If you had to do it all over again?

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
#1

[FONT=sans-serif]BEWARE: LOTS-O-TEXT (TL;DR at the bottom) [/FONT]

[FONT=sans-serif]Ok so I just picked up SSFIV AE Saturday. This is the first time I played a fighting game since Killer Instinct was in arcades. A buddy and I (he is a non-gamer btw) played for hours just trying out characters and seeing how this game has progress since I last remembered playing it. (It’s has a really cool art style). However, I quickly started to realize we were basically button mashing and just trying to do our specials, supers, and ultras to each other which isn’t really meat and potatoes of the game. I have since stumbled on the forums and have been lurking for a few days and I have been bit by the bug. I want to play this game at a higher level and love the atmosphere and camaraderie of the tournament scene (thanks youtube!). So I decided to start in the training mode and started trying to find a main to focus on. Everything I have read says new players should be Ken or Ryu but I HATE playing the most popular characters in any game, however; because I am serious about becoming a quality player I will play them if it is the right choice for a beginner. Anyway, after fooling around in challenge mode with Sagat, Ryu, Ken, C. Viper, Blanka, and Blarog, I didn’t know what to really focus my training on. So I said screw it and jumped online and figured I would learn by getting my butt handed to me. Unfortunately, every time I joined a match I was kicked before it started so I have not yet played online. [/FONT]

[FONT=sans-serif]So my real question is if you could come fresh to this game all over again but knowing what you know now, what should a beginner focus on? I’m not going to asked you to help me pick my main, I’m not going to complain when I lose 100 matches straight, that all comes with the territory. My questions is where should I start. (BTW, I am looking for an arcade stick and have read the threads. Are the tekken ones really that bad??? I have seen plenty of youtube reviews, saying it is good for a beginner.). Should I play through the arcade or story modes? Should I just jump online and get as many matches as possible under my belt? [/FONT]

[FONT=sans-serif]Also, I would love to join a group of new or experienced players to start training with as well.[/FONT]

[FONT=sans-serif]TL;DR: Where should a beginner start?[/FONT]

The Murda Mitten-Michigan 2010 1.2 thread
#2

You can start by fixing your font so we can actually read it.

Start by working on your execution, I suppose. Get comfortable with the controls. Then learn basic combos like a normal into Hadouken, or whatever. Find someone your skill level to play with. Watch videos of people playing smartly and see if you can apply it to your game. Read up on the stickies above this thread to learn what exactly makes the game work. Find out what questions you need answered and look them up.

Also, watch all of this.

#3

Thanks don’t know why it came out so small.

#4

I’m kind of in the same boat. I suggest waiting until EVO at the end of the month to buy an arcade stick because you can get a really solid Madcatz stick for around 50% off. That’s what I plan on doing. If you play on PS3 I’d love to play/train with you.
My story is I’ve always been into fighting games for as long as can I remember. Mortal Kombat was my first experience at my neighbors house (man my mother was pissed when she found out about that lol) but I’ve never had anyone close who’s really been into fighting games. Needless to say I’m all kinds of terrible, but I’d love to knuckle down and get my fundamentals in check. I’m honestly interested in way too many fighting games that are out or coming out this year. SkullGirls being the one I want to play most, but I like SSF4AE, MvC3, and BB too. PM me your gamer tag if you are on PS3.

#5

Yes I’m on PS3 and I can’t wait to try SkullGirls as well!!! PM incoming. I don’t have a headset yet for PS3 but I will/can get one asap.

#6

read the footsies guide on sonic hurricane, The link is posted somewhere here. it helps alot

#7

Sanford Kelly | “Pick a top-tier”

#8

So…who is considered top tier?

#9

Sf4 got me back into the fighting game genre tough… I had always liked fighting games and was always intetested in plsying domething new and different (i bought ggxx on a fluke one day at ebgames cuz of the artwork, haha) but ive always been a decent competitor but never anything super serious. Sf4 brought me back into training modes, back into watching youtube videos to emulate, back to hours of just trying to squeeze all I can out of my creative juices to make my fighter unique… One thing I found that helped alot, other than this forum, is patience, dedication and honestly a decent offline buddy to spar with. This forum can definitely help you find someone close enough to you and people, from what ive experienced, can be quite helpful. Good luck bro.

