Like that one character in Tekken that the button masher would always play. You would just have to block and sit back waiting for an opening... Then pounce on them.
 

NeoSneth

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playing other players. you can be amazing at beating the CPU, but players will jump kick you to death..
 
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im not good at fighting games but they are my favorite genre of video game...to be okay i would say you would need to:

1. learn to anti-air
2. block more often
3. find a solid counter to punish your oponent with following a block or if they whiff
4. dont keep repeating the same moves...be able to mixup the way you play so you arent predictable
5. be consistent...use the same character and try to play a number of matches regularly and dont get discouraged...this is probably most important

i really like SFV...3rd strike is alot of fun too...but i think youll come across better players in 3rd strike
 
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oliverclaude

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I've never been a big fighting game person. ...never delved deep into the genre.

[...]

How do YOU get good at fighting games?

If you want to get good at anything, arrange it to your liking. In this particular case, first try as many versus fighters as you can w/o delving "deep" into any of them -- just play casually with some characters. Take the game you dig the most - graphically, musically or maybe because of the setting etc. - and see which character can get you far by using standard moves only. If you like the game, if you perform those standard punches/kicks/slashes/guards smoothly, the rest will come by itself.

The most important thing is to like that particular game, being fascinated by it, execute standards smoothly. The first Last Blade has that effect on most freshmen to the genre, but it's best to make your own experiences.
 

donluca

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i never learned how to chain combos

Believe it or not, contrary to popular belief this is not something mandatory, not unless you want to reach tournament level.

Combos are just damage extensions, they do not enable you to open up your opponent and damage them. What's important is finding a way around your opponent's defense and land a hit. From there, you can maximize your damage output with combos, but if you've learned how to break through the other player's attacks it's just a matter of repeating the same strat until he adjusts to your pattern (or he gets beaten).
Most players are unable to adjust and will just repeat doing the same thing over and over again and you'll be able to beat them consistently just by landing hits on them. It is true that there are some games which are *very* combo oriented (MvC series comes to mind) but with others you'll just take more time to beat your opponent.

For the life of me, I've never been able to pull any 1-frame links or some of the combos with very strict timing and I still got pretty high in online rankings (unfortunately there weren't any serious tournaments back in the day here in Italy).
 

RAZO

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There was a time when I was trying to get my skills up in SFIV. Purchased guides, watched videos but once I got to the more difficult combos, I really had a hard time. Cancel this and cancel into that while having to have perfect sync pulling off the next move. If I was having a hard time pulling these combos off against a dummy, how the hell would I ever perform these combos against a actual opponent. Just stuck with the super and ultra moves. I love the shit out of some fighting games but was never good at them.
 

oliverclaude

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There are also alternative fighting games which don't require EVO-type rigor to be played, like the Sunsoft three: Galaxy Fight (1995), Waku Waku 7 (1996) and Astra Superstars (1998). Or old-school fighters which only need exploitable pattern-based standard moves against the cheap but dumb AI, like Art of Fighting 2. There's also Art of Fighting 3, which plays very differently, more like a 3D fighting game engine. Accurate dashing and simple button sequences are more important here, than any desperation moves.
 

Takumaji

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Practise your combos and positioning, play lotsa 2P and gain experience, that's about it. If you really wanna become good, don't play in 1P too often, it will spoil your game.
 

123►Genei-Jin

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Try not to play too much against the AI/CPU since you'll most likely develop lots of bad habits (most AI opponents are exploitable to some degree and will make you falsely believe you're doing good)

There are plenty of good youtube videos from people like VesperArcade or TrueUnderdog that will help you understand many of the terms mentioned in this thread (or at least my post)

Stick to the bare basics 1st, try to not overly complicate things for yourself or you'll start second guessing what to do and make things unnecessarily harder on you. Keep in mind you'll also be playing against other players at your level, for the most part.

