If you’re one of the newcomers to the Street Fighter Universe or the fighting game genre in general, I can imagine how foreign the terms, attitude and playstyles are to you. Worst yet, you hear the hype of Street Fighter, purchase it and hop online for some fun only to have some jackass perfect you with Dan while laughing over his Bluetooth headset. Well in the past I provided a guide on training for fighting games but this was within the attitude that the reader had played the game for some time and was still unsuccessful. Well this guide/strategy is for the newb players who wish to become competitive without being the loser sitting 5 hours at a time mastering focus cancel combos. Read and follow my guide and you will find yourself able to win at least a few of the matches online without having to shift your playstyle from casual to hardcore.
The Training Room
I am not sure why people neglect this mode being that it is made specifically to allow for familiarity with a character without the frustration of learning while getting ones ass beat. Back in the days when the consoles could not match the arcade in both playabilty and look, gamers had to learn their characters the expensive way – spending quarters and trying things mid-match against an opponent. With the console games’ training mode, you can choose a character, get into the training room and master the skills, combos and defense of him/her. As a newcomer you should use the training room, bring up the skills and learn how to do them easily.
First Player Mode – Trial and Error
If you are new to a fighting game, you want to get good enough to take on the computer at its highest level. Nowadays fighting games are made with an AI that is somewhat intuitive. No longer do we have the Mortal Kombat AI where the computer does the same thing to counter the same moves every game. Back then you would use cheesy patterns to defeat the computer instead of using skill. Having played Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4 on the highest difficulty, I can safely say that it is good practice to play the computer in order to increase ones familiarity with his character.
Friendly Competition
Once you are good enough to take on the computer at the highest level you should next begin to play your local buddies or your X-Box Live / PSN friends who own the game in order to get used to the dynamic gameplay of human beings. Once you are good at that then enter the friendlier rooms of online gameplay, not the points-based, uber-competitive matches. The reason I say to avoid the big competitions at this point is because the typical players who are in those modes are playing the game on a higher level than where you are and it will frustrate you. Play friendly rooms until you are good enough to win consistently and then you are ready to ascend to the competition level.
Competition Level, From Scrub to Leet
When you feel confident with your skills, at this point it is time to study the next level and ease yourself into it. One luxury that gamers have today is the internet and people like myself who love to teach via FAQs, guides and forum posts. Go to Google and search for terms like “Ryu’s combos SSF4” and read up on certain things that you may or may not know about your character. Try out the combos within the training room and then try them out in real matches. After a bit you will get used to a combo set and you will begin to own it. The other thing you should be doing is watching YouTUBE matches in order to see how others play with your character. Adapt, absorb and overcome, then go back to the online matches and unleash the things that you have trained for.
Thanks for reading, and may your matches be fun and valuable.