#10

if i had to do it again, id start with:

1.learning how not to mash
2. getting sentinel fast flies down pat

#11

Thanks man, I do think the best thing I can do is find a cool group of people to start gaming with. My little brother and I are serious PC gamers but he doesn’t seem to have the interest to pursue fighting games with me. I REALLY wish I could find an arcade with SF in it just to bring back that child experience.

#12

Yes!

Here!
http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?categories/regional-matchmaking.110/
Meet people and have fun. :slight_smile:

#13

This is really good advice, particularly for Street Fighter IV games.

http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702

#14

Another thing is play endless battles and go to your local scenes. if your on psn my id is cheesedoodles408. Im a bison main but lately have been messing with adon and yun. the footsies guide is very important. it has some good drills and ideas that really improve your game. Also find what it is you are lacking and want to improve upon first. Such as when I started to play I had a hard time doing links so I practiced links for a bunch of characters, and looked up on the forums how to combo. There are alot tool present on the internet and people around you. Use them and you can definitely improve your game.

#15

watch the following videos, they cover zoning and other aspects of the game. the final video is a ryu tutorial, granted ryu has changed since Super, but most of the data is relevant. even if you dont plan on playing ryu full time he will help you learn the basics in a good way




(i know youre playing sf4 but DO WATCH the below videos, its just as important in sf4)



#16

All this is useful for me too, so thanks. The_Destroyer mentioned the footsies guide mentions drills, I’m assuming you’re talking about the sonic hurricane one? Right now I’m content to sit in training room and do 100 dragon punches and work on links because my execution is horrible, but that doesn’t help me gain muscle memory/reactions for situations in a match. Is there a good way to work on reactions and such? Do people just put the CPU on hardest and wait for every good anti-air opportunity for 10 matches strait? Or see how long you can live just blocking etc. If not, is there a good way to practice that sorta thing in training mode? Setting your dummy partner to j.HK sounds too repetitive/obvious for reactions or training your eye hand coordination.

Along the same lines 3s Online looks pretty cool, so I assume a good way to practice parrying is to set the CPU to hard and just try to parry everything they throw at you.

#17

when you do SRK, make sure its forward, down, down+forward, and not fdf like so many people think. I used to think that too. That will clear up some execution issues.

Also, for reaction time… Theres really not one single answer that will help you as the issue is related to being prepared for a specific situation plus the mental ability to see things as quickly as you need to.

As for the mental ability, one thing you can do is setup a combo, have the dummy on random block and try your combos, and if it blocks do a block string or something safe. An example that I did (among many others) that will definitely be helpful to you even if you dont wanna play Ryu is:

Shoryuken FADC:
Blocked: Throw
Not blocked: Ultra

Now your execution may not be good enough to do FADC ultra, but it at least gives you an idea of how to train your reaction time. Also, most Ryu players do that exact same thing I listed to training for it wouldnt be such a bad thing, to avoid a throw.

Most people get used to AAing by simply entering into matches. Just go for it. Its better to train against a human, because humans have tendencies that the CPU doesnt (just for clarification: I am not saying the CPU is in any way a good opponent, I think playing the CPU is worthless if you want to know how to play people)
I know from experience that theres a certain distance at which people just love to jump for some reason, and im sure many other people reading this know this spot just as well as I do. You arent going to learn that by playing the CPU

Find a good player, enter an endless lobby with him or her, and play them for a few hours 1 on 1 so you can keep trying things.

#18

Good stuff Necrotropic, and yeah I know the real dragon punch motion, I use to play fighters in the arcade (move list on the arcade cabinet ftw) as a kid before and after hockey games when my dad had spare change. (MvC 1 was my jam, Ryu/Logan all day, mash that shinkuu hadouken and berserker barrage x, lol. But only from the left side, man player 2 had it rough.) Playing vs real people with a goal in mind sounds a lot more useful than I thought so thanks again. Come to think of it it probably makes losing feel a lot less bad since I’m tangibly learning.

#19

FYI:
newbies “training” with newbies wont work. Reason: Neither of you know what you’re doing.

#20

If you can find an offline scene, go there and do not wqste your time with online. A lot of people there suck and the lag will teqch you bad habits. Training mode to get your combos down, playing offline for everythig else. if available at least.