Getting good at fighting games

[Dahne]

I've never been much of a fighting game fan, but I picked up Mortal Kombat 1 and 3 the other day for nostalgia's sake (I would always play Scorpion and do nothing but harpoon, then uppercut. I was such a brat ) I have to wonder, how are you really suppossed to figure out a character's moves? Before the advent of the internet, did you just have to depend on finding a good guide in a magazine, or mashing buttons at random until something happened?

EDIT: Got rid of the arrow that was messing things up. Sorry!

[AB Positive]

Am I the only one having a hell of a time with the formatting?

-AG

[MarioAllStar2600]

Are you a cheeser? That is the only tihng that matter when it comes to skill level. A cheeser is a person who uses a move OVER and OVER again. Untill they win. I have been guilty of it with the C-Groove though.

[portnoyd]

Wow, for me, this thread was crazy messed up tablewise. Odd :0

Before the net: magazines. That was it for me, and then going to the arcade, and copying what they do.

At the start of the net: Printing out movelists and passing them out at $5 a pop. And still going to the arcade, and copying what others do.

Now: The net, and copying what others do at the arcade.

If you want to get better at fighting games, take MvsC2 as an example. Get a DC, get a arcade stick, get a copy of the game. Play until you can sleep through the CPU on the hardest difficulty. (Not hard) Then goto an arcade. Play people. Try to avoid playing people when they get easier to beat, and always rematch people who bat you mercilessly. You will get better, and you will learn what works, and what doesn't.

Two stories, and I realize that this is on topic, but beyond the scope of the question... but the topic got my brain moving.

1. About 2 years ago, I was still wet behind the years. I could win, but the me now would murder the me from then. So after college had ended, I was unemployed, and I killed time by going to the arcade during the day. Usually, only person there, was Boris. Boris is one hell of an interesting dude. He is and was, very good, and he would beat me mercilessly. But, overtime, I realized what I did wrong. I saw blatant mistakes, and I adapted. I either stopped doing them, did them differently, or covered them better. It took about 6 months, but after that time, I now, more often than not, get the best of him. He's still around, still playing the same characters... hell, I even played him today! (And we both played Justin Wong, who made a surprise visit to our arcade, and we both got killed, many, many times).

And what I learned from him really paid off against many, many other people.

2. Short and sweet. The best MvsC2 player at my arcade. Late at night, coming home from something, so I stop in.. he's there, no one really playing him. Never beat him, hell, still haven't beat him. (Ok, I came close once, but I fucked up 5 fucking times in a row at the end and lost what should have been a clear victory... moving on). So I start playing him. Before I know it, the arcade is closing, and I've dropped $7 (14 plays). However, the next day, I TEAR through everybody. Playing someone way better than me, even in defeat, made me that much better.

So you want to get better? Keep playing, and keep raising the bar.

And what did that have to do with anything? That's right - nothing.



dave

[ubersaurus]

Are you a cheeser? That is the only tihng that matter when it comes to skill level. A cheeser is a person who uses a move OVER and OVER again. Untill they win. I have been guilty of it with the C-Groove though.

If you're doing a move over and over again until you win, then thats not your fault. It's your opponents for being an idiot and not figuring out how to get around it. That's the whole point, is to win, by any means in-game. Just check out sirlin.net's articles.

As I recall, one would ask people about moves like at arcades. Also magazines would list movesets.

[Retsudo]

I found out to get better a fighting games is too play skilled human opponents. I use to murder the AI when playing SF, or whatever, but you start to learn what the AI does and win. Playing human players is a different story. But until you get too the human players, playing the Ai is a good way to start. Thats where you get too learn the moves, and what works for each fighter.

Magazines were my road to learning moves for each fighter before the net was availiable to me. Especially Gamepro.

[kainemaxwell]

What is up with the formatting...

Anyhow I do suck at fighters, trying to get most moves down, but I stick with one or two fighters and do my best to learn them. After sucking through most the SF2 and MK craze I got back into fighters occasionally more withthe Vs. series, then moreso with Soul Caliber.

Now Soul Caliber (and 2) and Guilty gear XX are my fav fighters I play when I need a fix or to learn more.

Anyone still hands out move lists? Heh at school when we had a game room I thumbtacked up a VF2 movelist next to the machine a few times see if anyone got the clue.

[ubersaurus]

If you're looking to really improve at fighters, there's a few different sites worth checking out.

www.shoryuken.com has alot of info for street fighter. From the original World Warriors, to Marvel vs Capcom 2, to CvS2, to SF3: 3rd Strike.

www.tekkenzaibatsu.com has, as its name implies, info on the tekken games.

www.virtuafighter.com has info on VF4, mostly. Considering its one of the best fighting games out there, its something that can be fun to master.

www.fierceslash.com just opened up, its a strategy site for the samurai shodown games. Not much on there at the moment (they've been working on alot of behind the scenes stuff), but you can learn some good stuff.

www.gamecombos.com somehow became the site to go to for guilty gear XX information. Once you get past their weird notations for doing moves (utilizing the layout of a numeric keypad on your keyboard), you can start learning stuff.

[punkoffgirl]

The author of this thread needs to remove the "arrow" they put in between harpoon and upper cut. The forum reads it as some sort of command, and it messes up the formatting every time.