• Don't jump unless you have the advantage.
• Don't dash/run like crazy (specially in games where you can't cancel the dash/run with a defensive technique)
• Don't mash buttons, special moves or suppers on wake up.
• Don't mash buttons when you're blocking a combo (block string) or special move.
• Learn your character's best anti-air move so that you can stop jump-ins.
• Learn the concept of being safe and unsafe (both on hit and on block) since this determines when's your turn to attack or defend (related to the previous point)
• Learn at least 2 BNB combos for your character. You don't really need to go crazy and bother too much with complex combos at the start.

Many new players will attack you carelessly, so the best thing to do is to just be patient and block and wait for them to do something unsafe so that you get your turn to punish.

Recent games like SFV and MK11 have really good training modes and sometimes tutorials that might help you understand the basics better.

Once you have a decent grasp of the basics, try learning things like neutral and footsies.
Neutral is basically when neither player has an advantage (like the beginning of the fight, you'll end in neutral after certain moves or combos during the fight) and this is probably where most players fail.
You'll also need to learn hit confirming and whiff punishing.

Later on you can start researching things like Okizeme (or Oki for short) and how to layer your attacks so that you can keep your opponent guessing.

Lastly, if you start getting frustrated at some point, just take a break., If you're not having fun it'll be harder for you to learn.
 

J-P

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Ask yourself - How did people get good back in the day at the Arcade? They certainly shared tips (you can get that all online via faqs etc. now, but they were not a 'thing' back then - however, read those and use them - they do contain solid tips). OG players practised A LOT together. As others said, the CPU is easily exploitable, that or it just turns into a predictive punishing bastard. It's a good idea to find someone at your own level to progress alongside. Screw fighting online btw, you'll never beat sitting next to some stranger and beating not only him but also his three buddies; it's a great way to make friends ;-). It's a real shame that the community element has disappeared.

A big reason fighting games are fun is because of the variety of ways people make use of any set character (two Ken players might play very differently). As game mechanics developed more, this provided more options (movement etc) and a players individuality or expression can show even more.

Take a look at the history of the fighting game and how these mechanics evolved. Look at the way movement changed. Characters running, dashing and hop/super-hop in KOF, Just Defend, Perfect Defence (Guilty Gear). Why were these changes made? SS had the ability to catch the opponent's blade and throw them off balance (for one example) or to disarm. Loook at the Capcom vs titles, the leaps and bounds that the Vampire games made (EX moves, counters, chains).

I'd also advise learning (or at least trying) a whole bunch of characters (to avoid just becoming yet another shoto player). If you're a total noob, get familiar with your 'normal' move-set and when to use them. Learn Bread and butter combos for that character. Aim to be fluid with mixing up your specials and try not to avoid predictable behaviour (don't just spam special moves or supers on wakeup). Learn how to trap your opponent or cancel moves to tempt punishment, avoid using too many heavy specials and moves that are too frame heavy. A 'normal' Down+C uppercut as an anti-air is occasionally better than most dragonpunches. If you miss the DP (or whatever special anti-air) you'll have a few frames more of cooldown - expect to be punished by a good player for making mistakes.

Learn how to 'buffer' special moves and supers into combos and try to know how to get yourself out of uncomfortable situations (corners). Don't be afraid to learn how to grapple.

If you can find someone to sit next to you and play, and a game you both like and want to learn properly - don't whine or rage at them when you lose lots of fights in a row. With that said, if you're getting beaten 20 matches in a row, maybe it's time to get back to the bench and workout a bit more eh? Practice good defence, parrying, etc.

There are some excellent modern titles that have good tutorial modes (SSIV for example is pretty extensive, as is KOF XIII) try to use them and then implement what you've learned in 2P scenarios if you can. Most importantly all of the above is the fun of learning fighting games, so try to enjoy it.

The game you are playing also effects your learning. If you are learning a more complex game like Garou, Guilty Gear, Last Blade or more recent KOF titles you'll have more technical stuff (defensive and offensive strategies) to learn. Real Bout or Super Street Fighter II X is an easier starter territory. Work up through to more complex modern titles.
 
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