[kai123]

It is not cheap unless it is a glitch. That is the way I look at it. If you can't avoid most of the common moves then you need to practice. Practice against those sweaty nerds that stand around the arcade all day. Then you will get good. How I miss my arcade.

[ubersaurus]

It is not cheap unless it is a glitch. That is the way I look at it. If you can't avoid most of the common moves then you need to practice. Practice against those sweaty nerds that stand around the arcade all day. Then you will get good. How I miss my arcade.

Nah, glitches aren't "cheap", unless they freeze the game, or your opponent, or in some way make them unable to fight back. Roll Cancels were a glitch in cvs2, and damn near everyone agreed they make a boring and mediocre game better.

[TheSmirk]

Play CPU alot to get the moves timing and motions down pat, then (or at the same time) play good players to learn early on that if you can burn thru the CPU, that doesn't mean squat against real people. I'm always amused by mid-range players that are "nervous" when watching someone beat the CPU easily

[98PaceCar]

Before the net?? Guys, there were sites that had faqs back when MK2 was just coming out (Andy Eddy's early ftp site comes to mind). We used to download them, memorize them, and then go play and show off all the fatalities that nobody in our area had seen before!

Best way to learn to play is against another human. The computer is typically too predictable and you can get them into patterns too easily. Back in the day we just took turns playing each other and trying new things. Practice really does make perfect!

98PaceCar

[Ze_ro]

Most fighting games use the same motions... Almost all 2D fighters use quarter-circle, half-circle motions, or charge motions for the majority of the moves. There are a few games like Mortal Kombat that did things a little different though. I never thought the moves were moves were very hard to figure out, it's more how to use use the moves effectively that takes time to figure out.

One that I always had tons of problems with were the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters games, since the motions for the super moves were horrendous 8-direction pretzel motions (How on earth did anyone figure out Geese's Rising Storm?)

Anyone figure out what happened to this thread? It's completely mangled.

--Zero

[Sotenga]

I didn't get good at fighters until last year, when Samurai Shodown started me on my current fighting game addiction. I've been steadily practicing on various fighters each day, and my current favorite is Guilty Gear X2. I can't call myself cheap, though I used to be when I was younger. But now, I vary my strategies, using more than just one or two special moves, and I'm a very aggresive fighter. My defense is imperfect, but I know how to block, and in some games, parry. But I'm mostly based around offense, keeping the opponents on constant guard, and tearing into them when they finally let that guard down.

Dahne, if you want to challenge me at a game of Street Fighter Alpha 3 over MAME32k, that would be nice. I have to fight using a keyboard, but still, I'm not bad.

Hey, I'll issue that challenge to anyone!

[TheSmirk]

@Sotenga

How is MAME32K? You have a cable connect or dial up? I like the idea of it

[Sotenga]

@Sotenga

How is MAME32K? You have a cable connect or dial up? I like the idea of it

I've got cable, so it all runs smoothly. If ya want it, you can go here:

http://www.zophar.net/mame.html

If you get it up and running, I await your challenge, TheSmirk! ...

[Balloon Fight]

If you want to get better at fighting games, take MvsC2 as an example. Get a DC, get a arcade stick, get a copy of the game. Play until you can sleep through the CPU on the hardest difficulty. (Not hard) Then goto an arcade. Play people. Try to avoid playing people when they get easier to beat, and always rematch people who bat you mercilessly. You will get better, and you will learn what works, and what doesn't.

Two stories, and I realize that this is on topic, but beyond the scope of the question... but the topic got my brain moving.

1. About 2 years ago, I was still wet behind the years. I could win, but the me now would murder the me from then. So after college had ended, I was unemployed, and I killed time by going to the arcade during the day. Usually, only person there, was Boris. Boris is one hell of an interesting dude. He is and was, very good, and he would beat me mercilessly. But, overtime, I realized what I did wrong. I saw blatant mistakes, and I adapted. I either stopped doing them, did them differently, or covered them better. It took about 6 months, but after that time, I now, more often than not, get the best of him. He's still around, still playing the same characters... hell, I even played him today! (And we both played Justin Wong, who made a surprise visit to our arcade, and we both got killed, many, many times).

Thats about all you can say. Just practice like hell with a joystick, and the copy of the game, and play the best people you know. Thats how i became better at mvc2 and cvs2, and its that way for every fighting game.

BTW- I hope you had fun getting raped by Wong dave.

[ubersaurus]

Eventually you may even improve to the point where you don't even practice. John Choi doesn't own any home consoles, and only goes up to the arcade about once a week with his friend to play. But he's had so many years of experience and his tactics are so solid that he can do that and still play fine.

[MarkMan]

Also if you're interested in seeing what high level play is like, you can purchase the EVO2003(World Fighting Game Championships) DVD sets via www.tekkenzaibatsu.com or www.shoryuken.com ! There you can see the top players go at it in:

Marvel vs Capcom 2
Guilty Gear XX
Capcom vs SNK 2
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Tekken Tag Tournament
Tekken 4
Soul Calibur II
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution

It's well worth the purchase IMO. Look forward to hearing more about EVOLUTION series of gaming tournaments in the near future! EVO2004 is going to be off the hook!